Mt. ELGON-ICLIP is a Community Based Organization (CBO) dully registered as required by the Kenya’s Ministry of Labour and Social Protection. Also, the CBO is established, owned, and governed by the community members living within the Mt. Elgon ecosystem seeking to promote protection, restoration, and sustainability activities under the patronage of Harry Kimutai, CBS, who doubles up as the Principal Secretary for State Department of Mining. The organization seeks to facilitate the implantation of a 10-year Integrated Conservation and Livelihood program within Mt. Elgon landscape.
Notable, Mt. Elgon ecosystem is an iconic ecological landscapes cutting across three counties in Kenya including Busia, Bungoma, and Trans-Nzoia counties by extension Uganda. Notably, contemporary condition of the ecosystem is threatened by extensive land degradation, increased deforestation, encroachment beyond buffer zones, loss of indigenous knowledge, climate and environmental changes, and declining community livelihoods.
Thus, the action call towards biodiversity conservation, water catchment protection, climate regulation, cultural heritage support, and community livelihoods improvement.
Therefore, Mt. Elgon-ICLIP, provides an integrated, community driven approach by partnering with like-minded partners and agencies to champion the restoration and conservation efforts while simultaneously safeguarding the indigenous heritage, and improving the livelihoods of the communities around the ecosystem.
The CBO draws the inspiration from the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development adopted by the all United Nations Member States in 2015 comprising of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the Kenya’s national rallying call to extend the tree cover to 30% by 2032 under the 15 billion trees initiative, and the constitutional mandate under Article 69 of the Constitution of Kenya (2010) which calls for the responsible stewardship of the environment and natural resources for both present and future generations as envisioned by the Ministry of Environment Climate Change, & Forestry under the theme: “Our Life Line, Our Heritage”