Water Towers -- CIFOR MENU -- -- Water Towers Go to CIFOR-ICRAF.org Our work Research Locations Knowledge Events News More Subscribe Our Work Research Locations Knowledge Events News -- menu-col-4 CIFOR-ICRAF’s website cifor-icraf.org features Our Work About CIFOR About CIFOR -- Partners Partners -- Leadership Leadership -- Research staff Research staff -- Research associates Research associates -- Strategy Strategy -- Policies Policies -- Procurement Procurement -- Annual reports Annual reports -- Financial Statements Financial Statements -- Work with us Work with us -- Contact us Contact us -- About CIFOR-ICRAF ABOUT CIFOR-ICRAF Common Board of Trustees Our Strategy Merger FAQs ABOUT CIFOR-ICRAF -- Column-3 Ourwork ANONYMOUS REPORTING HOTLINE ANONYMOUS REPORTING HOTLINE -- menu-col-4 RESEARCH TEAMS Climate change, energy and low-carbon development Equal opportunities, gender, justice and tenure Sustainable landscapes and livelihoods Value chains, finance and investment RESEARCH TEAMS -- TOPICS TOPICS -- PROJECT WEBSITES PROJECT WEBSITES -- GLOBAL LANDSCAPES FORUM GLOBAL LANDSCAPES FORUM -- FORESTS, TREES AND AGROFORESTRY (FTA) FORESTS, TREES AND AGROFORESTRY (FTA) -- OTHER CGIAR RESEARCH PROGRAMS OTHER CGIAR RESEARCH PROGRAMS -- Gambar Asia Asia -- Africa Africa -- Germany Germany -- Latin America and the Caribbean Latin America and the Caribbean -- Publications Publications -- Forests News Forests News -- Presentations Presentations -- Videos Videos -- Photos Photos -- Projects database Projects database -- Datasets Datasets -- Features Features -- Podcasts Podcasts -- Upcoming events Upcoming events -- Past events Past events -- Featured events Forests News Forests News -- Landscape News Landscape News -- Social media Social media -- Corporate news Corporate news -- Press releases Press releases -- Media coverage Media coverage -- News update News update -- Media inquiries Media inquiries -- Latest news PROJECT WEBSITES Global Landscapes Forum GCS: Global Comparative Study on REDD+ The Sustainable Wetlands Adaptation and Mitigation Program (SWAMP) Community-Based Fire Prevention and Peatland Restoration Governing Multifunctional Landscapes Yangambi Engagement Landscape Water towers View all project Our work About CIFOR CIFOR – ICRAF merger FAQ Board of Trustees Management group Strategy Corporate news Partners Research staff Media Work with us Contact our experts Brochures Factsheets Annual reports About our research Team Topics Germany West and Central Africa Datasets Forests News Photos Presentations Projects Publications Videos Featured events event Partner Day 2019: Advancing Forest Research and Science for People event Toward sustainable palm oil: Global trade, European Parliament resolution and forest conservation event GLF New York City 2019 Latest news feature FORESTS ON FIRE: SPECIAL REPORT press-release Fostering collaboration between IRSG and FTA for Sustainable Natural Rubber corporate-news Informe Anual 2018 de CIFOR: Los bosques importan -- Search Home About Background Project sites Outputs Publications Reports Resources Corporate News Forests News Videos Podcasts Photo Gallery Partners Talk shows and text messages in Kenya’s Rift Valley Findings and recommendations from the Kenya Water Towers Climate Change Resilience Program Involving communities in forest management planning in Kenya Enhancing co-benefits from joint forest and water management in Mt. Elgon ecosystem in Uganda Features Talk shows and text messages in Kenya’s Rift Valley Findings and recommendations from the Kenya Water Towers Climate Change Resilience Program Involving communities in forest management planning in Kenya Enhancing co-benefits from joint forest and water management in Mt. Elgon ecosystem in Uganda In East Africa, forested mountains are frequently referred to as ‘water towers’ because they contain many springs and streams that are the sources of major rivers that eventually drain into lakes. Our work focuses on two main water towers: The Mau Forest Complex in Kenya and the Mt. Elgon forest, which straddles the Kenya-Uganda border. The Mau Forest Complex is the main water source for 12 rivers that feed into lakes Victoria, Natron and Turkana. It supports the livelihoods of more than 3 million rural people who live in the Lake Victoria Basin and up to 2 million more in urban areas. The Mt. Elgon forest has the Suam river draining into Lake Turkana, and the Nzoia river which flows into Lake Victoria. Like the Mau Forest, it supports dense populations of primarily small-scale subsistence farmers in both Kenya and Uganda. Both water towers face intense pressures. Deforestation and conversion to other land uses, charcoal burning and encroachment for settlement have undermined the ability of these forested landscapes to provide critical ecosystem services.  CIFOR’s initial research on the Mau Forest Complex in Kenya was conducted from 2012 to 2016. It quantified the impact of land use on water provisioning. This research showed that forests supply clean water and also filter water from streams that come from agricultural land. It also showed that forests recharge the ground water table, whereas agricultural lands have more overland flows that lead to erosion. The research engaged water resource users to monitor water quality. Citizen monitoring of water resources can help bridge data gaps while providing good quality data. Our current work builds on these findings. We extend the work to Mt. Elgon. We have also introduced a governance dimension in order to explore the extent to which local forest and water resource governance is linked. In particular, we assess how community forest associations and water resource user associations function both independently and jointly, and we explore their effects on forest and water health. Our overall goal is to identify practices and institutional strategies that have promise for strengthening joint forest and water resource governance. Publications View all Publication Year : 2022 Forests, water and land health are the natural capital of African montane forest ecosystems Authors: Rufino, M.C.; Ran, A.M.; Stenfert Kroese, J.; Ombogoh, D.B.; Jacobs, S.R.; Weeser, B. Publication Year : 2021 Crowdsourced Water Level Monitoring in Kenya’s Sondu-Miriu Basin—Who Is “The Crowd”? Authors: Weeser, B.; Gräf, J.; Njue, N.K.; Cerutti, P.O.; Rufino, M.C.; Breuer, L.; Jacobs, S.R. Publication Year : 2021 Particulate macronutrient exports from tropical African montane catchments point to the impoverishment of agricultural soils Authors: Stenfert Kroese, J.; Quinton, J.N.; Jacobs, S.R.; Breuer, L.; Rufino, M.C. FORESTSNEWS View all 20 Feb 2019 Tension and transformation in the patriarchy 15 Feb 2019 Talk shows and text messages in Kenya’s Rift Valley 30 Jan 2019 Citizen science in Kenya’s Rift Valley 18 Jan 2019 Barking up the same trees 02 Jul 2018 In Kenya, no progress on progressive 30% gender quota 23 Apr 2018 How’s the water? Crowdsource to find out Reports View all Implementation of low-cost measurement systems for monitoring water quantity within the Sondu River Basin, Kenya Spatial variability of greenhouse gas (GHG) fluxes in tropical systems of East Africa: Effects of land use and topography Video 08 Nov 2019 Watertowers Community Exchange Photo Gallery View all Partners Funding Partner Implementing Partners Top The Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR) Founded in 1993, Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR) is a non-profit scientific institution that conducts research on the most pressing challenges of forest and landscape management around the world. CIFOR and World Agroforestry (ICRAF) joined forces in 2019, leveraging nearly five decades of trusted science on the role of forests and trees in solving critical global challenges. 2026 Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR) | CIFOR is a CGIAR Research Center CIFOR-ICRAF privacy notice      Terms of use /feedback/" target="_blank"Send feedback-- Stay connected Diam habitant integer ultricies nonummy ducimus voluptatum parturient nec molestiae distinctio nascetur montes vitae! Torquent, cubilia. Subscribe -- Center for International Forestry Research Sint illum eget vestibulus facilisis, tempus anim suscipit adipisci, convallis perspiciatis expedita, ultrices ullamco acuusamus magnis corporis porro, litora dolores erat hic mus! Scelerisque voluptate. 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