The project that MAFY aims to implement recognizes that there is a lot of untapped potential in renewable forest products including non-timber forest products and commodity trees. Koya is a very important chiefdom for closed high forests and biodiversity. The Gola Rainforest, the Tiwai Wildlife Sanctuary and the Kambui Forests are all part-hosted in the chiefdom. But degradation rates have risen as high as 7% by some estimates since the end of the country?s civil war. In recent times, with a growing local population, poaching and logging have added their negative impacts to that of slash-and-burn farming. Even artisanal mining has been reported in parts of the Gola Rainforest area. The project is confident that a process of behavior change can be fostered through a combination of education and awareness raising and support for viable climate-smart livelihood alternatives to current antiquated farming practices. Koya is very rich in non-timber forest products like cane, raffia and rattan. But value addition and linkage to markets have meant that very low income has been fetched. The uptake from locals of crafting as way of value addition has been rather low. With the right linkages and training support, communities can sustainably harvest rattan and raffia which are quickly renewable and the benefits from the income fetched can be spread to the wider community for the forest product. Benefit sharing is a key component of community forest management. By fostering a process of active management of Koya?s community forests, the project will be incentivizing sustainable forest management in a biodiversity hotspot that is in much need of it. Millenium Agro Forestry Youth aims to set in motion a process of behavior change involving diversified yet viable livelihoods that are forest dependent. This way, the community gets to see the interconnectedness between the wellbeing of the forest and the wellbeing of the community. The project additionally will support diversified livelihoods that make for more sustainable use of rural lands. Inland valley swamp cultivation of rice and semi-intensive poultry production in the backyards of rural households will significantly transform household incomes. This will be underpinned by some increased access to financing that will come about from the establishment of village savings and loans associations. This will make families more resilient to pressures around food and finance. It will also make them less likely to engage in unsustainable and destructive activities to the forest ecosystem