Harnessing traditional knowledge helped Wilson Towett and other elders in Cheplanget village in Kenya to revive lost streams and bring back indigenous trees to the area. Planting water-retaining indigenous trees along the stream's bare banks and issuing local bylaws banning the cutting of bushes and trees along the stream brought back the water within a couple of rainy seasons. In Kenya, 49,400 hectares of primary forest disappeared from 2002 to 2020. Clearing bushes for firewood and planting exotic trees for income such as eucalyptus, which needs a lot of water, further exacerbated the problem. Now, under local regulations, non-indigenous trees must be planted at least 30 meters (98 feet) away from water bodies. "We learned the hard way 15 years ago.... That's when we quickly went back to what our fathers and grandparents had been teaching us.... We have taken it upon ourselves to teach our children and grandchildren not to destroy the thickets here," said Towett, a 69-year-old father of seven. Positive change can rapidly come about when local communities take ownership of their issues, as can be seen in the villages of Kenya.

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