Recognised on the world stage. Grounded in the village.
International honours matter only if they change what happens on the mountain. Here is what we have been recognised for, and what it made possible.
UNESCO-Greece Melina Mercouri International Prize
For the Safeguarding and Management of Cultural Landscapes, one of the most prestigious international honours for community-led conservation, awarded jointly by UNESCO and the Government of Greece.
Prize value
Years of stewardship
Biosphere reserve since
Fifty years of quiet work, read aloud in Paris
A landscape, not a monument
The Melina Mercouri Prize honours cultural landscapes: places where people and nature have shaped one another over generations. Mount Kulal is exactly that. Its cloud forest survives not despite the Samburu, Rendille and Turkana communities living on its slopes, but because of the customary law that governs how they graze, harvest and burn.
Why the jury chose Kulal
The nomination documented something rare: a conservation model designed, staffed and enforced entirely by the community it serves. Village-nominated forest guards, elders' councils that codify grazing rotations, women's nurseries paid on seedling survival, and school clubs feeding graduates back into the workforce.
What the prize changes
The USD 30,000 award funds the next phase of restoration and the permanent archive at the Gatab office. More than the money, the recognition gives the elders' councils standing in county and national planning rooms where decisions about Kulal have historically been made without them.
“This prize does not belong in an office. It belongs to every elder who kept the grazing law and every child who carried a seedling up the mountain.”
Honours through the years
UNESCO-Greece Melina Mercouri International Prize
USD 30,000 award for the Safeguarding and Management of Cultural Landscapes, recognising fifty years of community stewardship of Mount Kulal.
National Environmental Recognition
Honoured by the Ministry of Environment for outstanding contribution to indigenous forest conservation in Kenya's northern drylands.
County Conservation Partnership
Marsabit County Government formalises a partnership for community-led ecosystem restoration across the Kulal massif.
Community Stewardship Award
Recognised by the regional conservation network for grassroots leadership and sustained biodiversity work.