In Kenya’s rangelands, years of sedentary grazing have degraded the landscape, displacing wildlife and threatening pastoralist livelihoods. To counter this, Grevy’s Zebra Trust trains Indigenous Samburu women as Grassland Champions to lead community-wide restoration initiatives.
The Champions, led by Ngeeti Lempate – known as Mama Grevy – implement regenerative grazing plans and restoration techniques like building semi-circular bunds to slow erosion. This improves rangeland health, bolsters climate resilience, prevents infectious disease, and enables the continued co-existence of livestock, wildlife, and people. Having restored bare ground around their village, the Champions now inspire neighboring communities to heal ancestral lands. By blending traditional knowledge and modern practices, the Samburu women have become ecological leaders in the region and a model for regenerating grazing practices worldwide.
