Objective

To protect, revitalize, and transmit indigenous life skills and handicraft traditions that are inseparably linked to Kenya’s natural landscapes, while documenting and responding to climate-induced cultural and landscape losses and damages affecting indigenous and minority communities.

Target Communities

Indigenous and minority groups whose livelihoods, skills, and identities are rooted in specific landscapes and ecosystems, including pastoralist, forest, riverine, and coastal communities in Kenya’s ASALs and other climate-vulnerable areas. Special focus will be placed on women artisans, elders, youth, and traditional knowledge holders.

Activity Description

Climate change is rapidly transforming Kenya’s landscapes—drying rivers, degrading forests and rangelands, and altering biodiversity. These changes are not only ecological; they are causing the loss of indigenous life skills, including weaving, beadwork, leatherwork, woodcraft, pottery, basketry, boat-making, herbal practices, and landscape-based survival skills that depend on specific plants, animals, soils, and seasonal cycles.

ACHA Foundation work on community-led Loss & Damage by documenting how environmental degradation is disrupting the availability of natural materials, cultural spaces, and ecological knowledge essential for indigenous handicrafts and life skills. The program will support communities to restore these linkages and ensure cultural continuity through intergenerational transmission and landscape stewardship.