Drought pushes Kenya pastoralists to the brink – “I think pastoralism will be finished because of the droughts. All the animals are dying.”

By Anthony Morland 16 October 2017(IRIN) – Even at the best of times, the people of Turkana live on the edge. Almost all of the 1.3 million inhabitants of this arid county in northwest Kenya endure extreme poverty.Malnutrition rates are among the highest in the country. Since much of the land here is unsuitable for […]

Loss of fertile land fuels looming crisis across Africa – “We are basically reaching the end of the road”

By Jeffery Gettleman 29 July 2017 LAIKIPIA, Kenya (The New York Times) – The two elders, wearing weather-beaten cowboy hats with the strings cinched under their chins, stood at the edge of an empty farm, covering their mouths in disbelief. Their homes — neat wooden cabins — had been smashed open. All their cattle had […]

After months of water rationing, Nairobi may run dry – “Our underground rivers have dried up”

By Cathy Watson 24 July 2017 (The Guardian) – For the team managing Nairobi’s water, the stakes have never been so high. Water-rationing has been going on in Kenya’s capital since 1 January 2017, and supplies might run dry by September. The last two rainy seasons were dismal; more rain is not expected until October […]

UN warns of worsening hunger in East Africa amid third consecutive failed rainy season

14 July 2017 (United Nations) – The third consecutive failed rainy season in East Africa has seriously eroded families’ resilience, and urgent and effective livelihood support is required, the United Nations agricultural agency has warned. According to an alert released today by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), poor rains have worsened hunger and left […]

Kuki Gallmann, “I Dreamed of Africa” author, is shot in Kenya – “It’s more dangerous now: More weapons, more young men without role models, without prospects, without an education, without a future”

By Jeffery Gettleman23 April 2017 NAIROBI, Kenya (The New York Times) – Kuki Gallmann could feel the ring of danger tightening around her. Over the past few days, Mrs. Gallmann, one of Kenya’s most famous conservationists and the author of the best-selling book. I Dreamed of Africa, sent me a flurry of increasingly distressed text […]

The Tana River, Kenya’s lifeblood, strains under development and drought

By Nathan Siegel14 April 2017 (Mongabay) – Every morning, Abdu Hajy, 65, takes his canoe out into the murky waters of the Tana River Delta to fish. He’s been following the same routine, in his hometown of Kipini on the Kenyan coast, for the last four decades. But he is not sure how much longer […]

Satao II, one of the last “giant tusker” elephants, killed in Kenya by poachers

By Caroline Mortimer 7 March 2017 (Independent) – One of Kenya’s last tusker elephants has been killed by poachers, conservationists have said.  Satao II’s body was found during a routine aerial reconnaissance by the Kenyan Wildlife Service (KWS) near the Voi river in Tsavo East National Park, according to the Tsavo Trust, a non profit […]

Populist autocrats threaten human rights in 2017 – “We forget at our peril the demagogues of the past: the fascists, communists, and their ilk”

Washington, DC, 12 January 2017 (Human Rights Watch) – The rise of populist leaders in the United States and Europe poses a dangerous threat to basic rights protections while encouraging abuse by autocrats around the world, Human Rights Watch said today in launching its World Report 2017 [pdf]. Donald Trump’s election as US president after […]

New solutions needed to tackle mounting sovereign debt crisis – UN trade and development agency

26 October 2016 (UN) – Prior to a meeting today at the United Nations on sovereign debt restructuring, the UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) announced that in order to deal with sovereign debt crises – which are creating a growing threat to economic stability in many developing countries – the world is in […]

Feeding 10 billion people by 2050 will require 4 million hectares of new land each year: UN

18 October 2016 (UN) – The head of the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification told delegations gathered in Nairobi, Kenya, to assess the treaty’s implementation, the impacts of land degradation affect the sustainability of the entire world, so a global effort is needed to tackle it, including through the UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable […]

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