Several villages are located in the area surrounding the proposed Mount Moco Special Reserve, although only one village is located right at the foot of the mountain. This is the village of Kanjonde. Most people here live a subsistence lifestyle and grow crops in small fields, keep chickens, ducks, goats or cattle, and harvest natural resources. Unfortunately their use of wood for fire and construction (chairs, doors and windows) is unsustainable and causing the decline of the few remaining forest patches at Mount Moco. Additionally, ever-expanding farm fields are positioned in the moister, more fertile valleys, eating away at the forest patches. Our conservation work will therefore be carried out in close collaboration with the people of Kanjonde – as although they are the current cause of the disappearance of the forests they are also the ones who have the most to loose from the demise of the forests. Our work will include finding alternatives for the use of wood as construction material, improve their efficiency of wood use starting with the implementation of efficient cooking stoves, and to launch a reforestation programme.

The village of Kanjonde is located at the foot of Mount Moco and has around 330 inhabitants