Tags: ecosystem, environment, climate change, commons, watershed, landtrust

Grassroots Economics has been working with thousands of farmers for over a decade while lacking a cohesive framework to include ecological coordination systems together with socio-economic resource coordination systems.

The Grassroots Economics team and myself found mutual interest in collaborating to support and scale the work they had initiated around syntropic agriculture and agroforestry. Since 2024, I have been bringing my expertise as an ecosystem restoration designer, regenerative land steward, and grassroots community leader dedicated to fostering participatory, trust-based communities and healthy landscapes. With over two decades of experience across Europe, India, Latin America, and Africa, I integrate applied sciences like agroforestry, permaculture, water cycles, and soil regeneration with local governance systems, traditional local knowledge, and decentralized coordination models.

In this collaboration and new cycle, I established myself in Kilifi, Kenya, where we are altogether developing methodologies across over 100 groups in 5 bioregions across Kenya - while anchoring it all in a pilot model eco-agro-social living laboratory in and around our home - called Mnyumbuni - together with 60+ neighbor households. We are implementing a land stewardship and resource coordination program including: syntropic agroforestry, water retention systems, soil-building techniques, indigenous plant conservation and nursery development for tree planting and food production.

Together we are at the forefront of landscape restoration, ecosystem stewardship, and bioregional planning, connecting within communities and across the entire country. My work is as much about restoring the land as it is about strengthening community bonds, stewardship , and keeping alive eco and social coordination systems based on trust

After a little bit more than a year now, we are humbled to ground our common interest in stewardship and to approach an integrated local and bioregional development. Together, we are reshaping the land with reciprocity, tools, seeds, and collective effort, healing both the Earth and the bonds within the community.

Below I am excited to introduce the Ecosystem Stewardship Framework that we at Grassroots Economics intend to follow going forward for upcoming cycles and seasons.

Get to know me more here on Linkedin and read my substack here.

The Ecosystem Stewardship Framework

The Ecosystem Stewardship Framework is a holistic, community-driven approach that integrates landscape restoration, traditional ecological knowledge, decentralized resource flows and coordination, and participatory action to regenerate ecosystems on a long term approach. This framework is designed to ensure that restoration efforts are not only ecologically effective but also socially and culturally relevant and sustainable as well as nourished by an economy based on reciprocity amongst people and respect of nature’s cycles.

Building upon traditional local stewardship frameworks such as Mweria (reciprocal labor systems) and Dhome (community governance), we enhance these time-tested practices with cutting-edge tools like the Sarafu Network and the Commitment Pooling Protocol. By weaving scientific land-use planning and feasibility studies, watershed mapping and community-driven resource coordination and action planning, this collaboration transforms territorial management into a dynamic, participatory, and economically viable system, where landscapes are restored in alignment with both environmental integrity and local governance structures.

Spatially Informed Landscape and Watershed Design

Landscape and watershed design ensure that ecosystem restoration is not just a localized effort but part of a broader, interconnected ecological system. Through spatially informed decision-making, we integrate GIS mapping, participatory land-use planning, and traditional water conservation techniques to analyze terrain, assess watershed flows, and identify critical areas for intervention. This approach helps prevent erosion, soil degradation, and water scarcity while enhancing ecosystem resilience and long-term land productivity.

Using holistic land management strategies applies participatory action around syntropic agroforestry, soil regeneration techniques, and advanced water retention systems such as swales, check dams, and infiltration basins. These techniques enhance soil fertility, optimize water capture, and regenerate biodiversity, ensuring that landscapes become self-sustaining and climate-resilient.

The framework emphasizes bioregional cohesion, recognizing that local farms, forests, rivers, and watersheds are interconnected components of a larger living system. By designing spatially informed restoration plans, we ensure that agricultural lands, natural ecosystems, and water resources are integrated into a unified, regenerative landscape that supports both nature and local households' wellbeing.

Traditional Knowledge & Commons-Based Stewardship

Collaborating with communities to revive Mweria, a rotational labor exchange system, allowing groups to collectively work on farms, plant trees, restore watersheds, and implement soil conservation techniques .Through Dhome, a visionary approach to community action planning and community-led decision-making structure, local groups gather to co-create visions, land-use plans, establish stewardship agreements, allocate resources fairly, and resolve disputes, reinforcing commons-based decisions and actions

We also ensure that traditional farming methods, and indigenous seed sovereignty are actively protected. This includes planting, reproducing, conserving and documenting and sharing the relevance and uses of native plant species, to enhance local biodiversity, food security and plant wisdom.

Core Areas: Stewarding Heritage Sites, Water Sources, and Community Infrastructure

As part of our ecosystem stewardship framework, we are actively working on the protection and restoration of key heritage sites, essential water sources, and community infrastructure to ensure both ecological integrity and long-term community wellbeing.

Sacred Sites and Kaya Forest Conservation – On a regional level, we collaborate with local elders and community members to protect and regenerate Kaya forests, which are sacred ancestral sites deeply embedded in the spiritual and cultural heritage of the Mijikenda people. These forests serve as biodiversity hotspots and water catchment areas, making their preservation vital for both cultural continuity and environmental health. Our work includes reforestation with indigenous species, erosion control, and community education on the ecological importance of Kayas.

Water Source Protection and Restoration – Many households in every village rely on key water points, springs, and catchment areas that are at risk of degradation due to deforestation, erosion, and pollution. We are implementing watershed management strategies, such as riparian buffer restoration, soil retention measures, and participatory water governance, ensuring that these critical water sources remain clean, abundant, and accessible to all dedicated to take care of water systems.

Village Road Repair and Infrastructure Maintenance – Roads connecting the village to markets, schools, and other essential services are often damaged due to seasonal rains and poor drainage. Through community-led maintenance efforts, we are reinforcing drainage systems, stabilizing roads with natural materials, and coordinating collective future labor efforts (Mweria) to maintain accessibility and plan further erosion control strategies.

Land stewardship agreements – Securing land for regenerative landscapes, allowing for decentralized management across multiple smallholders while promoting collective responsibility for ecological restoration. These agreements are legally binding, ensuring that local landowners and stewards commit to sustainable land practices that protect and restore vital ecosystems. Through this approach, land regeneration is safeguarded for future generations, empowering communities to govern their landscapes with resilience, ecological integrity and through entrusted collaborations.

Food forests and syntropic agroforestry – We work with local farmers and communities to establish food forests and implement syntropic agroforestry, creating self-sustaining ecosystems that regenerate soil, increase biodiversity, and enhance food security. By blending local knowledge with regenerative agriculture, we plant diverse tree and crop species that mimic natural local forests. Our efforts include community-led tree nurseries, soil-building techniques, and rotational planting systems, ensuring that these landscapes remain productive and climate-resilient. Through participatory training and stewardship agreements, we empower local households to take an active role in land restoration while fostering an economy rooted in reciprocity and ecological balance.

Social Infrastructure and Common Spaces – We are revitalizing shared spaces such as meeting areas, markets, and communal gathering points to strengthen social cohesion and ensure functional community hubs.

Sarafu Network & the Commitment Pooling Protocol

The Sarafu Network platform enables local exchange and participatory resource coordination as well as collaboration between groups. This system transforms environmental restoration into a recognized collective resource, ensuring that land stewards are rewarded for their ecological contributions and commitment to work collaboratively and support each other.

Within this framework I have developed Ecosystem Stewardship Certifications which: track past contributions (e.g., reforestation, soil conservation, water management), validate future commitments to ensure ongoing participation and allow for resource pooling— digital certificates can be traded for goods/services or leveraged to seed and nourish larger projects. These certificates as well provide eligibility for reciprocal access to common pooled resources.

We envision a community where every act of ecosystem stewardship is recognized and rewarded. Through digital certificates, planting trees, conserving water, or reducing waste becomes a measurable resource that strengthens local systems coordination and engagement.

Through these efforts and protocols, we are establishing a bioregional approach that integrates ecosystem restoration with local food security, community sovereignty, and participatory implementation.

Reports and tracking system integrated to the platform

And a last achievement on Sarafu Network is our recently installed reporting system for each existing pools to report on their daily or weekly activities.

You can find the general report overview here: https://sarafu.network/reports

And you can access our Stewardship program reports here:

Water retention and erosion strategies - checkdams construction https://sarafu.network/reports/44

Indigenous trees identification and seed collection https://sarafu.network/reports/45

Food diversity https://sarafu.network/reports/46

Soil building https://sarafu.network/reports/47

Soil regeneration and nursery development https://sarafu.network/reports/66

The pools are growing !

We are really excited with the technological development of the open source Sarafu Network platform. More and more pools holding commitments to ecosystem stewardship are being created and seeded with resources to grow an active worldwide network.

Here you can look at and SUPPORT the amazing community efforts of Friends of Kiriba Ecosystem Pool and visualise all transactions as well as the digital certificates emitted for Ecosystem Stewardship on Sarafu Network:

https://sarafu.network/pools/0xC4848263821FA02baB2181910A2eFb9CECb2c21C

Stay tuned!

In my next article I’ll step you through the specific actions we are doing at home and those rippling across hundreds of villages.