The Jewish National Fund (KKL-JNF) signed a memorandum of understanding with Kenya to help the African nation restore forests in dry areas, The Jerusalem Post reported Thursday.

The agreement will govern how KKL-JNF will assist Kenya in forestation and optimal water utilization efforts.

At the signing ceremony in Jerusalem, KKL-JNF chairman Danny Atar said the memorandum “illustrates the great importance KKL-JNF holds as an international environmental organization in sharing its knowledge and experience with the world.”

“Through support in and development of arid and semi-arid regions in Kenya, which suffer from a lack of food security, KKL-JNF helps prevent climate refugee emigration and radicalization in the area,” he added.

Dry land ecosystems often don’t get the attention they deserve, even though they comprise roughly 40% of habitable land and are home to some 30% of the world’s population, Kenya’s Cabinet Secretary for Environment and Natural Resources, Prof. Judi Wakhungu, said at the ceremony.

Because these areas face significant ecological challenges, they are often populated by some “the most disenfranchised and marginalized people in the world,” she noted.

“As we proceed to implement the MoU, we shall come up with designs and appropriate mechanisms for restoration of degraded dry land spaces and the establishment of forests in the dry lands,” Wakhungu added.

[Photo: KKLJNFWorldwide / YouTube ]