ABSTRACT Many developing countries have been decentralizing some aspects of natural resource management. Governments justify decentralization as a means of increasing access, use, management, and decision making on natural resources. In Kenya, decentralisation points to conflict resolution whether explicitly or implicitly. However, the questions of to what degree and in what ways decentralization affect conflict in management of natural resources in Kenya have largely been overlooked. Thus, t...
ABSTRACT Mount Kenya Reserve is vital to the livelihood of the local populations who revere it. The forest reserve is of vital ecological, economic and environmental importance and is recognized as a world heritage site. The forest reserve serves as a water catchment reservoir for nearly a third of Kenya‟s population and feeds the country‟s largest River Tana, which in turn supports hydro electric plants that provide more than 50% of the country‟s electricity. The forest reserve is curr...
ABSTRACT Human activites have shaped the world over the years. Survival instincts prompted early man to explore his immediate natural surroundings and try many plants, animal products and minerals to develop a variety of therapeutical agents. W.H.O currently encourages, recommends and promotes research and inclusion of herbal drugs into national health care programmes. Indiscriminate destruction of forests and wood lands has led to reducing biodiversity that is increasingly causing disappear...
ABSTRACT Poverty has often been seen as a purely rural problem but for many developing countries, the pervasive nature of urban poverty constitutes an enormous challenge for policy makers and in development efforts. Poverty reduction tools and approaches that have been developed for rural poverty reduction cannot be replicated in urban areas because urban poverty is different in nature from rural poverty hence, understanding the nature of urban poverty as well as having accurate data that pr...
ABSTRACT About 90% of Kenya's rural population relies on wood fuel to meet their daily cooking energy needs. The consequences of over reliance on biomass energy are far reaching with adverse effects on the economic, social and environmental spheres of sustainability. Animals are an important source of food and income for many rural people, but their manure is a source of one of the world‟s most potent greenhouse gases. Turning manure into biogas, as an alternative source of energy has not ...
ABSTRACT Dust pollution in quarries pose various health risks to the workers including respiratory ailments, skin and eye problems. Depending on the chemical composition and the concentration of the dust, the workers are exposed to inhalation of silica bearing dust thus being at risk of developing silicosis, a fatal lung disease. Information on the chemical composition of the quarry dust is important as it forms a vital baseline for among others the detection of the undesirable health effects...
ABSTRACT Management of wastes – industrial or otherwise – is a primary step in safeguarding human health. The media, with its agenda-setting role, is important in as far as highlighting the health hazards of poor management of waste is concerned. This study, therefore, focuses on the media and the management of industrial discharge in Nairobi. The objectives of the study were: to determine the volumes of effluent waste emissions by industries; evaluation of industrial effluent discharge a...
ABSTRACT The problem of how to dispose human waste has remained a global challenge in a world that is increasingly bound by constraints of resources population growth, rapid urbanization and corresponding levels of poverty and disease, the pressure for appropriate and sustainable solutions is mounting. Despite continued efforts to promote sanitation, a significant number of the world‟s population is still without basic sanitation. Kibera slums suffer from lack of improved sanitation facilit...
ABSTRACT Kilifi town (study area) is in Kilifi County, Kenya. Groundwater samples were collected from wells which were close (≤30m) from pit latrines and (≤2.5Km) from refuse dumpsite. Ten wells, namely wells number (1- 10) were purposively sampled during wet season (July, August and September, 2011) and also during dry season (January, February and March, 2012), with the aim of assessing the physicochemical and biological impacts of the leachate from the dumpsite and the pit latrines on ...
ABSTRACT Climate variability and change are some of the most pressing environmental challenges of the globe and are associated with complexity and extreme events mainly drought and floods. Among small scale farming communities in Sub-Saharan Africa including Kenya, climate variability and change have been a more tasking challenge compared to the rest of the regions. There is little understanding of the vulnerability to climate change among such households in Wote based on their socio economic...
ABSTRACT Climate change impacts have been exacerbated by extreme weather events among others and have led to disappearance of certain species of both food crops and trees. The adaptive capacity of the local community has mainly been on mitigation by basic methods that are mostly traditional in practice and knowledge. An investigation on how different institutions work together towards mitigating climate change through decentralization of forest resources was conducted among communities l...
ABSTRACT Charcoal is a major form of biomass fuel for approximately 80% of the Kenyan population. However, the use of charcoal is associated with indoor air pollution where charcoal users are continually exposed to compounds of incomplete combustion which are known to have detrimental effects to human health. This study analyzed the emission profiles of different types of domestically used charcoal produced by different pyrolysis methods. Charcoal samples from three tree species Acacia polyac...
ABSTRACT Soil nutrient depletion has been recognized as one of the major biophysical constraints affecting agricultural production in Sub Saharan Africa. Despite many researches that have developed various soil fertility management options, few of the recommendations from these researches have been put into use by the targeted end users. This has been associated with low levels of knowledge and understanding about these technologies among the stakeholders. The objective of the study was there...
ABSTRACT Environmental degradation poses a major threat to the existence of humanity today both in rural and urban settlements. In such a scenario, the importance and need for environmental education as a tool for environmental management and conservation cannot be overemphasized. To raise environmental literacy level among Kenyans, Environmental Education is taught using both interdisciplinary and multi-disciplinary approaches. Research has shown that students in urban centers are more envir...
ABSTRACT In Kenya, the forest ecosystem has undergone such considerable degradation that the country’s forest cover is only 3% of the total land area, way below the internationally recommended level of 10% cover. From independence, only the government was involved in forest management. Despite this, the country’s forest cover continued to deteriorate. To stem this decline, the Kenyan Government enacted the Forests Act, 2005, which allows for the participation of both government and commun...