Changing rainfall patterns have long proved problematic for Africa's centuries-old baobab trees. But their commercial exploitation poses yet another challenge. Environmentalists in Kenya are seeking to raise awareness.
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00:00 A baobab tree can store water for months, allowing it to survive long periods of drought.
00:07 For centuries, these so-called trees of life have played a key role in village communities along the Kenyan coast.
00:15 Now, though, they are threatened by climate change and also loved ones.
00:20 Last year, eight baobab trees, all several centuries old, were exported to Georgia for planting in a park
00:28 built by a former Georgian prime minister. This led to public outcry in Kenya.
00:34 How do you come to uproot something that is more than 200, 300 years and take it away?
00:39 What are you actually saying to us?
00:41 Biruwa Hare Kiraga grew up here on the coast, in Kelifi. He can't imagine a life without baobabs.
00:48 The older trees in particular play an important role for the Mijikenda community.
00:54 This tree is several hundred years old. It has spiritual significance for local people.
01:01 If we have drought, if we have other calamities, we will come and make prayers under a baobab tree as big as this one.
01:14 It is one very important element. As a faith symbol, it's a place where we communicate with God.
01:22 And many of the problems that we have have been solved under the baobab tree.
01:29 Environmental activist Elphick Tosi is on a mission to protect baobab trees.
01:35 For years, he's been fighting to ensure they survive.
01:40 The baobab tree is one tree, which other countries call it the tree of life, because one,
01:48 the back of the tree is medicinal. The leaves are useful. The powder is useful.
01:56 Everything on that tree is useful. And something else, it has lived ages and ages,
02:02 which means it is very nutritional and it is not like genetically modified.
02:10 Elphick Tosi is shocked that they are being exported, but he says the real problem is farmers and investors
02:18 selling baobab trees along the coast to make room for agriculture and construction.
02:24 He regularly talks to people about the tree's importance.
02:28 They store carbon dioxide and provide nutrients for a wide range of species.
02:33 Insects and bats thrive on their flowers, while monkeys eat the fruit, hence the nickname monkey bread tree.
02:41 Farmer MacDonald Munga was not aware of any of that when he had several of his trees felled.
02:48 We regret that we weren't told anything by the government.
02:54 They don't inform us as baobab owners about all the benefits of the trees, A, B, C, D,
03:01 so that we can understand better.
03:05 Depending on its size, a felled tree can fetch between the equivalent of 500 to 1,100 euros,
03:14 good money for a local farmer. But a living tree can earn the farmer far more.
03:19 Its fruit contains a large range of vitamins and minerals.
03:23 In powder form, it's in high demand internationally as a superfood.
03:28 Fruits are also popular in Kenya.
03:31 Betty Kadzo Kanume is a teacher and sells them on the side.
03:35 That earns her an equivalent of 69 euros per month, a considerable boost to her teaching salary of 200 euros.
03:44 It provides food and also opportunities for earning money.
03:53 I think the little money that we are given for cutting down a tree could in any way compare to the benefits we gain from it.
04:03 Elphick Tosi also visits schools in Kilifi to raise awareness about the trees among young people.
04:10 He tells them about their significance for the local ecosystem and shows how to plant them correctly.
04:18 We want to have a community that understands better about the environment,
04:23 a community that knows that they can be able to make a living from environmental things that they do.
04:31 And as we are focused in planting one million fruit trees in 400 schools in Kilifi County,
04:36 we want a future that all schools in Kilifi County have fruit orchards.
04:44 It's an ambitious plan which the activist is pursuing with determination.
04:49 Together with students, he's planted more than 200,000 trees so far.