Dr.Staline Kibet

Unintended consequences of projects that promote invasive alien woody plants

Planting of alien tree species has been and continues to be promoted, with the aim of addressing social and environmental problems in Eastern Africa. These species are promoted for agroforestry purposes, to re-green de-graded landscapes or to alleviate fuelwood shortages. Some of the pro-moted trees have spread widely and now cause serious environmental problems that impact human wellbeing, including losses of grazing land, re-duced water availability and increased land management costs. We give rec-ommendations to support decision making about funding for projects that aim to introduce new, or promote established alien woody plant species.