Herbivore is a Permaculture Design Company & Online Plant Nursery specialising in Lucky Bamboo's, Orchids, Desert Roses, & other exotic tropical plants.

Our founder, Suraj Shah, started this project from his family home in Thika (Kenya) where he grew up surrounded by a family who were passionate about farming and gardening. With the green fingers passed down through generations, Suraj is a Permaculture Design Consultant and a passionate herb (amongst many other vegetables and fruits) gardener having grown herbs for over 10 years both commercially and for domestic use. 

Herbivore started off designing, Installing and Maintaining Regenerative gardens (both private and commercial), using Permaculture Design Strategies which transformed any garden or property into a thriving, easily manageable systems of bio diverse, interconnected eco system full of plants, beneficial creatures and landscape features. 

Herbivore is now dedicated to Permaculture-driven Reforestation, focusing on restoring limestone quarries and reforesting mangrove and terrestrial forests in Africa. We plant trees at a scale where nature most needs us. We oversee every step of the process, including project planning, field tree planting, and monitoring. Africa's forests are being grown and the environment is being restored with the help of our partners.

 

Core Values

At Herbivore, we prioritise:

 

  • Healthy ecosystems depend on healthy land: Enhancing soil fertility, retaining more water, and halting land degradation are just a few advantages of land restoration. It also contributes to biodiversity conservation by supporting the general health of ecosystems by giving plants, animals, and microorganisms a place to live.
  • Globally, land degradation presents serious challenges: Land degradation is caused by activities including deforestation, unsustainable agricultural methods, urbanization, and mining, and it affects an estimated 25% of the Earth's land area. As a result, there is an ecological imbalance in nature, and humans lose out on essential ecosystem services that sustain our way of life.

 

  • Different strategies are needed for land restoration: The kind and degree of land degradation as well as the requirements of the surrounding communities influence the restoration approaches used. To improve soil health and productivity, these strategies may include planting native plants, putting sustainable land management techniques into place, creating protected areas, and implementing agroforestry systems.

 

Key Offerings

Herbivore specializes in:

  • Restoring land is essential to halting climate change: Considerable volumes of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere are absorbed and stored by healthy soils, which function as carbon sinks. Soils contain around 80% of the carbon contained in terrestrial ecosystems. Restoring degraded lands can aid in greenhouse gas emission reduction, carbon sequestration, and global climate change mitigation efforts.
  • Involving local parties is necessary for effective land restoration: Long-term success and resilience in land restoration initiatives are ensured when local communities are involved in restoration operations. This also deepens their relationship to the land, empowers them with sustainable livelihoods, and ensures their participation.
  • With Mombasa Cement Ltd., our current partner, we have successfully finished a seven-month test phase on a 55-acre limestone mine. During this time, we planted 10,000 terrestrial trees and 35,000 different species of mangrove trees.
  • Herbivore is now Mombasa Cement's official partner for mine reforestation. Together, we will be restoring just under 5,000 acres of former mine land, planting an estimated 1,000,000 mangrove trees that are expected to absorb an estimated 1,025 tonnes of carbon annually.

 

What sets Herbivore apart: 

  • The restoration principles of the Institute for Human and Environmental Security at United Nations University serve as the foundation for our principles.
  • In the battle against climate change, mangrove forests are a crucial tool. This is the reason Herbivore has pledged to implement an extensive strategy to plant 7 million mangroves between 2023 and 2030.
  • Our projects are managed in collaboration with neighborhood non-profits in each project area, offering numerous vital advantages to the environment and people alike.

 

Future Goals 

Looking ahead, Herbivore aim’s to: 

  • Large-Scale Reforestation for Climate Action: Herbivore's primary goal is to combat climate change by undertaking large-scale reforestation projects, with a focus on planting diverse trees, especially mangroves, to sequester carbon and restore ecosystems.
  • Holistic Land Restoration and Rehabilitation: Herbivore aims to rehabilitate degraded lands, particularly limestone quarries and terrestrial forests, using permaculture-driven approaches. The goal is to create bio-diverse forest landscapes that support ecosystems, conserve biodiversity, and prevent further land degradation.
  • Community Engagement and Sustainable Impact: Herbivore seeks to make a lasting positive impact by involving local communities in restoration efforts, providing sustainable livelihoods, and adhering to UN principles. The organization aims to establish long-term partnerships with stakeholders to ensure the continued success of restoration projects and contribute to social and environmental well-being.