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Environmental issues

Environmental issues in Kenya include deforestation, soil erosion, desertification, water shortage and degraded water quality, flooding, poaching, and domestic and industrial pollution. W

Sustainability initiatives

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  • OTEPIC, Organic Technology Extension and Promotion of Initiative Centre
  • The Green Belt Movement, The Green Belt Movement (GBM) is an indigenous grassroots non-governmental organization based in Nairobi, Kenya that takes a holistic approach to development by focusing on environmental conservation, community development and capacity building. Professor Wangari Maathai established the organization in 1977, under the auspices of the National Council of Women of Kenya.
The Green Belt Movement organises women in rural Kenya to plant trees, combat deforestation, restore their main source of fuel for cooking, generate income, and stop soil erosion. Maathai has incorporated advocacy and empowerment for women, eco-tourism, and just economic development into the Green Belt Movement.
Since Maathai started the movement in 1977, over 51 million trees have been planted. Over 30,000 women trained in forestry, food processing, bee-keeping, and other trades that help them earn income while preserving their lands and resources. Communities in Kenya (both men and women) have been motivated and organised to both prevent further environmental destruction and restore that which has been damaged.
In 2004, Wangari Maathai received the Nobel Peace Prize – becoming the first African woman to win the Nobel Peace Prize – for her work with the Green Belt Movement. W

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Initiatives by topic

Biodiversity

PORINI Welfare Association, Kenya based non-profit organization

Darwin initiative projects in Kenya

Communities online

Ushahidi, youtube: Ushahidi's channel

Ushahidi, Inc. is a non-profit software company that develops free and open-source software (LGPL) for information collection, visualisation, and interactive mapping. Ushahidi (Swahili for "testimony" or "witness") created a website in the aftermath of Kenya's disputed 2007 presidential election that collected eyewitness reports of violence reported by email and text message and placed them on a Google Maps map.

The organisation uses the concept of crowdsourcing for social activism and public accountability, serving as an initial model for what has been coined as "activist mapping"—the combination of social activism, citizen journalism and geospatial information. Ushahidi offers products that enable local observers to submit reports using their mobile phones or the internet, while simultaneously creating a temporal and geospatial archive of events. W

Community and voluntary action

Art Outreach Programme

Community currencies activism

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Koru Kenya

Community energy

Geothermal power in Kenya W

Food activism

Permaculture Research Institute Kenya

Solar cooking resources in Kenya

Blogs: Share Organic Live

Social inclusion

Koru Kenya

Towards sustainable economies

After the Kenyan elections (Oct 2017), the charity GiveDirectly plans to initiate a 12-year randomized controlled trial (RCT) testing the effects of universal basic income on villages in rural Kenya. [1]

basic income, GiveDirectly

Trees, woodland and forest

Roots Movement

News and comment

2018

Thriving communities and thriving ecosystems through the bee, Jan 22 [2]

2017

Grassroots Economics: Complementary Currencies for community resilience in Kenya, Feb 22 [3]

2016

Solar Power Helps Raise Income Levels In Kenya, Dec 17 [4]

The world's largest experiment in giving people free money launches in October — here's how it'll work, Sep 26 [5]

2015

How I turned Sh150,000 savings into a 16 Million farming business, November 22 [6]

Africa's largest windfarm set to connect remote Kenya to the grid, Ocotber 9 [7]

Young Kenyan Sees Permaculture Seeding Peace, August 19 [8]

Kenyan Pastoralists Fighting Climate Change Through Food Forests [9] July 30

The startup that's powering rural Africa with affordable, smart microgrids, May 13 [10]

2014

86.5 percent of the new jobs in Kenya last year were off-the-books and informal. [11]

Kenya to generate over half of its electricity through solar power by 2016, [12] January 17

2011

Africa's largest Geothermal Power Station, Olkaria generates over 150 Megawatts (MW) into the national grid, with Kenya aiming for 1200 MW by 2018, [13] April 2

2010

2010 SEED Award Winners, [14] 3 November

"Backpack Farm Agriculture Program". This initiative enables food autonomy for rural communities by providing small landholders with a dynamic set of agricultural tools, comprehensive training and monitoring - delivered and distributed in a canvas backpack.

"Papyrus Reeds, Our Future Hope" is a sustainable enterprise that harvests and processes papyrus reeds and crafts them into high-quality baskets, purses, carpets, chairs, sleeping mats and blankets, using the waste as natural manure. Community-based youth organisations and a local research institution implement the initiative.

"Solanterns: Replacing 1 Million Kerosene Lanterns with 1 Million Solar Lanterns". The partners of this innovative initiative are a private company, a local NGO and a microfinance institution that provide economic, environmental and health benefits to both rural and urban households by sourcing and distributing solar lanterns and training youth micro-entrepreneurs.

"Community-Based Medicinal Plant Enterprise for Biodiversity Conservation". This pioneering enterprise initiated by a community-based organisation and national and international government and research institutions generates alternative means of income and awareness for the value of biodiversity within rural communities based on the commercial cultivation and processing of indigenous medicinal plants.

"Village Cereal Aggregation Centres (VCAC)". A local commercial entity has joined forces with the national government, the financial sector and cereal buyers to establish mobile post-harvest management centres in villages - enabling farmers to deliver high-quality grain to the market value chain and encouraging more participation of youth in cereal production.

"EcoPost - Fencing Posts from Recycled Post-Consumer Waste Plastic". International and national NGOs have launched this unique initiative to recycle waste plastic into aesthetic, durable and environmentally-friendly fencing posts and consequently reduce plastic litter on streets and open fields. By providing an alternative fencing material to traditional wood, EcoPost contributes towards the conservation of forests.

"Commercialization of Prosopis Juliflora Products from Affected Areas". A local community-based NGO, the FAO and a Kenyan company and research institute have mobilized efforts to control the undesirable spread of the Prosopis tree by promoting its commercial use as charcoal, timber and pods for livestock feed. The development of a sustainable national market will maximize returns to local communities.

20,000 tree seedlings planted in the Kiptunga area of the Mau Forest Complex, Kenya, 15 January, [15] January 15. Mau, the largest indigenous forest in East Africa and Kenya's most vital water tower, covers some 270,000 hectares. After Mau, restoration will also take place in Mt. Kenya, Aberdares, Mt. Elgon and the rest of Kenya's forests and water catchment areas with the aim of increasing the forest cover from the current 1.7 percent to 10 percent by the year 2020.

2009

Kenya aiming to restore vital Mau forest, [16] September 9

Kenya to build Africa's biggest windfarm, [17] July 27

Kenya: Devastating drought worsens human-wildlife conflict, [18] July 20. Kenya is experiencing the worst drought in more than a decade according to the country's meteorological department. This drought has been felt throughout the country, but it is more visible among the Maasai community who's primary source of livelihood is cattle.

2009 SEED Award Winners, [19] May 12

"MakaaZingira" produces FSC certified charcoal for conservation and livelihood creation. A national NGO, a community-based organisation and a small business network aim to establish a sustainable eco-charcoal production model, helping small scale farmers to replace unsustainable practices while also bringing social benefits.

"Integrated plastics recovery and recycling flagship project". A project carried out by a large and a small business in partnership with a national NGO, aiming to offer the most viable option to recycling of dirty polythenes into plastic poles. It works to improve and strengthen livelihood assets for poor and marginalised youth and women.

Kenya, Malawi, Tanzania and Zambia: "Sunny Money - solar micro-franchising". International NGOs and community-based organisations in Kenya, Malawi, Tanzania and Zambia have created a micro-franchise named Sunny Money, which recruits, trains and supports a growing network of solar entrepreneurs in East Africa, especially deaf and disabled people, helping them build and sell solar kits to power lights, radios and mobile phones.

Extensive forest fires are affecting several of Kenya's key moisture reservoirs including the 400,000-hectare Mau Forest Complex, Kenya's largest forest and the source of water for at least twelve rivers. [20] March 25. Important Rift Valley Lakes, including Lake Victoria, the source of the River Nile, depend on the rivers which are fed from the forest. Noor Hassan Noor, the Rift Valley Provincial Commissioner said that between 25 and 35 per cent of the eastern Mau forest has been lost so far as a result of the fire

2008

Linking sport and the environment to the peace and poverty agenda in Kenya, [21] June 18

Resources

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iCow

Citizens data initiative

Mzalendo, detailed
 Members 
of Parliament
 (MP) 
profiles, 
a 
searchable 
Hansard, 
scorecards 
and vital
 statistics 
of 
most counties
 and
 constituencies. [22]

Open data: Open Kenya, making public government data accessible to the people of Kenya.

Video

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Local communities in Kenya community action

Interwiki links

Wikipedia: Kenya, Kenya Electricity Generating Company


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