Conservation

Kenya’s leading environmental organizations, the Green Belt Movement and Greenpeace Africa, have strongly condemned the government’s decision to lift the logging ban in the Mau Forest Complex. They warn the move threatens Kenya’s water towers, undermines climate resilience, and risks erasing years of progress in forest conservation. With the Mau at the heart of the country’s water security, activists say reopening it to logging is an environmental and economic disaster in the making.

Kenya’s iconic coffee industry faces a grim future, with a new FAO report warning that up to 90% of current coffee-growing areas could become unsuitable by 2050 due to rising temperatures, erratic rainfall, and deforestation. The country’s smallholder farmers — who produce most of its arabica beans — stand to lose the most unless urgent climate adaptation, reforestation, and agroforestry measures are taken.

When a deadly mine disaster struck a Chinese-run site in Africa, the tragedy exposed not just unsafe labor practices — but the deeper inequities at the heart of the global green transition. Behind the silence lies a question of justice: Who pays the price for the world’s hunger for minerals?

Kenya’s new Wildlife Conservation and Management Act 2025 marks a turning point in protecting biodiversity by placing communities at the center of conservation. With tougher penalties for poaching, expanded compensation for human–wildlife conflict, and revenue-sharing for local communities, the law aims to secure Kenya’s wildlife future through equity and accountability.

Kenya has recorded a rare environmental victory, gaining 173,000 hectares of forest since 1990 — a stark contrast to regional trends of massive deforestation. According to FAO’s Global Forest Resources Assessment 2025, Kenya’s forest cover now spans 3.9 million hectares, thanks to reforestation, community conservation, and ambitious national policies like Vision 2030 and the 10% tree cover goal. As Africa continues to lose millions of hectares to farming and charcoal, Kenya’s steady green recovery offers a model for resilience and climate action.

Deforestation across the world is slowing, marking a hopeful shift in global forest conservation. According to FAO’s 2025 Global Forest Resources Assessment, the planet’s forests now cover 4.14 billion hectares, with more than half under long-term management plans. Yet challenges remain, as millions of hectares continue to vanish each year under the strain of climate change and human activity.

In Samburu, Kenya, elephants once faced devastating drought and conflict, but local communities and conservationists are working to restore their ancient migration routes. Through efforts led by Save the Elephants and local hero Benjamin Loloju, new corridors are being mapped to keep elephants and people moving safely together across a rapidly changing landscape.

Across Kenya and beyond, guava leaves have long been used in traditional medicine to ease stomach discomfort, treat diarrhea, and calm bloating. Modern science is now catching up with what our elders knew all along.

Across Africa, women are rewriting the story of climate resilience. From Ghana’s dry-season farmers restoring livelihoods to Kenyan coastal women reviving octopus fisheries, local innovation and traditional wisdom are merging to protect both people and the planet.