Maasai call to restore lost
icecap of mount kilimanjaro
White Mountain Future Search
FULL REPORT: AVAILABLE NOW
This was the invitation sent on behalf of the White Mountain Taskforce, to all participants to the White Mountain Future Search from Wednesday 12:00 AM, April 24 until Saturday 16:00 PM April 27, 2019.
Venue: ‘White Mountain Camp’ at the ceremonial site next to Village 3, Inchurra, Olgulului Group Ranch, Amboseli (Close to Amboseli National Park, see map below).
Invitation to
White Mountain Future Search
Invitation to
White Mountain Future Search
The White Mountain Future Search is a Maasai driven initiative, endorsed by the Environment and Forestry Cabinet Secretary Keriako Tobiko. It is a call to all parties to gather for an 'unprecedented collaboration', to regenerate landscape and livelihood in Kajiado and Narok County as an important step towards restoring the ice cap of Mt. Kilimanjaro, White Mountain, or Oldonyo Oibor in Maasai language.
A Future Search is a large group gathering in which all parties search for common ground and a common vision for pathways to a viable and desired future. It is a call to all, Maasai communities, ministries of the environment, agriculture and water management, regional and local leaders, conservation parties, tourism industry, educational institutions, farmers, faith-based groups, and many initiatives in the region. Around 120 people, each holding a unique piece of the solutions for the challenges in this environmentally degraded region. It is a call to build a bright future together, freeing up and tapping into the collective intelligence, experience, knowledge and capacities.
For the Maasai communities of Kajiado and Narok County – Amboseli and Maasai Mara - just waiting for the next period of drought is no option with today’s climate change realities. Human, animal and plant life will suffer ever more. The time to shift from degeneration to regeneration is now. The Maasai people adapted to severe and unpredictable challenges since time immemorial. But now, they realize, it is of a different order. Only by joining forces a better future for all is possible.
Cabinet Secretary Keriako Tobiko assured us we are on the right track with the White Mountain initiative. ‘Matters concerning climate change are about life and death...It is indeed a global security threat’, the minister said. He acknowledged the White Mountain purpose of a community-led landscape and livelihood re-generation where, as he stated: policy guidelines and grassroot actions can now meet’.
White Mountain Future Search is supported by:
Peter de Koning
Erik Hallers
Jamie van Lede
Frank Gorter
Collaboration with Embassy of the Earth
The White Mountain initiative was born in collaboration between Maasai leaders and the Dutch organization Embassy of the Earth, now assisting in the preparation and organizing of the Future Search. Embassy of the Earth has an extensive track record of working with key problem-owners and stakeholders in finding shared and sustainable solutions for complex challenges. With common ground, a vision for a desirable future, clear strategies, attainable objectives and action plans, communities of practitioners will be capable of restoring ecosystems, microclimates and its water cycles and creating healthy and vital livelihoods for all. And have the skills to actively adapt to future challenges, again and again.
We, White Mountain Taskforce, are looking forward to meet you on the 24th of April.
Most Kindly,
Solomon Loombaa - Chairman of Peace of Kajiado County, Special Ambassador of the Earth
Janice Nkoyato Mutui - Local leader, Ambassador of the Earth
Richard Hatfield - Mara Training Center - Holistic Land Management
Kimaren Ryamit - Director of Indigenous Livelihoods Enhancement Partners
Nelson Reiyia - Executive Director Nashulai Maasai Conservancy
Fred Kiriankei - Financial Director Nashulai Maasai Conservancy
Dalmas Tiampati - Director Maasai Center for Regenerative Pastoralism
Hellen Nkuraiya - Founder and Director Enkiteng Lepa School and Tepesua CBO
Joseph Sankale - Maasai pastoralist / Elder / former District Officer
Jackson Kilinga - Community and program officer at Childlink Kenya
Margaret Kaigongi - Kenya Forestry research Institute (KEFRI)
Gordon Sigu - Ministry of Environment and Forestry
Leo van der Vlist - Netherlands Center for Indigenous Peoples / Embassy of the Earth / Forest Stewardship Council
Frank Heckman – Founder Embassy of the Earth
Introduction
The Future Search gathering is part of a larger journey. Initial contacts in Olgulului, Amboseli between Maasai leadership and Embassy of the Earth was established in the fall of 2017. The vision of the White Mountain initiative was developed and thereafter, a Task Force (core planning group) was identified and worked on the preparations of the Future Search gathering. After the gathering a coordinating council will be elected to coordinate and mediate between the grassroots and stakeholders and see to the implementation of White Mountain action plans for the region and the communities. The learnings will be shared in winter 2020 and applied in further implementation. In 2021 the communities of practice will share their results with the world. A final evaluation is planned in the summer of 2022. The journey is visualized in the graphic below:
General outline of the White Mountain Future Search April 24-27
Design
The search conference resembles a funnel in its design. It begins with the widest possible perspective, outside you and your system. Then it narrows to specific key strategies and actions, widening again as the group implements its plan back home and spreads the learning to other people who were not in the ‘camp’. Here is the basic design:
Changes in the world important to White Mountain’s future
White Mountain’s history,
appreciating where
we came from
Our current system, what
to Keep, Create and Drop
Most Desirable Future
Strategies and Action plans
-----------end of our three-day working gathering -----------
organization
d i f f u s i o n
I m p l e m e n t a t i o n
Wednesday, April 24th
April 24, on Wednesday afternoon, at 14:00 hrs. Minister of Environment Teriako Tobiko will open the three day gathering. He will officially open the brand-new tree nursery of Village 3 / Inchura as the beacon of new life for land and livelihood.
Others will be present on Wednesday as special guests or stakeholders. Some 500 people + press are expected to come. A Resource Market on Wednesday afternoon will give participants and guests a preview of what ‘just in time’ (traditional) knowledge, skills and technologies are available to the communities that take on the responsibility to improve and restore livelihood and land. A festive shared meal will seal the Wednesday for guests and participants.
A complete outfitted make-shift camp will be our homebase for the next three days. The place where we will build our White Mountain community. Some sleep in tents, others are hosted by the closeby Maasai Boma’s (villages). A generator will provide electricity to light and to charge.
Thursday, April 25th until Saturday April 27th
The actual White Mountain Future Search starts on Thursday 25th, continues on Friday 26th and ends on Saturday 27th around 4 PM. Some 100 – 120 people are invited as participants.
Clearly there is focus on the task at hand, designing the best possible future! But equally important is the emergence of a community of learners, planners and designers. Therefore, physical exercise, song and dance, cooking, storytelling and ceremony are always part of an Embassy of the Earth Gathering. Artists will be present to give ‘Searching for the Future’ their unique perspective, presenting to us, helping us to break our fixed habits, make us smile. In the evenings after dinner the program continues to 21:00. Then relax, having a drink, sitting by the fires, telling and sharing stories.
Closing of White Mountain Future Search will be on Saturday afternoon the 27th of April. Presenting our findings and outcomes and the newly formed White Mountain Coordinating Council to the press. Closing with an end ceremony.
Food and Safety
10 – 15 Maasai women, with experience of cooking for big Maasai gatherings and ceremonies will cook all meals on the grounds. They will also cook for different tastes and needs. Camp will be supported and at night guarded by Morans, Maasai Junior Warriors.
(A more detailed plan is being developed.)