Reimagining Forest Futures Through Citizen Science Archaeology (REFFCA)

Summary
Primary forests across Sub-Saharan Africa are under critical threat. Biodiversity loss, ecological degradation and climate related impacts are undermining climate resilience and sociocultural resources vital for local lifeways. The solutions to such loss are fraught, as exclusionary conservation models often conflict community-led approaches. These dynamics are starkly evident in Kenya’s Cheragnani Hills, where state-led efforts aiming to restore degraded forests through exclusionary governance models stand in contrast to community activists championing their own histories of environmental stewardship. Both approaches produce visions for the future grounded in simplified readings of the past. Conservation models aim to produce an imagined forested landscape void of human activity, whilst community activists risk basing their land claims on narrow interpretations of ethnic succession. Archaeological remains scattered throughout these hills challenge both of these views, revealing a deeply anthropogenic forest shaped by centuries of shared use.
This project – Reimagining Forest Futures through Citizen Science Archaeology (REFFCA) – explores whether archaeology can make a practical difference to these debates. It aims to test how long-term perspectives on land use, settlement and belonging, produced and interpreted in collaboration with local communities, can support more inclusive and historically informed discussions about the forest’s future. To do so, it focuses on two key conservation blocks in the Cherangani Hills, where existing participatory forest management legislation remains ineffective and contested. It brings together archaeologists, citizen scientists, government forest officials and community members to co-produce new knowledge and stimulate policy-facing dialogue.
The project has three main objectives:
1.     Co-design a research and training programme with community Citizen Scientists to explore how and if knowledge of the...