Leaving a Legacy

Leaving a Legacy Contact information, map and directions, contact form, opening hours, services, ratings, photos, videos and announcements from Leaving a Legacy, Environmental conservation organisation, London.

Leaving a Legacy is a network of businesses, non-profits & individuals who are creating a sustainable legacy for future generations, through the restoration & conservation of the planet.

In Kakamega Forest, topsoil carbon has declined by up to 42% in just two decades 👉😔 This loss affects every part of the ...
27/01/2026

In Kakamega Forest, topsoil carbon has declined by up to 42% in just two decades 👉

😔 This loss affects every part of the forest. Compacted soils restrict air and water movement, erosion removes the fertile upper layers, and declining nutrients make regeneration increasingly difficult.

The result is a weakened forest that struggles to recover even when trees are planted.

Soil degradation reduces biodiversity, carbon storage, and the stability of the ecosystem as a whole. It also undermines the livelihoods of the communities who depend on the forest’s natural resources.

At Leaving a Legacy, we are working with local community members and organisations to restore ecosystems like Kakamega holistically. By rebuilding soil structure and supporting natural regeneration through restoration and agroforestry, we are helping both people and the forest to thrive 🌳💚

Kakamega Forest is known as a biodiversity hotspot. This incredible ecosystem is home to around 500 bird species, with 1...
16/01/2026

Kakamega Forest is known as a biodiversity hotspot. This incredible ecosystem is home to around 500 bird species, with 10% of those found nowhere else in Kenya ➡️

Alongside this incredible brid life, it also supports rare mammals, amphibians, insects, and plants that rely on this forest’s unique structure, climate, and soil to survive. These species are irreplaceable, and they cannot simply relocate if the forest disappears.

Protecting Kakamega is about far more than planting trees for carbon credits. Forests like this function as living systems, shaped by centuries of ecological relationships between canopy trees, understory plants, fungi, wildlife, and water cycles 🌱

When restoration focuses only on carbon, those relationships are often overlooked. But, when restoration focuses on entire ecosystems, biodiversity is protected, water systems stabilise, soils recover, and forests become resilient enough to support life long into the future - and at Leaving a Legacy, that’s what we’re all about 💚

Our work in Kakamega prioritises native species, long-term forest health, and community-led protection, so we can safeguard the species that call this forest home while strengthening the ecosystem as a whole 🤝🌳

Modern medicine often feels disconnected from nature, but forests remain one of the world’s most important sources of me...
15/01/2026

Modern medicine often feels disconnected from nature, but forests remain one of the world’s most important sources of medicinal compounds 🍃

Tropical forests, like Kakamega Forest, in particular, hold an extraordinary diversity of plants used in traditional medicine, many of which have informed modern pharmaceuticals. In fact, there are still plants we use daily in modern medicines 👉🏾

🌲 Forests also support health in ways that extend beyond medicine. They regulate water quality, reduce disease transmission through balanced ecosystems, and provide nutritional resources that strengthen immune systems. Medicinal plants form one part of a larger health-supporting system that we’re working to save 🌱💚

Head over to our blog to read more about medicinal plants in Kakamega Forest 👀

At Leaving a Legacy, our work often sits inside the reality of ecological decline. We work in degraded landscapes, fragm...
05/01/2026

At Leaving a Legacy, our work often sits inside the reality of ecological decline. We work in degraded landscapes, fragmented forests, and ecosystems under sustained pressure...

What we’ve learned from this is that progress in environmental work rarely looks like sweeping change. Instead, we like to find hope in the small victories that are ultimately reflective of bigger changes or steps in the right direction 🌱💚

As we move into 2026, these stories are reminders of why we do this work. Progress is rarely linear, but paying attention to the small victories helps ensure we keep choosing solutions that give ecosystems, and the people who depend on them, a fighting chance 💚

Farming and forest restoration are often treated as opposites. Agriculture is framed as something that replaces forests,...
23/12/2025

Farming and forest restoration are often treated as opposites. Agriculture is framed as something that replaces forests, fragments habitats, and degrades soil…

But there is a way for them to coexist in a way that honours nature, and that’s where agroforestry comes in! 🍃

👉 Around Kakamega Forest, farms and forest already exist side by side. Agroforestry works with that landscape by integrating native trees into farmland, rather than separating food production from ecological function.

When tree species that naturally belong to the Kakamega ecosystem are planted along farm boundaries and within fields, they help stabilise soil, improve water retention, and support regeneration at the forest edge. Over time, this restores habitat connectivity and reduces pressure on remaining forest areas 🌳🐾

🧑‍🌾These systems also benefit farmers. Trees improve soil fertility, moderate heat, reduce erosion, and provide resources such as fodder, fuelwood, and shade. This strengthens farm resilience while supporting wider ecosystem recovery.

At Leaving a Legacy, agroforestry is part of our holistic restoration approach. Healthy forests depend on healthy surrounding land, and designing farms as part of the ecosystem helps both thrive together 💚

Forests deliver an estimated $16 trillion in ecosystem services every year, yet they continue to be cleared and degraded...
17/12/2025

Forests deliver an estimated $16 trillion in ecosystem services every year, yet they continue to be cleared and degraded at scale 🌍

Without healthy forests, costs rise quickly. Flood damage increases. Water becomes more expensive to treat. Soil erosion accelerates. Climate risks intensify for communities downstream.

At Leaving a Legacy, we work to restore forests as living systems - through native species recovery, soil and water restoration, and long-term site care, always in partnership with local communities 🌱

These projects reduce risk, protect biodiversity, and strengthen landscape-level resilience over time.

🌱 Real restoration is not an abstract benefit, it reduces real costs and protects real lives.

Ecosystem restoration is often treated as a checkbox activity.It becomes a way to offset emissions, generate carbon cred...
12/12/2025

Ecosystem restoration is often treated as a checkbox activity.

It becomes a way to offset emissions, generate carbon credits, or meet a reporting requirement. The focus shifts to numbers planted rather than systems restored 😔

That approach overlooks how ecosystems actually recover.

Restoration is not a single intervention. It is a process shaped by species selection, land use, community relationships, and long-term care 🌱

At Leaving a Legacy, we approach restoration holistically. We restore native ecosystems rather than introducing species that do not belong. We prioritise biodiversity over monocultures. We work with local communities rather than restricting access. We design projects that support wildlife and create sustainable livelihoods alongside ecological recovery.

This approach delivers outcomes that go beyond carbon. It strengthens ecosystems, supports people, and builds landscapes that can regenerate and protect themselves over time 💚

Kakamega is Kenya’s last tropical rainforest, a relic of the vast Guineo–Congolian forests that once stretched across Af...
10/12/2025

Kakamega is Kenya’s last tropical rainforest, a relic of the vast Guineo–Congolian forests that once stretched across Africa.

It shelters rare primates like De Brazza’s monkey, over 367 bird species, 380 plant species, and more than 400 butterflies. It also provides water, food, and medicine to over 100,000 farming families who live around its edges 🍃🐝

Today, much of that canopy has been thinned by logging, charcoal, and pressure from farming. But this is not just a story of decline — it’s a story of possibility.

Imagine a rainforest where native trees once again knit together a green ceiling, where pollinators thrive, streams run clear, and farming families earn their livelihoods without cutting deeper into the forest 💚🌳

At Leaving a Legacy, we believe that with the right action, Kakamega can become more than a remnant. It can be a model of restoration, a place where business, community, and nature all flourish together 🌱

Kenya’s seed laws were designed to regulate seed quality, yet they also restrict the sharing and exchange of uncertified...
04/12/2025

Kenya’s seed laws were designed to regulate seed quality, yet they also restrict the sharing and exchange of uncertified seeds 🚨

😞This has significant consequences for the majority of smallholder farmers who rely on informal seed systems to grow crops suited to their soils, climate, and local conditions. Many of these seeds are indigenous varieties that hold traits essential for food security and climate resilience.

Restrictions also tend to fall heavily on women, who carry much of the responsibility for seed selection and exchange within their households.

Communities lose the locally adapted varieties they depend on to protect soil health, maintain crop diversity, and respond to climate change.

These losses reduce resilience and weaken the foundations restoration work depends on.

Through our holistic restoration projects in Kenya, we’re partnering with local farmers to help support native tree restoration along the boarders of Kakamega Forest through agroforesty - protecting trees and supporting farmers 💚🌱

We’re often led to believe that restoration as rows of identical trees…The reality looks very different. Restoration onl...
28/11/2025

We’re often led to believe that restoration as rows of identical trees…The reality looks very different.

Restoration only works when ecosystems are rebuilt in a way that reflects how nature functions 🌱

Healthy forests rely on native species, balanced soil conditions, and the return of plants that support wildlife.

Successful restoration also depends on removing invasive species, rebuilding habitat structure, and making sure communities lead the work.

That’s why our projects focus on long-term resilience rather than quick fixes. This approach supports the return of biodiversity and creates sustainable opportunities for the people who steward these landscapes 💚

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