We all love to travel, whether we do it for business or leisure, it’s always exciting to visit a new place or have a new experience from a different perspective of a place you have visited before.

Whether we like it or not, the travel industry is a major contributor in the emission of pollutant gasses into the air we live and breathe.

 

Bunson Travel understands that our Community Social Responsibility should be centered on offsetting our clients and our carbon footprint, whilst dealing with various social and environmental issues facing the communities in which our partners and their projects work. When selecting a CSR program or organization to partner with it is vital that we as Bunson feel strongly about the various issues they address and the communities in which they operate, to ensure that not only our Directors and Managers are involved, but the entire Bunson Travel team. 

 

There are numerous organisations and NGO’s that have various programs that deal with measuring and offsetting the carbon footprint of travellers. At Bunson Travel, we have found that these tools that organizations implement often lead to more disagreement about carbon footprints, how they are measured and the methods used to offset the footprint of each traveller.

 

Tree planting has always been one of the methods used to offset travellers’ carbon footprints, however, there has always been the question of?“ How many trees does the traveller need to plant to offset one trip?” This also includes accurately measuring the variables around a trip: distance, aircraft type, fuel, how many passengers on-board the flight…

With that in mind, the Bunson CSR program deals with engaging projects and organisations that address:

-Tree planting – community based tree-planting; school based tree-planting, nurseries and woodlots; indigenous forest regeneration

-Education – supporting schools in which our partners work by addressing the needs of the school through teacher and student empowerment – setting up tree nurseries, adding to curriculums…

-Sport for empowerment – Providing support to our partners that run various sports initiatives and programs that address health, social and environmental problems

 

The organisations that Bunson CSR support are the Mount Kenya Trust (MKT) and The Woodlands 2000 Trust (W2T).

 

BUNSON CSR AND THE WOODLANDS 2000 TRUST

The Woodlands 2000 Trust are friends of Bunson Travel, which made identifying them as a strategic partner a lot easier for Bunson CSR. The W2T has been in existence from the year 2000, initiated by the Tamarind Group and Dr. Maxwell Kinyanjui in an effort to reduce the amount of illegal charcoal being consumed in and around Nairobi, given the Tamarinds high monthly expenditure on charcoal for their restaurants.

 

In order to achieve this W2T set up various woodlots and tree-planting projects in Nairobi, Kajiado and Narok to serve as a flagship projects in dealing with: 

-Richness of biological and ecological diversity in native and cultivated collections

-Stewardship and conservation of soil, water and biological resources

-Demonstration of environmentally responsible landscape design

-Restoration of degraded landscapes

 

The arboretums that have been set up by the Woodlands 2000 Trust are:

-The Kitengela Arboretum

-The Woodlands 2000 Trust Demonstration Dry land Woodlot

-Oleri Ltd Tree Planting Advisory Centre

 

Through the existing knowledge of the W2T and their projects, Bunson Travel found a synergy between the CSR initiatives we wanted to implement and the existing projects of W2T.

Upon discussion with the W2T and our own research, we realized that the method of using and issuing carbon credits can become very complex and time-consuming (and often detract from what is actually trying to be achieved), and therefore the emphasis was and still is: get our staff and clients on the ground, planting trees at the woodlots (as many trees as we can afford).

 

Tree-planting days

Bunson CSR understands the need for a CSR project to have total buy-in from the staff of the company before it can be rolled out further (to our clients and travellers). Along with that, the projects we support need to be able to provide information on:

-Progress of trees planted

-Ability to visit the tress – visit the arboretums for a picnic

-Ownership of the tress you planted  - by use of a plaque stating the client/staff name, date planted, and species

-Ability to add to and expand the project

-Info on the W2T and their various activities

-Updates on the trees planted

 

To date, all tree-planting activities have been conducted at the Woodlands 2000 Trust Demonstration Dryland Woodland in Kisaju. It is not far from Nairobi, so easily accessible and easy to visit thereafter for follow-ups and future events.

 

            

 

Seed Packets

In association with the Woodlands 2,000 Trust and Cookswell Jikos, Bunson CSR have sponsored acacia seed (indigenous to Kenya) packets. These seed packets are distributed with Cookswell Jikos (1 packet per jiko), sold at Cookswell Jiko outlets, distributed in Bunson Transfer Vehicles for clients to take and plant or give away.

 

The seed packets are accompanied by instructions of how to plant the seeds to give them the best chance of germination. Acacia is a very resilient species that can be planted and grow in dryland areas and do very well in areas with good rainfall.

 

The seed packets also promote the concept of growing your own charcoal, using the trees you plant (pruning the branches, not cutting the tree) as your fuel source that is sustainable, along with the various other benefits trees bring to the environment.

 

We want to keep planting trees and promote tree planting in any form or method.

 

 

 

BUNSON CSR AND THE MOUNT KENYA TRUST

Through the partnership with the W2T, Bunson CSR came to learn of the Mount Kenya Trust and their activities on the slopes of Mt. Kenya and in Laikipia, Kenya. The MKT was also established in the year 2000 to help protect and restore the integrity of the forests and wildlife of Mt. Kenya through community engagement, community based projects and the involvement of their various partners and supporters.

 

The Mt. Kenya Trust has set up various projects and programs that it uses to restore the Mt. Kenya forests. Bunson CSR has partnered with the MKT on the following projects:

-Sirimon School Tree Nursery

-Tree planting with Sirimon School

-Mt. Kenya Trust information booklet printing

 

Sirimon School Tree Nursery and Tree Planting

The Mt. Kenya Trust works with various schools around and along the Mt. Kenya National Park boundary. The work with these schools is aimed at educating them about the importance of the indigenous forests that surround them, the challenges faced by the forest and the impact it has on the children (this is achieved through engaging with curriculums and a team to engage with the schools and visit them regularly). Along with the school engagement, MKT have also set up tree-nurseries at the various schools they work with. These nurseries are used to plant trees at the school (which the children look after), sell trees and plant trees in the communities around the school (with the children as ambassadors for the tree planting), take trees back to their homes to plant and share with neighbors, engage the children in re-planting the indigenous forests that once surrounded them…

 

Bunson CSR has sponsored the tree nursery at Sirimon School and opened the nursery in January 2016. Bunson have supported and supplied the funds for the nursery and will continue to engage with MKT and the school on having various tree-planting days at the school and in the area around the school.

Bunson CSR hopes to replicate the tree planted with MKT at the W2T woodlots, to tie in to the whole program.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

KWS Mt. Kenya Ranger Team Support through Mount Kenya Trust        

Through Bunson CSR’s involvement with the Mount Kenya Trust, there have been other requirements for support that we identified as areas we can engage in support.

 

The KWS Ranger Unit on Mt. Kenya does a great job of patrolling the mountain forest, Kenya’s largest water tower, with the limited resources they have. Their job has been greatly assisted by the involvement, support and donations from various donors, ranchers... along with the continuous fencing of the forest.

 

MKT identified the requirement of having jikos as a source for the ranger unit’s food preparation, boiling of water, warmth and the various other benefits. In association with the Woodlands 2000 Trust and Cookswell Jikos, Bunson CSR co-funded 2-in-1 firewood and charcoal jiko burners from Cookswell jikos.

 

11 jikos were procured and distributed to the ranger team and stationed at their various posts around Mt. Kenya, with Cookswell Jikos on hand to demonstrate best practice when using the jikos and how to go about sustainable charcoal making.