For the past three years ICE has been piloting strategies in indigenous conservation guided by elders. These strategies have involved dialogue led by elders to cultivate interest in indigenous knowledge; protection of sacred sites as sources of indigenous conservation knowledge and production and planting of important indigenous trees.

Communities have visited one another to inspire and learn from each other. They have also had opportunities to interact with elders working on similar issues in Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania.

Schools in Kiambu, Nairobi, Meru, Tharaka and Yatta have been involved in planting trees on compounds of their schools. Students in one school in Nairobi have been supported to visit various biodiversity hotspots to bring them closer to nature and nurture a culture of environmental conservation in urban youth. In the subsequent years ICE will support these communities to further develop these and other strategies while reaching out to other communities in a controlled expansion process.

Other strategies to be shared with communities in future include production of eco-maps and eco-calendars which will be used to lobby for greater management and control of local ecosystems; lobbying and negotiation skills to engage government in relevant areas that support re-creation of resilience of ecosystems and communities to climatic and other threats being experienced today.