By Faith Muteti
A leading mining company Base Titanium has been lauded for doing world standard rehabilitation practice at the area where mining took place before conclusion in 2014 in Kwale.
Base Titanium has also been lauded for being environmental champions with people of all walks of life visiting its site to learn more about environment and rehabilitation.
Community Empowerment on Environmental Change (CEEC), in partnership with Beacon Teachers Africa, visited the area to learn more about the company’s environmental rehabilitation practices after mining.
Their visit aimed to expose participants to sustainable land restoration methods and promote environmental conservation through practical learning experiences.
During the tour, the participants drawn from different parts of the country learned how the company restores mined-out areas by refilling pits and planting indigenous tree species.
The company has established seedling nurseries and focuses on restoring native vegetation to ensure ecological balance and long-term sustainability.
Community Empowerment on Environmental Change founder Jivas Muthiani, said that they had gained valuable insights into post-mining restoration.
“We have learnt how we are going to rehabilitate the land after mining, and the systems and mechanisms Base Titanium uses to plant seeds and restore the environment,” said Muthiani.
He said that the knowledge and practices being used to do restoration is commendable and should be emulated by other mining companies in the country.
Beacon Teachers Africa CEO Dr. Joan Mwende, the organization that advocates for the rights of children and provides psychosocial support to teachers, also expressed her appreciation for the opportunity.
“We thank Base Titanium for giving us the opportunity to interact with their rehabilitated environment. Without a good environment, children can’t thrive. We have gained skills to educate children to be protectors of the environment in this era of climate change,” said Dr. Mwende.
Dr. Mwende further highlighted the organization’s broader mission beyond environmental education:
“At Beacon Teachers, we strive every day to give teachers alternative tools for managing child discipline within schools since caning was abolished. Because of that, a lot of violence has been mitigated from schools. Even when the environment and people’s hearts are harsh, they are affected- so in building a better environment, we are helping the population in general to have better hearts where children can thrive,” added Dr Mwende.
Representatives from both organizations commended Base Titanium for its commitment to environmental conservation and sustainable mining.
They noted that the lessons learned would help them strengthen their own community-based initiatives on environmental restoration and awareness.
The partnership between CEEC and Beacon Teachers Africa aims to empower communities, educators, and learners with knowledge on environmental sustainability, ensuring that conservation messages are spread through schools and local communities.
The visit concluded with a call for more collaboration between mining companies, educators, and environmental groups to promote responsible mining and effective rehabilitation efforts across the country.
Beacon Teachers Africa member from Kinango Damien Mwashighadi said that the experiences at the Base Titanium sites would be passed to other teachers and children in school in a bid to create a generation that cares for nature.
