Like their Samburu ancestors going back to the 15th世纪，帕梅拉·洛恩根杰（Pamela Lonolngenje）的家人从字面上迈出了数百年的行动。一家人在肯尼亚北部广阔的旱地中大约六个半提名部落之一，一家人花了多年的时间转移了地点，以寻找水和放牧的土地，以供他们的山羊和牛，这是他们的主要收入来源。
然而，由于气候变化迫使家人出售其牲畜并搬进附近基里西亚森林这是在干旱季节和干旱期间对当地人群的关键生态系统。他们唯一的收入是收集和燃烧的柴火来制造木炭，这是一项艰巨的任务，每周为他们赚了大约9美元。由于政府对国家森林的非法伐木的镇压，这也是站不住脚的，该森林占地226,000英亩，比纽约市大。
今天，Lonolngenje正在保护她曾经砍伐的树木。她是550名桑布鲁妇女之一，政府负责保护一大堆茂密的山区森林，由于其7,000英尺的海拔高度，每年大约两英尺的雨水。基里西亚（Kirisia仅可靠的水来源for the nearly 150,000 people living in the area, as well as for the rich array of wildlife, including elephants, zebras, and Masai giraffe.
Lonolngenje is part of an unusual climate adaptation project that is helping once-marginalized Samburu women earn money and manage a vital natural resource as climate change disrupts the environment around them. Instead of razing trees, they are now planting them. When they enter the forest, they do so in groups to ensure that everyone follows strict stewardship rules. They also participate at the top levels of the forest management association.
炎热的条件，加上强烈的人口和土地压力，对肯尼亚北部的蒙塔尼森林造成了损失。
“I’m really happy to be out of the forest — I’m also happy that women are taking part in decision-making,” said Lonolngenje, a 30-year-old mother of four, who lives just outside the forest and runs a small food kiosk with two other Samburu women. She still collects firewood in the forest twice a week, but she only uses wood from fallen trees. “I no longer cut trees down.”
Lonolngenje’s newfound stewardship responsibilities are part of a broad shift of changing gender roles in northern Kenya and other parts of sub-Saharan Africa. As traditional livelihoods for men, such as livestock herding, have eroded, women have been forced to earn money首次。Facing worsening droughts, Samburu men leave for months searching for pasture or for new jobs, oftentimes in cities. That leaves women not only to manage the household but also to earn enough money to live in their partner’s absence.
Pamela Lonolngenje。Dorcas Ekalale
在某些情况下，妇女的机会正在帮助政府越来越愿意让当地人口管理其自然资源 - 这项战略由学习表明他们是更好的保管人。在肯尼亚尤其如此，在肯尼亚，社区团体在管理主要森林中发挥着重要作用。其他非洲国家，特别是坦桑尼亚，，，，also are embracing this approach.
For advocates concerned about climate change’s disproportionate impacts on poor and边缘化的人群，，，，especially女性，这是受欢迎的转变。
“Samburu women, along with their children, often struggle the most when climate change and other factors are making their traditional lifestyle more challenging,” said Heather McGray, director of the Washington, D.C.-basedClimate Justice Resilience Fund (CJRF), which helps fund the forest project. “This project is really exciting as a climate adaptation model. It’s putting power in their hands.”
The project is being coordinated by the BOMA Project, a nonprofit focused on women’s empowerment in Africa’s drylands. Earlier this month, BOMA received a1000万美元的捐款from philanthropist MacKenzie Scott, who was formerly married to Amazon founder Jeff Bezos and has given away80亿美元在过去的11个月中，到达数百个组织。
A Samburu village on the edge of Kirisia forest, seen in the background.杰夫·德科克（Jeff Dekock）
肯尼亚北部以及住在那里的310,000名桑布鲁人 - 正在经历许多对气候变化的最大破坏性影响。从1985年到2015年，肯尼亚的平均温度上升了1.8度F，，，，with higher increases occurring in arid and semi-arid regions in the north, according to a2018肯尼亚气候概况。尽管总体降水水平保持不变，但降雨模式却大不相同。年度雨季较短且可靠性较低，而强烈的降雨事件则更频繁。结果，干旱和极端洪水事件正在增加。
在这个快速增长的国家，炎热的条件加上强烈的人口和土地压力，正在对肯尼亚北部造成伤害montane forests- 被称为“水塔”，因为它们在雨季期间能够储存水并在干燥时期缓慢释放。最大的问题之一是森林砍伐。
气候适应专家，博马的肯尼亚董事Sam Owilly说：“不一致的降水模式影响了森林的再生能力，尤其是在森林覆盖方面。”“更频繁的干旱也促使人们在森林中覆盖，从而导致额外的退化。”
据内罗毕大学的一所大学称，从1973年到2015年，基里西亚森林损失了21％的树木覆盖物，最大的损失是稀有檀香木和红雪松等土著物种，这在柴火和建筑材料中非常受欢迎。学习这引用了木炭燃烧，非法伐木和牲畜觅食是森林丧失的主要因素。
妇女可以使用森林，但根据她们帮助制定的森林管理计划中概述的严格规定。
由于气候变化，肯尼亚半干旱地区的牛群也正在下降。在过去的30年中，肯尼亚北部地区的总数下降了26％，近60％。2018年研究。
“The underlying reason is the increase in temperatures and reduced rainfall,” said Mohammed Said, the report’s lead researcher.
Lonolngenje didn’t need statistics on climate and forest cover to know that the Samburu’s traditional ways needed changing — not just semi-nomadic herding, but also gender roles.
As her husband traveled farther to find suitable grazing lands, Lonolngenje began looking for her own opportunities to make money. She had dreamed of becoming a teacher but abandoned the idea when her parents died. “I already had children,” she said. “I was now responsible for my siblings as well.”
她搬进森林，非法燃烧木炭。但这并没有持续。她说：“游骑兵不断逮捕我们，并将我们从森林中赶出去。”“我真的很努力地谋生。”
她的突破是在2019年。几个月后，她和数十家桑布鲁家庭被驱逐出森林，Boma被选中Lonolngenje参加了一项妇女赋权计划。
桑布鲁妇女及其子女在基里西亚森林附近行走。简·克朗斯基
她和另外两名桑布鲁妇女接受了经营小型企业的培训，包括记录，营销和财务计划。借助小型企业赠款，他们在森林外的一个小镇开设了一个食品亭。
“We were able to make $530 in profit within a few months,” she said, a huge sum in a region where people often earn less than $2 a day.
她的第二次突破是一年后，当时县政府正在寻找社区团体来管理肯尼亚北部的关键地方生态系统，这些生态系统受到气候变化的威胁。地方政府选择了包括Lonolngenje在内的桑布鲁妇女协会，以保护基里西亚森林的桑布鲁县区。
森林由社区森林协会管理，有550多名桑布鲁妇女作为成员。妇女可以使用森林，但根据她们帮助制定的森林管理计划中概述的严格规定。在核心准则中：除了仅分组进入森林外，它们还被禁止砍伐土著树木（例如雪松）和燃烧的木炭，任何非法活动都必须立即报告给监狱长。允许养蜂和药胶果收集，植树也有助于恢复森林的土著树木覆盖物。这些妇女还在森林外建立树苗，使她们能够将幼苗出售给私人地主。
非洲n governments are increasingly shifting natural resource management to local governments and community groups.
较为分散的管理方法 - 数百种本地眼睛和耳朵而不是少数政府护林员 - 都表现出成功的迹象。在指标中：没有桑布鲁家庭非法生活在森林中；已重新种植了30,000多棵树；以及养蜂等创收活动正在增长。
“Before, there was a lot of smoke because so many people were making charcoal,” Lonolngenje said. “Now, nobody is burning charcoal because so many people in the community are watching.”
桑布鲁（Samburu）长者道格拉斯·莱博亚雷（Douglas Leboyare）主席社区森林协会（Community Forest Association）说，数百名桑布鲁妇女正在加入该协会，该协会预计到年底将达到2,000名成员。
勒博伊尔说：“政府没有很好地保护森林，因为他们只有五个游侠。”“有负责社区有很大的变化。”
The Samburu-led effort is part of a global change that has more African governments shifting natural resource management responsibilities to local governments and community groups — a trend backed byresearch表明社区团体往往是当地资源的更好看护者。
Drier, hotter conditions are making livestock herding more challenging.大卫·杜切明（David Duchemin）
在纳米比亚，土著人口和地方保护团体已成功合作，以增加当地的野生动植物人群并改善土地保护。该国当地农民阿纳比布地区agreed last year to stop raising cattle — an important symbol of wealth and status in Africa — so more land would be available for fee-based wildlife hunting, which has greater land conservation benefits and provides more income for local residents. Women-led efforts are rarer; among the most recent examples, a first-ever all-women anti-poaching unit is successfully保护津巴布韦一个115平方英里的狩猎区。
肯尼亚的政府一直处于这些社区主导的努力的最前沿。根据2010年通过的新宪法，政府正式承认社区资源计划和当地用户群体保护森林，放牧土地和水资源的权利。政府还在追求气候适应议程，其中包括其承诺以及其他50个国家，至少保护30 percent到2030年的土地中。这项工作的关键部分是绿色肯尼亚倡议，该计划要求通过全国种植林木覆盖10％的树木，并镇压非法木炭燃烧。
With the Samburu adaptation project, Lonolngenje’s life has improved dramatically. She is making enough money to pay for her children’s school fees, and she and her business partners have started a second business buying and selling goats and sheep.
她说：“保护森林并不意味着我们必须放弃生计。”“实际上，我们可以通过照顾我们家的土地来赚更多的钱。”
