J O U R N A L

Sustainability in action
Volume 29, No. 1 - 2013
 Advert

1
COVER STORY
Contents
Lamu Port Green Print

Africa’s Powerless Solar Power

FEATURES
Green Economy In South Africa

Can markets save Africa’s environment?

Africa’s Quest For Sustainable Fisheries

Marine Bonanza In Kenya’s South Coast

Fishy Fishing In Kenya

Lake Victoria Fisheries: Facing The Wrath Of Pollution

Kenya’s Green Architecture Odyssey

Green Growth In Colombia

Sweden Needs Transition, Rather Than Growth

Painting East Africa Redd+

Sustainability In Africa

Private solutions for Kenya’s water

Somalia’s Fishery Fortune

DEPARTMENTS
Uganda’s green oil opportunity

The Green Economy Conundrum

Sweden’s Solidarity Flow

African Youth’s Climate Journey

 Welcome to the Revitalised Ecoforum!
ECOFORUM
Sustainability in action
The quest for a sustainable world continues in earnest.
Recently Rio+20 brought together some100 Heads of PUBLISHER:
Environment Liaison
State and government, along with thousands of Centre International (ELCI)
representatives from civil society and private sector. Over
40,000 people – including parliamentarians, mayors, CHIEF EDITOR:
David Bwakali
UN officials, chief executive officers and civil society
leaders – attended Rio+20. Over 50 million people EDITORIAL TEAM:
Halinishi Yusuf, Kennedy Orwa,
worldwide also participated through social media & Benson Arudo
platforms, voicing their comments, opinions and
ADMINISTRATION
ideas.
LETTER FROM THE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

Richard Opado & Herine Ochola

ELCI initiated Ecoforum journal to facilitate this GRAPHICS & DESIGN:

Benchmark Solutions Co. Ltd.
kind of connection, enabling cross-pollination with ideas, and
fostering vibrant debates so much needed for negotiated leadership towards DISTRIBUTION:
Herine Ochola
achieving development in its three stands of social, economic and environmental
contexts. Ecoforum therefore brings together civil society, government, academia STRATEGIC MARKETING PARTNER
Benchmark Solutions Co. Ltd.
and private sector leaders in a virtual forum to discuss and provide negotiated
solutions for the global environment.
Ecoforum Journal is published
quarterly by the Environment Liaison
Since its inception in the seventies, the journal has seen many great years, Centre International (ELCI), a network
of organisations working for a healthier
influencing behaviour and causing change. For example, early 2000, Ecoforum environment and more sustainable
coined the forum that brought a halt to forest excisions in Kenya. In 2001, Her world. The magazine focuses on
practical, innovative solutions to the
Majesty Queen Noor of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan awarded the global region’s environment and social
2001 Reuters - IUCN Media Award for excellence in environmental journalism challenges.
to Dee Raymer of the Ecoforum, at a ceremony held in Berlin, 5 December. Many
The views expressed in Ecoforum do
years later, ELCI continued to receive enquiries from conservationists seeking not necessarily reflect those of ELCI or
technical support in wetlands management, following Dee Raymer’s article. Other its members and partners. Ecoforum
accepts the information contributed by
awards have followed this, and it is our resolve to maintain these standards. authors, networking organisations and
advertisers as factual and correct.
Reproduction of material published in
Welcome to the revitalised Ecoforum! It is the intention of ELCI to keep the Ecoforum is encouraged, but those
journal at the edge of journalism, ensuring it becomes an even more practical tool, wishing to do so must acknowledge
providing solutions in the domain of environment and sustainable development. the source.

Now with an online platform, Ecoforum is set to engage the biggest ever audience Subscriptions to Ecoforum (4 issues) is
across the globe. Through the online platform, we have provided possibilities for Ksh 6,375/- in Kenya and $75 outside
Kenya payable to ELCI.
online subscription – in keeping with the philosophy and trends of green growth. See subscription form for details.
We have also provided the possibilities for online debates, as well as real time
Cover Art: Steve Mwanza
monitoring of, and interaction with important global negotiations on environment
and sustainable development. Registered with the GPO as a
newspaper

In this issue, we have chosen Green Growth, a development philosophy moving Printed on environmentally friendly
the world towards embracing sustainability. Green growth means promoting paper.

economic growth while reducing pollution and greenhouse gas emissions,

Ecoforum Journal
minimising waste, causing efficient use of natural resources, maintaining Environment Liaison Centre
biodiversity, and improving health prospects for populations and strengthening International (ELCI)
ICIPE Complex, Kasarani Road
energy security through less dependence on fossil fuels, and increased application PO Box 72461-00200 Nairobi Kenya
of renewable energy sources. It also means making investment in the environment Tel: +254 722 207 630,
+254 735 721 376
as a driver for sustainable economic growth. E-mail: ecoforum@elci.org
Web: www.ecoforumjournal.org
Ecoforum is more or less open source. We welcome you, our readers, to engage
actively and suggest ways to make Ecoforum a more effective tool for
environmental solutions, whether from policy or on-the-ground intervention
standpoints. This will be our, and your contribution towards getting the world to
speak with one voice towards a sustainable world and human development.

Kennedy Orwa - Executive Director

Sponsors

UKaid
from the British people
 This Journal is unlike any that you have ever
seen. I know that this is an audacious

Editorial
statement but it is accurate nonetheless. For
starters, it is a journal and a magazine rolled
into one. Our goal is to speak to the
environmentally informed, those who are
seeking environmental information and those
who just want to know something new.

The nexus of environment and development is

probably the most scrutinized in the history of
mankind! Our features focus on this nexus
from diverse angles. Written by writers who
are experts in their respective fields, these
features are anchored in fact but clothed in an
easy-to-read style. Our goal is to inform you in
a simple way. I am a strong believer that
communication is at its most powerful at its
simplest point.

Touted as Africa’s next Dubai, development

of Lamu Port is well underway but still in its
Photo credit: DJ Bwakali

incipient stages. My article argues for

development of this port to be on
environmental cornerstones, as opposed to
mere environmental considerations in the
course of port development.

Mark Hankins, a solar expert with more than twenty years experience in this sector, sheds a million beams of
insights into the solar energy debate and debacle. His feature will remind you why the sun is so powerful that
we can’t afford to treat its immeasurable power in a mini-fashion.

Arthi Sanpath, a journalist from South Africa takes a panoramic view of green growth in South Africa. She
argues succinctly that green can and must be a part of economic growth in Africa’s biggest economy. Philip and
Leonard, from Canada and Kenya respectively, pick up parts of Arthi’s argument and apply them on a continental
level. Their article answers the question, ‘can markets provide solutions for Africa’s environmental challenges?’
Since this Journal has a strong interactive online platform, we look forward to reading your own answers to this
question. Just log on to www.ecoforumjournal.org and share your thoughts!

When is the last time that you ate fish? Dr Sloans Chimatiro the head of the Fisheries Programme in NEPAD may
not be able to answer this question, but his feature addresses Africa’s fisheries dynamics in a highly informative
manner. This feature exemplifies our objective of sharing with you articles written by people who know what
they are talking about. Halinishi from Environment Liaison Centre International picks up the fisheries baton from
Dr Chimatiro and writes creatively about Kenya’s fisheries challenges and opportunities.

We urge you to follow Halinishi’s lead and also tell us about the promise of fisheries – how can this sector create
more jobs, enhance more livelihoods while remaining sustainable. Log on to our website and talk to us because
this journal is a platform for honest, relevant and informed discussions.

Another question for you – have you ever been to Kenya’s South Coast? If the answer is no, then ‘Marine
Bonanza in Kenya’s South Coast’ is a must read. It is written by three marine experts who also know what they
are talking about. I have worked in this area that their feature is based on and I can tell you for a fact that it is
teeming with marine treasures that can potentially make a world of a difference not just in the lives of the local
people, but also along Africa’s East Coast.
 Photo Credit: Cathy Nanzala

Ships and boats off the coast of Wasini Island.

This is a Journal with a global outlook, hence the features from Sweden and Netherlands. The one from Sweden
is interestingly titled, ‘Sweden needs transition rather than growth.’ It makes for interesting reading and we look
forward to your feedback on the author’s fresh views. Kjell, the author of this feature, also happens to be the
editor of Sweden's only cultural magazine about sustainability and climate change, so she also knows what she
is talking about!

The article from Netherlands is one of the two articles in our Frank Talk department. It is written by Timothé,
whose honest analysis of green growth makes some frank observations. This Journal is also a platform for
vibrant debates that will build bridges and not just point fingers. Similarly frank is Margaret’s article on oil
exploration in Uganda. Although this Journal is a one hundred percent proponent of renewable energy, we also
believe that it is better to engage than to shun. We therefore look forward to your frank talk, irrespective of
whether you agree or disagree with us.

Philip, a water expert from the private sector discusses how the private sector can be part of the solution for
Kenya’s perennial water problems. On his part, Nickson, an architect makes the case for green architecture as
Washington from Kenyatta University puts on his gloves and shows you how you can paint East Africa REDD+.
They all know what they talking about, as does Dickson, when he unveils Somali’s fishery fortune. Dickson has
15 years working experience within the Western Indian Ocean covering 9 countries, so truly know what he is
talking about!

Ecoforum Journal belongs to you. This is why I would now like you to read so that you can also know what our
writers know then share with us, together with other readers what you too know.

We are in this together. Let’s talk, let’s write, let’s read and more importantly, let’s take actions that will
entrench sustainability more and more in our world.

Happy reading! David John Bwakali,

Editor, Ecoforum

David John Bwakali is the Editor of Ecoforum Journal. He is

GREENPRINT FOR LAMU also a journalist with Radio France International and the
PORT CEO of Sasafrica, a social enterprise. He has previously
worked with UNEP as a creative writer. While at UNEP, he
also founded and led the Africa Environment Outlook for
THE YOUTHFUL CLIMATE youth project and the Africa Youth Environment Network
JOURNEY initiative.

David John Bwakali

 Contributors
AFRICA’S POWERLESS Mark Hankins has worked has a trainer, project manager
SOLAR POWER and advocate for solar in Africa for over 20 years.

Mark Hankins, Kenya

Arthi Sanpath is a journalist from Durban, South Africa. She

GREEN ECONOMY IN
has previously worked with UNEP on a youth version of the
SOUTH AFRICA Environment Outlook Report.

Arthi Sanpath, South Africa

Philip Osano holds a PhD in Geography (Environmental
Policy) and has conducted research on payments for
CAN MARKETS ecosystem services in South Africa and Kenya. He is at the
Department of Geography, McGill University in Montreal,
SAVE AFRICA’S Canada.
ENVIRONMENT?
Leonard Akwany holds Msc in Environmental Sciences,
Policy and Management (MESPOM) from University of
Manchester. He is the founder of Ecofinder Kenya and
Kinship Conservation Fellow.
Philip Osano, Kenya Leonard Akwany, Kenya

Dr Sloans Chimatiro is a fisheries and aquaculture specialist

AFRICA’S QUEST FOR with more than 20 years experience of research in
SUSTAINABLE fisheries. He is working as the Senior Fisheries Advisor to
FISHERIES NEPAD where he set up the NEPAD Fisheries Programme.

Sergi Pérez is a marine biologist conducting his PhD on the

Dr Sloans Chimatiro,
ecology of the bottlenose dolphin around Kisite-Mpunguti
Malawi
Marine Protected Area with the collaboration of the
Population Ecology group of the Mediterranean Institute
MARINE
for Advanced Studies.
BONANZA
IN Zeno Wijtten is a wildlife biologist, author of several
publications on crocodilians and primates and the country -
KENYA’S director of GVI Kenya.
SOUTH
COAST Inês Gomes has been involved with GVI Kenya since 2008
and is currently starting her PhD on connectivity
Sergi Pérez, Portugal Zeno Wijtten, Portugal Inês Gomes, Portugal assessments of Marine Protected Areas (Universidade de
Aveiro).

Halinishi Yusuf, is a social scientist with an M.A. in

FISHY FISHING IN KENYA Development Studies specializing in Environment and
Sustainable Development. She is currently coordinating a
project dubbed ‘Empowering People and Nature’ at ELCI.

Halinishi Yusuf, Kenya

Nickson Otieno is an architect from the University of

KENYA’S GREEN Nairobi. He is the president of Students for Global
ARCHITECTURE ODYSSEY Sustainability as well as the World Student Community for
Sustainable Development (WSC-SD) Ambassador for Africa.

Nickson Otieno, Kenya

 Contributors
SWEDEN NEEDS Kjell Vowles holds an M.A. both in political science and
journalism, and is currently the editor-in-chief of Effekt,
TRANSITION, RATHER
Sweden's only cultural magazine about sustainability and
THAN GROWTH climate change.

Kjell Vowles, Sweden

Margaret Koli is a graduate of the International Master in

UGANDA’S GREEN OIL Peace, Conflict and Development from the UNESCO Chair
for Peace, Jaume I University, Castellón, Spain. She has
OPPORTUNITY previously been a youth leader with UNEP’s Africa Youth
Environment Network initiative.

Margaret Koli, Kenya

THE GREEN ECONOMY Timothé Feodoroff works with the Transnational Institute
(TNI), Agrarian Justice Programme in Amsterdam.
CONUNDRUM

Timothé Feodoroff, Netherlands

Washington Wachira is currently pursuing a degree in

Environmental Science at Kenyatta University. He is an
PAINTING EAST AFRICA Environmental Ambassador with the National Environment
Management Authority (NEMA) in Kenya.
REDD+

Washington Wachira, Kenya

Benson Arudo is a graduate of Environmental Conservation

SUSTAINABILITY IN AFRICA and Natural Resource Management and is currently
working as a Project Assistant at ELCI.

Benson Arudo, Kenya

Kenneth Ochoa is a researcher on Sustainable Business,

GREEN GROWTH IN
Cleaner Production and Consumption and Environment
COLOMBIA Issues at El Bosque University in Colombia.

Kenneth Ochoa, Colombia

ENGAGING THE PRIVATE Philip Kariuki is a Senior Consultant with Blue Ribbon
SECTOR AS A SOLUTION Concepts Ltd. He has over 15 years consulting and advisory
experience in the public, private and development sector.
TO KENYA’S WATER NEEDS

Philip Kariuki, Kenya

Dishon is a Fisheries Development Expert with over 15

years working experience within the Western Indian Ocean
SOMALIA’S FISHERY covering 9 countries. He previously worked with the World
Wide Fund For Nature (WWF) and the East African Wildlife
FORTUNE
Society (EAWLS). He is currently the East Africa
Representative for Seacology Foundation and a Consultant
with African Nature and NatureCom Group on Marine and
Dishon Murage, Kenya Coastal resource management.
Advert
Cover Story
Lamu Port
GREEN PRINT
I
It was a typical hot
March morning. On this
particular day,
business tourists
swarmed around the busy jetty
on Lamu Island, nervously
looking for speed boats that
would ferry them across to
Mokoe jetty, on the mainland.
The excited tourists were not
there for the love of Lamu’s
famous medieval town, a World
Heritage Site, but for the love of
the proposed Lamu Port. The
port was being officially
launched on that day by Kenya’s
president Mwai Kibaki, Sudan’s
President Salva Kiir and
Ethiopia’s then Prime Minister
Meles Zenawi.
Lamu Port is a key component of
the Lamu Port-South
Sudan-Ethiopia-Transport
(LAPSSET) corridor project.
By David John Bwakali
The other components of this
multi-billion dollar project
include: an oil pipeline from Juba,
South Sudan to Lamu; a railway
and superhighway link to South
Sudan and Ethiopia; three
ultra-modern resort cities and
airports at Lamu; Oil refineries in
Lamu and Isiolo and Lokichogio;
a High Grand Falls along the
River Tana for Hydropower
generation and a fibre-optic cable
constructed to link Lamu to Juba
and Addis Ababa.
This entire project is estimated to
cost a whooping 23 billion US
dollars, almost twice the total
budget expenditure of Kenya in
2011, which was 13 billion US
Dollars. This is a staggering
amount that has put Lamu smack
in the middle of Africa’s economic
and environmental focus.
On this sunny morning, Lamu Port
was an unstoppable idea that
subscribed fully to the words of
Victor Hugo, the nineteenth
century French writer that, "on
résiste à l'invasion des armées;
on
on ne
ne résiste
résiste pas
pas àà l'invasion
l'invasion des
des
idées."
idées (One resists the invasion of
armies; one does not resist the
invasion of ideas).
This entire project is
estimated to cost a
whooping 23 billion US
dollars, almost twice
the total budget
expenditure of Kenya in
2011, which was 13
billion US Dollars.
The big question is – is this
invasion of the Lamu Port idea
fuelled by purely economic
reasons? In his speech during the
official launch of the port,
president Kibaki attempted to
answer this question when
 he said that, "While developing
Lamu port, all necessary
precautions must be taken to
ensure that there is minimal
interference with the delicate
ecosystem and cultural heritage.
Therefore, adequate expertise
and technology must be deployed
to ensure the desired
development is achieved while at
the same time ensuring
environmental sustainability."
In line with the president’s
remarks, the general approach
seems to be that the goal of the
port is economic even though
there will be environmental
considerations.
Photo Credit: Salma Said Mohamed
Lamu Island Old Town
Whether these considerations will
become cornerstones of the
project is anyone’s guess. It is
however essential for
environmental assumptions and
considerations to be replaced with
a comprehensive green blueprint
(a greenprint) for Lamu Port.
There can be no port without the
ocean; no ultra-modern railway or
superhighway without land; no
spectacular resort cities without
freshwater and delicious seafood
and no hydroelectricity generation
without rivers. Simply put, there
can be no LAPSSET without vibrant
ecosystem services to underpin
and sustain it.
This is where a greenprint comes
in.
A greenprint integrates Payment
for Ecosystem Services (PES) into
the entire investment strategy.
PES is the practice of offering
cash or in kind payment to
communities or any stakeholders
with the largest stake in a given
ecosystem, in order to ensure
sustainability of the given
ecosystem services. However,
there is another PES that should in
fact play a bigger role here. This is
Passion for Ecosystem Services.
When payment overrides passion,
nature becomes but a commodity
that goes to the highest bidder.
A greenprint can ensure that a
certain percentage of the USD 23
billion needed for LAPSSET is
sourced exclusively through
Payment for Ecosystem Service.
This percentage can cut across all
levels of investment however
small or big. For instance, an
investor who purchases a forklift
for use in loading ships is not just
purchasing the tangible forklift
itself, but is also ‘purchasing’ the
sustainability of ecosystem
services, without which the entire
port would not be able to function
in the first place.
Payment for Ecosystem Services
can stem from both public and
private sources. In the US, the
government pays for freshwater
ecosystem services through the
farm bill while in France, Vittel
(Nestlé Waters), a private
company does the same in the
North Eastern region of France.
As has been noted elsewhere in
this Journal, questions still remain
about the wisdom of pronounced
public and private sector
stewardship of the environment.
However, these questions should
be used to steer the imperfect
towards perfect, and not
necessarily do away with the
imperfect altogether.
Unlike an environmental impact
assessment, a greenprint doesn’t
look at the environmental
implication of a given action but at
its environmental potential. In
addition, a greenprint also looks
beyond the ‘market value’ of
ecosystem services and lingers its
focus on the intrinsic natural value
of these services.
Unlike an
environmental impact
assessment, a
greenprint doesn’t look
at the environmental
implication of a given
action but at its
environmental
potential.
In this regard, this greenprint for
Lamu Port explores how the
environment can power the
LAPSSET project so that it is
ultimately undertaken in a
sustainable fashion, so that it is a
win-win for local communities,
investors, all other stakeholders
and, most importantly, the
environment without which the
project cannot be possible.
This greenprint encompasses Ali, a
fisherman from Lamu Island. He is
stocky like the buffaloes of the
neighboring of Hindi region but
agile in water like the sharks that
he sometimes faces off with. His
father was a fisherman, and his
grandfather was a fisherman just as
was his great grandfather. For Ali,
fishing is more than a job – it is a
calling. He is a fisherman not
because it is the only thing he can
do but because there is nothing else
he would rather be doing.
One by one, he names the fish that
stray into his traps all year round,
"pono,chafi,
‘pono, chafi,jodari,
jodari,kipungu,
kipungu,
change, mbawa, sulisuli, mkizi,
cheusi…"
cheusi…’ He doesn’t know the
English names of these fish but he
knows the fish like he knows his
calloused hands. The fish species
that Ali is talking about include
zebra fish, parrot fish, eels,
kingfish, rabbit fish, catfish,
scavenger, grunter, snapper, and
little mackerels. Each name is
uttered gently, in between pauses
that usher in the next fish as his
eyes glitter in admiration at these
creatures that have given his family
a livelihood for generations.
Ali’s fish, together with those of
hundreds of other fishermen from
Lamu amount to an annual output of
1 500 metric tonnes that fetch USD
1.3 million. This is just a tiny
fraction of the USD 25 billion
needed for the entire LAPSSET
 project, but it is a significant
fraction nonetheless.
However, this fish revenue is
fragmented into thousands of
fishermen and fish traders who
receive the revenue at different
levels in the value chain, and varied
time periods. Thus fragmented, it
cannot realize a significant capital
investment that is anywhere near
the USD 1.3 million total.
This greenprint calls for the fish
revenue to be consolidated as much
Transport in Lamu
as possible into a significant
capital that would turn the
fishermen into port investors in
their own right. This way, local
fishermen like Ali will have an
investment stake through direct
infusion of capital from fish.
If fish and other ecosystem
services and products are directly
contributing to port investment,
they will not be regarded as
‘environmental considerations’
that have to be taken into account
as the port is constructed. Rather,
they will be regarded as natural
cornerstones, without which the
port will crumble.
But at the end of the day, "Passion
for Ecosystem Services" must
never be sacrificed on the altar of
"Payment for Ecosystem Services."
In the same vein, Lamu’s green
head must not be buried in the
sand. Rather, this green head must
face the developmental challenges
of the Lamu Port head-on and take
its rightful place at the center. Not
the periphery.
Photo credit: Mpasua Msonobari
Advert
Cover Story
Africa’s Powerless
I
In the 1970’s, solar
electricity generated by
photovoltaic (PV) devices
was an expensive space
age dream technology. Today,
arrays of solar modules are
ubiquitous on city rooftops and farm
fields in Europe, the US, Asia and
Japan. In fact, in some countries,
PV has become a significant
contributor to the grid. In 2012,
solar passed wind as the largest
source of renewable energy added
the US national power network. On
a number of days in June 2012 over
50% of Germany’s mid-day grid
power was generated by the sun!
Today, solar PV is a 32 GW
business, worth in the order of a
hundred billion dollars per year. In
2012, it passed a major landmark:
100 gigawatts had been installed
worldwide. However, despite
having one of the best solar
regimes in the world, Africa is still a
trivial player in the global solar
market.
SOLAR
By Mark Hankins
Less than 1.5% of the trade in
solar comes to Africa, with most
of those solar panels bound for
South Africa.
That Africa has massive solar
resources is no secret, this has
been discussed since the 1980’s.
As well, it is not a secret that
solar prices are at an all-time low
at less than US$ 0.60 per watt
thanks to massive Chinese
investments in production. At the
same time, electricity costs in
Africa are among the highest in
the world. And they are rising
rapidly
Clearly, the global age of solar
energy is dawning. This leads one
to ask “Why isn’t Africa at the
centre of solar commerce?” “Why
are countries like the UK, with
meagre resources that amount to
less than a third of the equatorial
blast of sun we enjoy here,
installing more than the entire
African continent?”
A quick history of solar PV is useful
before exploring this question.
Going back less than 20 years ago,
99 per cent of the PV business was
“off grid”. In 1995, when world
production was only 80 MW/year,
almost all solar systems provided
power for applications far from
power networks: remote telecomm
sites, signalling sets and village
schools and clinics.
And, in the mid-90’s, over 20% of
the world PV trade came to Africa.
However, in the mid-1990’s the
green party in Germany succeeded
in getting their Government to
invest in support for on-grid solar
power. In the US and Germany,
engineers developed inverters
which enabled solar modules to
synchronously feed their electricity
into the grid.
Within 10 years, a market was
created that allowed customers
on-grid to dispense with batteries,
place modules on their roof,
and power loads in their houses
directly from solar arrays. Better
yet, many customers spun their
electricity meters backward and
laughed at power companies while
they fed power the other way.
Interest in production of solar
power on rooftops skyrocketed.
Programs in Japan, Germany, Spain
and California encouraged
consumers to buy household and
small business solar systems. By
2003, the solar industry, which has
been growing at 20% per year for
twenty five years, passed the one
gigawatt per year production mark.
By 2012, 99% of PV business, now
over 30 GW per year, was on-grid.
A huge transformation had taken
place. The solar industry had gone
from laboratory hobby of rocket
scientists to off-grid hippy
diversions to a mainstream
investment, supported by feed in
tariffs in more than 60 countries.
But, in 2010, Africa was not a player
in solar demand. Why? Because
solar in developed countries is
on-grid and in the hands of the
middle class. As grid demand grows,
demand for solar grows. But solar in
Africa is off-grid. It charges
batteries and is, predominately, in
the hands of lower income groups.
As the grid expands, the market for
solar contracts.
Africa has been slow to invest in
all renewables. According to
Bloomberg New Energy Finance, of
$268.7 billion invested worldwide
in renewable energy last year, only
about $4.3 billion was made in
Africa --- and most of this went to
South Africa and north Africa. But
it has been particularly slow to join
the solar PV party.
According to Bloomberg
New Energy Finance, of
$268.7 billion invested
worldwide in renewable
energy last year, only
about $4.3 billion was
made in Africa --- and
most of this went to South
Africa and north Africa.
There has never been a conspiracy
to keep solar out of Africa.
Instead, a set of factors has led to
a market failure that keeps solar
off Africa’s grids. The inability to
connect and market solar ‘on to
the grid’ has kept major solar
companies out of Africa and has
made solar a tool with limited
markets, an expensive choice for
rural people without cash, often
peddled with missionary zeal by
aid agencies and NGOs. Among
rural people who get by on a few
dollars a day, off-grid solar will
always be limited --- a plaything
that cannot deliver what grid or
generator power can, something in
a shop window, or a toy that
provides a few watt hours a day,
but not a permanent solution.
The first major blockage to the
development of African’s solar
sector has been political. As is
still the case in much of the
developed world, actors who think
‘big’ manage electricity sectors
from Capetown to Cairo.
Centralized power from large coal,
hydro and petroleum plants has
been the order of the day for
decades among African power
companies, and they are always
planning large projects to
overcome many obstacles they
must deal with.
Small, decentralized PV power
projects do not easily fit into their
programs. In developing big fixes
to solve short-term problems,
solar PV is overlooked in favour of
crisis management. When the
hundred million dollar focus is on
expanding the grid to the whole
country, off-grid solar does not
play well among bureaucrats or
politicians.
Secondly, Africa’s policy makers
have been among the last in the
world to adopt the message of
decentralized power. Even though
end consumers, adapting to
regular power outages, are forced
to utilize decentralized diesel
generators all over the continent,
ignorance and inertia at policy
levels have kept new solutions
from gaining a foothold.
Policy makers, often stuck in
crisis-prevention mode on a
day-to-day basis, haven’t looked
forward to use of solar power.
They have not had the time or
support to create the policies,
regulations and incentives
necessary for the transformation
of power sectors to new sources.
Often, they are simply unaware of
the real transformative potential of
solar energy for their countries.
And, unlike Europe and the US,
there have been few ‘champions’
for solar among Africa’s
government and private sector.
Thirdly, it is impossible to ignore
the entrenched interests that
actively seek to maintain the
status quo. In much of East and
West Africa, electricity sector
power is increasingly produced by
diesel-powered thermal
generators. Diesel generation is
extremely expensive for
consumers, but it is lucrative
business for the well-connected
moguls that have the supply
contracts. Even if solar were
cheaper (and it is lower cost than
diesel generation from
$100/barrel petroleum!), what
business interest would the
powerful elite have in replacing
their generators with
customer-owned solar?
Finance is another key problem.
Unlike Germany, there is a
comparative lack of middle class to
invest in solar PV systems (though
commercial classes invest heavily
in generators). Banks and
financiers are uneducated about
renewables and they tend to be
ultra-conservative. The long
payback periods, small size and the
lack of established business
models make solar PV a foreign
language to the finance
community. Instead, they chase
more lucrative large-scale power
projects. High interest rates
mitigate heavily against solar PV
--- when banks want upwards of
20% interest on home loans, no
math anywhere can make a loan
for a PV system a smart move.
Neither has the aid community
helped build the real solar energy
sectors seen elsewhere. A
multi-billion dollar solar ‘party’
rages in places such as UK,
Germany, California and Italy with
potential solar buyers having
access to subsidies, feed-in tariffs,
tax holidays and low interest loans.
But in Africa, solar is for the poor.
Since Rio in 1992, Africa
renewables have been about
energy access for off-grid
communities. Donor investments
from groups like the Global
Environment Facility and bilateral
agencies have been to increase
energy access with renewables.
The message is paradoxical --- in
Europe, solar is for the
green-minded middle class and
rich. In Africa, solar is for
disenfranchised communities in
distant off-grid counties.
To a city-based middle class
African, the array of off-grid solar
powered lighting gadgets, often
marketed by well-meaning and
well-funded ‘social entrepreneurs’
look a lot like toys. Yes, perhaps
something to take home to the
village over Christmas, but not
something that would be of
interest to a city-based African.
And here’s the rub: even though
today, most Africans have limited
access to electricity --- 70% or
more of all Africa --- the people
that are starting businesses,
creating opportunities, growing
economies and using the bulk of
the country’s generated power
are the urban middle classes. So,
while donors and social
entrepreneurs smugly trundle
renewables to distant rural
communities, in the big towns
electricity is increasingly
unsustainable and dirty. The very
city-based NGO workers and aid
agencies that speak of green and
clean energy for the poor, sit in
CO2 spewing traffic jams and use
hundreds of times more power
than their pico-solar gadgets can
generate.
So, while no one can legitimately
criticize the intentions of
aid-focused attempts to help
replace the poor person’s
kerosene burden, there is a
glaring fallacy in the rhetoric.
Where is the power for the NGO
office computers coming from, and
where is the power that runs the
town coming from? In the big
picture, a day in the dirty-energy
life of Nairobi discharges more
emissions than a week in a
hundred rural communities.
The point of this article is not to
bash the use of solar energy for
rural access. It is a vital part of
rural electrification in many
countries. It changes lives. It has
also been the starting point for
solar industries. However,
off-grid solar power is a dead end.
Asking major solar companies to
get involved in pico-and
small-scale solar work is like
Photo
. Photo Credit: Mark Hankins
Solar plant in Mombasa, Kenya
asking automobile manufacturers Africa to push for
to get involved in bicycle environmentally-sound energy
production and marketing. It will strategies. Whether the
not happen --- the products are big-power, petroleum and
very different. coal-fueled status quo is kept in
place by ignorance, inertia or
If Africa wants to attract more bloody-minded greed, it will not
investment in solar, it has to step aside voluntarily.
increase solar demand twenty
fold. And this will only occur As was the case in the US and
when, as has happened Europe, neither will old interests
everywhere else, programs are leave the corridors of power in
developed to bring solar on-grid Africa. A green-minded civil
and to greatly increase demand society must demand mainstream
for solar. green power in Africa. This is not
something that will be given to
First we need to change the Africa by donor agencies, social
ownership of the energy entrepreneurs or missionaries. It
discussion. It is not about poor is something that Africans
people’s energy access --- it is themselves must achieve through
about green power, period. In the discourse and political struggle.
same way that Biko’s Black
Consciousness movement It will be the educated middle
preceded real moves to Black classes --- not the rural poor ---
Empowerment, there must be a that help consolidate moves to
Green Consciousness movement in greener energy. They are the ones
that are using resources, investing,
deciding the direction that the
country moves in. Sure, in a real
democracy there are many voices,
but ask yourself how many of the
million solar systems in Germany
are owned by poor people.
Secondly, there is a need to do the
hard work of re-writing policies,
framing enabling environments,
drafting regulations and building
up capacities of companies to
manage the use of solar energy.
Whereas energy access for the
poor often requires small artisanal
businesses, large solar projects
require engineers, financers and
even lawyers.
Finally, there is a need to re-think
how local and international
incentives can build solar
markets. It is a complicated
discussion. The question of
energy access will remain central
Solar energy sectors must be
built --- in the same way
electricity sectors have been
built in the past through large
investments in dams
because providing access to those
without power is about political
equity and a problem to be
resolved. But at the same time,
solar energy sectors must be built
in the same way electricity
sectors have been built in the past
through large investments in dams,
coal stations, geothermal wells and
transmission infrastructure. Solar
must have its place at the table,
with all of the other important
generation technologies.
We are, slowly, getting there.
South Africa is now installing
hundreds of megawatts of solar PV
capacity. Kenya is developing grid
connected regulations, and will
have more than a dozen
net-metered grid-connect systems
by the end of 2013. Tanzania,
Ghana, Cape Verde, Botswana,
Namibia and Uganda all have
ambitious plans for solar.
But there is so much more to do!
Advert
 FEATURE
Green Economy
In South Africa
A
Along the banks of the
uMbilo River, in
Durban, South Africa,
a distant chop-chop
sound rises through the lush canopy
of trees.
Here in the Paradise Valley Nature
reserve, a green lung in the midst of
the port city on the east coast of
South Africa, about two dozen men
and women are hard at work in the
humid weather, hacking away at the
bottom of thick trunks, spraying
herbicides to stunt the growth of
trees.
“Hopefully they won’t grow again,”
says one Sakhi Gumede.
They are clearing alien vegetation
trees and plants – thousands of
Indian laurel, syringa, bugweed,
balloon vine and yellow bell plants
that are stifling the growth of
indigenous vegetation at the reserve
– to restore it to its natural pristine
By Arthi Sanpath
grassland and wetland system.
Many of the men and women had not
been formally trained before, many
had been out of work, and they have
since learned about indigenous
plants and trees, conservation and
the technicalities of inhibiting
growth of alien vegetation.
In South Africa the
number of unemployed
stands at
4.5
Million
Source: SSA Quartely
labour force survey 2012
Incidentally, the money used to
employ the men and women on this
project came from funds donated by
delegates during the United Nations
Climate Change Conference
(COP17/CMP7) held in Durban at the
end of 2011.
This project is run by the local
municipality, eThekwini, together
with the Wildlands Conservation
Trust, and is called the Durban
Community Ecosystem Based
Adaptation (CEBA) Initiative,
launched during COP17. If the
project succeeds, the funding
model and the project plan will be
rolled out in different areas
across the country.
Down the east coast towards the
southern parts of KwaZulu-Natal,
the province which is home to
Durban, lives Ray Eshelby.
Concerned with the environment
and the escalating electricity
prices, he developed parabolic
solar cookers, which he presently
makes himself.
“It is just a small business for
now, but if more people realise
the usefulness of this type of
stoves, it will grow,” he said.
The parabolic solar cookers with basics of escalating costs of Speaking at the 2nd KwaZulu-Natal

collects the sun’s rays and electricity, water, food and petrol, Green Growth conference, held in

reflects it off a parabolic reflector the idea that it will lead to job Durban recently, Peet DuPlooy,

onto the surface of a pot, enabling creation will be the driving factor in Programme Manager for

the user to boil water, cook the country. sustainable growth at TIPS, the

soups, even bake banana bread Trade and Investment Policy

and muffins. Earning an income, not terms such Strategies organisation - an

as green economy, is what speaks independent, non-profit economic

“You don’t need electricity, to the concerns of ordinary South research institution - believes that

paraffin, gas or wood to operate Africans. a green economy will stimulate

it, and living in a province that has jobs opportunities.

so much sunshine, it is very easy There are also opportunities

to use,” said Eshelby, adding that DuPlooy says, “according to
for jobs in creating cleaner
he started building the solar technology such as solar research, more than 200 000

cookers when electricity became stoves. permanent jobs can be created if

a ‘crisis’ in the country, and money and skills were invested in

load-shedding of power, There is an urgency to step up job natural resource management.”

sometimes scheduled with ample creation for the millions of

notice for residents, and at other unemployed, and in the process “This sector in the green economy

times without warning, became a reduce the country’s reliance on has the largest potential to create

regular occurrence. raw materials, and adopt a greener jobs, we are talking about

approach to living and doing restoring wetlands, ecosystem

“We need to reduce our reliance business. restoration, this is where the

on electricity, raw materials are hands of people are needed on the

running out and we need to find The number of unemployed people ground and the largest number of

alternatives, and be dependent stands at 4.5 million, according to jobs available,” said DuPlooy.

only on ourselves,” he said. Statistics South Africa, the official

statistics agency in their latest Following close on natural

While Gumede and Eshelby are labour force survey for October to resource management, are jobs in

but just two examples of work in December 2012. That figure is renewable energy generation,

the green economy, they are largely made up of students, those which has the capacity to create

examples of the growing notion of not studying or not undergoing any more than 130 000 jobs, and more

gearing the country towards a training. efficient public transport systems

green economy. such as rapid bus transport

This figure is a marked increased systems, which has the capacity to

While the notion of a green from the 3.9 million people recorded create almost 70 000 jobs.

economy may be too farfetched as unemployed for the same period

for ordinary people trying to cope of October to December in 2008. There are also opportunities for
jobs in creating cleaner technology
such as solar stoves.
“These small business industries
where people do installation of
solar geysers, open franchisees
and sell solar cookers in
townships, will mean jobs for
people,” said DuPlooy.
It sounds like a solar-cooked pie in
the sky idea, but as Gumede and
Eshelby show, there is a market
worth tapping into.
Government will have to lead by
example, and COP17 has helped
the country step up its game in
stimulating a greener economy.
South Africa’s Green Economy
Accord was launched during
COP17, and aims to create 300 000
new jobs by 2020, in areas of
energy generation, manufacturing,
farming activities, and eco tourism.
More specifically, development of
the solar and wind energy
industries in the country, aims to
create at least 50 000 green jobs
by 2020, with the view to establish
a ‘roof-top programme to install
300 000 solar PV power generation
units for residential, commercial
and industrial buildings by 2020.
Another further commitment in the
accord is to install one million solar Finance, however, is the key to
water heating systems in the unlocking the green economy.
country by the 2014 financial year, Government aims to enlist
which by extension will mean organised labour to help establish
promoting locally-manufactured and finance cooperatives to
components and heating systems. undertake installation and
maintenance of products such as
There will also be an expanded the solar water heaters.
programme to produce clean
stoves, an investment in mass The state-owned Industrial
Photo Credit: Imran Jalalkhan
Key in South Africa’s natural resource management plans are wetlands
transit and to shift from road to rail Development Corporation (IDC) is
freight transport, establishment of also expected to provide up to R25
various finance facilities for green billion (about US$3 billion) for
projects, all with a target of 80% of investments in green economy
new jobs to go to young workers – activities over the next four years.
a step in creating 300 000 jobs.
Across the country, government
Other facts to pinpoint the country’s and private companies are
efforts to create jobs in the working together to build on the
renewable energy sector, include idea of a greener South Africa,
the aim to procure almost 4 000 and in the process creating jobs.
megawatts of renewable energy The Development Bank of South
for the national grid by 2016. Africa (DBSA), working with the
South African department of
environmental affairs, assert in
their report entitled
“Programmes in support of
transitioning South Africa to a
green economy” that in
stimulating the green economy,
thousands of jobs will be
created.
The issue of waste, where
landfills are reaching, or have
reached capacity for waste, is a
key concern for local
government.
The DBSA says waste in the
country could be tackled by
helping to establish a
community-based waste
programmes, that would target
about 50 000 households, and
help with supplying waste bins,
collecting waste and sorting
through waste to find recyclable
items.
DBSA also describes how
installing water meters to
monitor water usage and leaks,
requires a day of labour from an
unskilled worker and 0.25 days
of a skilled worker.
“There are three million
households without water
meters. If 600 000 units were to
be installed over a five-year
period, this would lead to the
creation of 2,000 unskilled and
500 skilled jobs per year over
the period,” states the report.
Running parallel to the
investment in the green
economy and creating jobs is
the reduction in energy
consumption.
Government aims to urge
business to use energy
efficiently, such as ‘lights off’
after hours, and replacing
incandescent light bulbs with
CFLs.
South Africa aims to
create 300,000 new jobs
by 2020 with atleast
50,000 green jobs
One of the country’s success
stories – the Working for
Wetlands project, has showed
how natural resource
management can lead to the
creation of thousands of jobs,
and conserve valuable
ecosystems.
Wetlands – habitats that form
the interface between land and
water, cover about 2.4% of the
country’s surface area. They are
under threat from development,
but form an important part of the
ecosystem where they purify
water, act as flood control and are
homes to a wide variety of birds
and marine animals.
The Working for Wetlands project
has rehabilitated 906 wetlands,
which constitute 70 000 hectares
of wetland area. More significantly
related to the concept of the green
economy, the programme created
almost 13 000 employment
opportunities, with their groups
made up of a minimum of 60%
women, 20% youth and 1% of
people with disabilities.
With much work being done in the
past few years in creating the
framework, policies and aims of
the green economy, how far have
we come?
“In KwaZulu-Natal, we are at the
early beginnings of our green
economy, other parts of the
country are also moving ahead.
There is a lot of work around
planning and strategising, and we
are gaining momentum,” says
Liesel Beires, green economy
specialist at the KZN department
of economic affairs and tourism,
the department driving the green
economy agenda in the province.
Advert
 FEATURE
Can markets
save Africa’s
environment
Photo Credit: DJ Bwakali
T
The Rio + 20 Summit in 2012
provided an impetus for increased use
of markets for solving environmental
problems, through the ‘green
economy’ mantra to conserve the natural capital
of the earth. Market approaches are based on the
principle that ecosystem goods and services can
be traded hence the development of water,
biodiversity, carbon markets among others.
Market approaches are posited to have a dual
By Philip Osano & Leonard Akwany
effect of promoting best practices for instance
sound landscape or land use management
practices and availing the critically needed
financial and other resources for natural capital
conservation. While widespread in the
developed world, thus far, the use of market
approaches towards environmental
conservation, restoration, and management of
natural capital have not gained much currency in
Africa.
For example, a recent publication; ‘The State of
1
Watershed Payments’ (2012) on Investment on
Water Services noted that incentives or
market-based approaches projects geared
towards water sector are very few in Africa
despite the potential and that previously
initiated projects have either stalled or
abandoned. The state of affairs is the same for
other environmental markets such as carbon
and biodiversity.
The snail pace progress in environmental
markets development in Africa has resulted into
critical questions such as what ails
environmental markets in Africa? Does the
project design cater for crucial factors such as
poverty and social equity? Is the benefit
sharing fair among stakeholders? What
Photo Credit: Halinishi Yusuf
Tree felling along a service road in Kakamenga forest
are the financing options when the
potential seller and buyer are both
poor communities as is evident in
some African landscape?
Sustainability of environmental
market schemes when initiators
exit? Is there conducive policy and
regulatory regime? Involvement of
private sector such as breweries
and water utilities? The list is
inexhaustible.
A group of scholars and
practitioners recently tackled
these and other questions at a
workshop held under the aegis of
the Kinship Conservation Fellows
Focus 2012. At the Eastern Africa
Kinship Conservations Fellows
workshop dubbed ‘African
Environmental Markets And Nature
Conservation’ held at Egerton
University, Kenya, participants
shared information, networked
and identified best practices and
potential for up scaling of
Market-Based Conservation
Approaches across Africa. Multiple The case studies showcased the
examples of ongoing and planned
market based initiatives were
profiled.
What are the financing
options when the potential
seller and buyer are both
poor communities as is
evident in some African
landscape?
These included examples of the
dryland forest REDD+ projects in
Kenya and Zambia, the Yayu
Coffee forest REDD+ project in
Ethiopia, energy efficient cook
stove project in Kenya, TAMs
Carbon Project in Andasibe
Madagascar, Dryland PES
Schemes in Kenya, Lake Naivasha
Payment for Water Services
Scheme in Kenya among others.
potential and progress of
investment in environmental
markets initiatives in Africa.
They captured diverse and
numerous lessons that include:
high technical and transaction
costs; Low prices in Environmental
Markets for instance low carbon
prices; Poor policy, legal and
institutional framework; Lack of
well defined land tenure and how
these are linked to benefits
because local communities do not
know what trust lands are; Low
awareness on environmental
markets; Technical assistance and
capacity building is critical as there
is lack of capacity to implement the
environmental markets project.
Other lessons are: Collaboration
and experience sharing among
North-South and South-South
projects is imperative; Regional
and national potential for up
scaling is evident; The REDD
process led to a redefinition of
forest in Ethiopia, which are now a
defined as areas with 10% canopy
cover and not previous 40%
canopy cover; Difficulty in
securing funding for PDD and pilot
implementation; Difficulties of
There is therefore need to involve financial resources in
multiple stakeholders including environmental markets. For
government agencies, community instance water utilities in Sierra
organizations, universities, private Leone and Kenya find legal and
sector.The foregoing lessons calls policy framework not flexible in
for creation of conducive and terms of tariffs setting and
facilitative environment in multiple allocation in investment in water
frontiers for environmental services schemes.
markets to mature in Africa and
realize its numerous objectives:
Benefits Sharing
Legal and Policy Environmental markets project

measuring and monitoring Framework benefits hardly accrue to local

communities where issues of
degradation; Benefit sharing
sustainable development such as
mechanism not well developed.
Poor legal, policy and institutional poverty and social inequities are
framework continue to bog down prevalent. For instance, carbon
In addition, the demand for clean
development of environmental markets project exhibit millions of
and affordable energy for
markets in Africa. Most of the monies involved in paper but
households is high and this
environment or natural resources hardly do these millions benefit
creates an opportunity for
related legal and policy provisions the local communities in terms of
developing markets in
hardly promote allocation of rewards.
technologies that contribute
towards C-emissions reduction
and controlling deforestation. But
Even with high demand, poverty
levels and high start-up costs may
inhibit household adoption of
clean energy technologies;
therefore project design should
also incorporate flexible
community based financial
Photo credit: Hassan Sachedina

mechanisms (e.g. revolving funds

and loan schemes) to help
households overcome liquidity
constraints to adoption of energy
efficient technologies. Logging for charcoal production is a leading cause of deforestation and carbon emissions.
 Participants of the Environmental Markets workshop visiting one of
the local farmers in the upper catchment of the Lake Naivasha
watershed that is involved in the Payments for Watershed services.
Photo credit: Leonard Akwany

Most of the monies are utilized in

paying for project consultancy or
design, implementation and
monitoring with little or no actual
direct benefits trickling to the local
community.
Hence need for critical thinking on
benefits sharing especially with
respect to local community and
need for stacking or bundling to
cater for direct benefits and
co-benefits such as socio-economic
benefits, poverty alleviation,
gender equity, environmental
services and wildlife conservation.
For example the BioCarbon
Partners project in Zambia, the
Sable credits REDD project which is
operational within a trans-frontier
conservation area (TCA) around
the Lower Zambezi National Park in
a habitat of Miombo dryland forest,
with higher carbon values, and
being developed in private land has
adopted a community based
approach.
This approach incorporates the
following activities: Community bio
enterprises development; Tourism;
Eco-charcoal program (e.g.
improved kilns and rotation
schemes); Conservation agriculture
and provision of social services.
Impact Appraisal
Environmental markets must
actually accrue benefits and
co-benefits it purports to offer.
This can only be ascertained
through robust monitoring and
evaluation. This is even more
critical for buyers of ecosystem
services to confirm that services
they are paying for are actually
being realized. Thus the need for
user friendly impact measurement
tools and trained local personnel
reinforced by workable
information management
system.

Local Technical
Capacity
Environmental markets progress in
Africa is being imbedded by poor
technical capacity. This is partly
the reason why Africa registers
high level of project failure or
abandonment. For instance carbon
markets projects are characterized
by foreign designers who are
hardly available beyond project
funding. This results into failure of
most projects immediately the
funding is withdrawn and technical
experts exit.
Investors:
Establishment
and Transaction
Cost
There is high level of capital
required for project design,
implementation and long-term
operation. This has resulted in
minimal development of
environmental markets in Africa.
Investors or grants to establish
projects are competitive and
hardly available.
Thus the need for strong private
and public partnership for the
development of environmental
markets in Africa. Case studies of
poor potential buyers and sellers
for water services scheme in
Kenya have resulted into
recommendation for private
companies and government
involvement in funding of such
water schemes as is common in
China with eco-compensation
projects.
Cultural
Realities
There is need for environmental
markets project to be sensitive to
prevailing cultural realities and
avoid ‘cut and paste approach’.
This is manifested for instance in
land tenure system and gender
disparities. The design of
environmental markets project
must mainstream such issues to
avoid land conflicts and gender
disempowerment.
In summary, environmental
markets are expanding rapidly
worldwide, However, Africa still
lags behind the rest of the world
in the adoption and application of
market based instruments (MBIs)
for nature conservation and
environmental management, but
this situation is changing very
fast as schemes for biodiversity,
forestry carbon2 and also for
watershed markets3 are
becoming operational, with
potential for up-scaling beyond
isolated pilot initiatives. Adaptive
leadership, innovation,
networking and sharing of best
practices are critical in the wider
application of MBIs in the
management of Africa’s fragile
environment to promote a green
economy for sustainable
development in the region.
REFERENCES
1. Forest Trends (2012).
State of Watershed
Payments.
Web:
http://www.forest-trends.or
g/embargoed_water_2013.p
hp
2. Jindal, R., Swallow, B., &
Kerr, J. (2008).
Forestry-based carbon
sequestration projects in
Africa: Potential benefits
and challenges. Natural
Resources Forum, 32(2),
116-130.
3. Ferraro, P. J. (2009).
Regional Review of
Payments for Watershed
Services: Sub-Saharan
Africa. Journal of
Sustainable Forestry, 28(3),
525 - 550.
Advert
R
FEATURE
AFRICA’S
amla is eating in a high end
sea food restaurant in
Sandton, Johannesburg.
Once every month, she Quest for Sustainable

Fisheries
treats herself to, in her own words,
"The best, coolest and hottest sea
food in the milky way!" She starts
her meal with sizzling crab soup and By Dr Sloans Chimatiro

moves on to a cold appetizer of

sesame crusted tuna. Twenty
delicious minutes later, she takes a
deep sigh, rubs her hands in glee
and moves on to the main course. A
seafood platter containing grilled
swordfish, roast salmon, fried
oysters and crumb fried shrimp.

This entire meal costs her nearly

fifty US dollars. This is her most
delicious expenditure and she has
no regrets whatsoever.

In 2009 145.1 million tonnes of

fresh seafood (including fish) were
produced globally. Most of this ends

Photo Credit: Kennedy Orwa

up on the plates of sea food
enthusiasts like Ramla, and is
mostly produced in coastal
countries like Ghana. The annual
fish production of Ghana is worth
approximately US$790 million. This
contributes 3% to the GDP of
Ghana. In Seychelles, GDP plays an
even more pivotal role, with fishery
contributing a whopping 30% into
the GDP of Seychelles.
It is clear that fish is important,
Fresh fish on the way to the market.
not just for Africa’s nutrition, but
for Africa’s economy.
According to the United Nations
food and Agriculture Organisation
(FAO) fisheries provide
employment for over 4 million
Africans with additional 150 000
employed as fish farmers. Twenty
years earlier in 1990, only 1.9
million Africans were directly
employed in fisheries.These
numbers speak for themselves.
They are saying loudly and clearly
that on a continent where
unemployment is stratospheric,
fisheries is coming to the rescue.
FAO further reported that the total
annual fisheries production in
2010 was estimated at about 9
million metric tonnes (of which 2.6
million tonnes came from inland
fisheries). This represents about
7% of world fisheries production
and contributed at least US$10
billion to African economies. The
inland (continental) fisheries
accounted for 22.9% of the world
production of continental fisheries
NEPAD Planning and Coordination
Agency (NPCA) in 2011 reported
that around 10 million African men
and women rely on fish for their
livelihood; 200 million Africans
depend on fish for their nutrition
and food security; and in 2004, a
total of US$4.3 billion was earned
from fish exports by African
countries. This is big, and it can be
even bigger and greener, but only
if the twin issues of good fisheries
governance and sustainability are
addressed.
Greening of Africa’s fisheries and
fish farming practices could be the
most effective way to increase
productivity, profitability and
sustainability of these resources
and enhance their ability to
contribute more efficiently to
Africa’s development.
Women can be at the centre of
fisheries-powered development.
However, they currently benefit
less than men because of the
significantly less profitable places
that they occupy at the value
chain.
In 2009, WorldFish Centre
reported that in West and
Southern Africa, women dominate
the processing, retailing and local
trading. For example, in Western
Province of Zambia, 3% and 86 %
of the women are involved in
fishing and fish trading,
respectively and 75% of these are
single-headed households (Hüsken
and Heck 2012). For them, fish
therefore represent the
primary—and sometimes the
only—source of income.
This income and the fisheries that
underpin it are now under severe
threat from governance
deficiencies.
With a few notable exceptions,
fisheries governance in many
African countries is typically
ineffective, resulting in fisheries
being over-exploited. Policy
objectives are often ill-directed,
and sometimes perverse. Amongst
the more perverse of these is that
fishers and policy makers regard
fish resources as if they were free
goods, and hence open to
unregulated access to all.
Treating fisheries this way invites
destructive rent-seeking behaviour.
Under open access, perceived
profit may drive over-exploitation
and in return, over-exploitation may
lead to overfishing, pushing fish
effort (numbers of boats and
fishers), beyond maximum
sustainable yield (MSY).
Another manifestation of poor
governance in fisheries is illegal
fishing. Approximately US$1 billion
worth of fish is lost in Africa due to
illegal fishing every year.
Options for fisheries
to contribute to
green economy
The United Nations Conference on
Sustainable Development’s June
2012 Rio de Janeiro meeting (also
known as Rio+20) agreed on the
need to support Green Economy in
the context of sustainable
development and poverty
eradication.
‘Green Economy’ may be defined as
a holistic, equitable and
forward-looking approach to
sustainability that ensures
economic growth without
compromising sustainability.
 The transition of fisheries and
aquaculture to a green economy will
result in fisheries resource being
exploited in such a manner that
contributes to sustainability,
inclusive social development and
economic growth.
Rio+20 prioritized seven thematic
areas including sustainable use of
oceans and coasts. But to achieve
greening of fisheries requires
policies and governance
Photo Credit: Kennedy Orwa
arrangements that create incentives
for fish producers and consumers to
adopt sustainable practices and
behaviour.
Africa has made a lot of progress in
this regard.
Africa’s Fisheries
Transition to Green
Economy
As a show of commitment to
sustainable fisheries, African
Heads of State and Government
(AHSG) in August 2005 endorsed
the NEPAD Action Plan for the
Development of African Fisheries
and Aquaculture (NEPAD Action
Plan) as a framework for guiding
strategic investments aimed at
safeguarding future contribution
of Africa’s fish sector to poverty
alleviation and economic
development.
In 2008, the NEPAD Planning and
Coordinating Agency (NPCA), then
the NEPAD Secretariat, established
the International Partnership for
African Fisheries Governance and
Trade (PAF) in order to support
African policy makers to strengthen
their capacity to consider,
determine and implement
responsive reforms in fisheries
governance and trade.
Reforms are critical not only to
ensure sustained benefits, but also
to generate and sustain wealth
from fisheries. The term ‘wealth’
(including wealth generation and
capture) is considered here in its
Economic sense – as investable
surpluses that can be used to seed
economic growth more widely. The
framework for fisheries
governance reforms was endorsed
by the first Conference of African
Ministers of Fisheries and
aquaculture (CAMFA) in September
2011.
NPCA has been working with a
number of countries to assist them
develop National Fisheries
Investment Plans which have
in-built governance reform
mechanisms aimed at transitioning
the fisheries to sustainability.
Transitioning is, however, a
long-term objective that recognises
the value of investing in policy and
institutional reform rather than
‘quick technical fixes’ which rarely
generate sustained benefits in the
absence of reform.
Substantial investments have been
directed on pilot work based on
international best practice. The
pilot initiatives also inform
programme strategy, support
advocacy and make
recommendations for further
investments in other countries.
Ghana is one of the countries that
have embraced fisheries policy and
governance reforms.
African stands
to benefit by
transitioning fisheries to
green economy
Although many fisheries in Africa
are faced with challenges,
encouraging lessons are emerging
which are likely to further
reinforce good governance in
fisheries management and
enhance the capacity of countries
to optimise the potential benefits
from the sector, within the
framework of green economy.
Research commissioned by the
International Sustainability Unit
(ISU) in 2012 shows that there are
a number of Africa countries that
have already embarked on
transitioning their fisheries to
sustainability.
These include Namibia (the hake
fishery), Mozambique (shrimp),
Madagascar (octopus and shrimp);
South Africa (hake), Sierra Leone
(community surveillance), The
Gambia (sole); and Seychelles
(hook and line fishery).
Were the fish too few
because the fishermen were
simply too many? Kwesi
wondered as he pulled the
boat to the sandy shore.
ISU (2012) further noted that
beyond the direct economic, social
and food security benefits to be
gained from rebuilding fisheries,
the transition to sustainable
management is likely to make
marine ecosystems more resilient
to external stresses, including
those stemming from climate
change and pollution.
Therefore, economically, Africa
stands to make windfall gains from
its natural capital of fisheries.
Estimates made by NPCA in 2010
indicated that the potential annual
fish resource rent (or net economic
returns) generation for Africa is
approximately US$2 billion and
implicit value of African fish
resources is at least US$22 billion.
In other words, our oceans are
banks which are holding fish worth
US$22 billion, from which we can
earn an interest of at least US$2
billion, at 9% per annum.
Therefore, the choice is ours. We
can either eat the interest and the
principal, by wanton fishing, or just
take the interest and leave the
principal to earn us more money
continuously into the future.
The Atlantic was silent. Apart from
rustling sounds of timid waves,
there wasn’t much else to hear. All
around him was sheer blackness.
Both the moon and stars were
nowhere to be seen. If he didn’t
know better, Kwesi would have
thought that he was alone in the
vast salty waters of Atlantic Ocean.
But he knew that scattered in the
darkness, were hundreds of other
fishermen, many from his own
village. They were braving the
Atlantic cold and moonless sky for
one reason only – fishing.
When the sun finally came out in
the morning Kwesi and his fishing
partners retreated back to the
shore with a mere handful of fish.
Were the fish too few because the
fishermen were simply too many?
Kwesi wondered as he pulled the
boat to the sandy shore.
I hope this article will help you to
answer Kwesi accurately and take
action that will ensure sustainable
fisheries for Africa!
 REFERENCE

Aquaculture. New Partnership for Africa’s

African Union Commission. 2011. Report
Development. Abuja, Nigeria. 29p
of the first Conference of African
NPCA. 2010. The wealth generation
Ministers of Fisheries and Aquaculture
potential of African fish resources. Paper
(CAMFA), 20-23 September 2010,
presented at the first Conference of African
Banjul, The Gambia.
Ministers of Fisheries and Aquaculture
CAMFA/Min/Rpt(I). 11p
(CAMFA), 20-23 September 2010,
Banjul, The Gambia. 8p
Bergleiter, S. 2012. Naturland’s Artisanal
Fishery Certification according to
NPCA. 2011. A continental thrust
Ecological and Social Standards. Paper
Advancing: Africa’s development through
presented at the NPCA-GIZ Think Tank
NEPAD. NEPAD Planning and
Event on Eco-labelling of African Fisheries
Coordinating Agency. Midrand,
920-21 November 2012), Nairobi,
Johannesburg, South Africa. 124p
Kenya.

Sutinen, J.G. 2010. Governance and fiscal

de Buele, H. 2012. Current status of
requirements for marine resources
Naturland’s eco-labelling of Nile perch in
management. In: Leal, D. ed. 2010.
Lake Victoria. Paper presented at the
Political Economy of Natural Resource
NPCA-GIZ Think Tank Event on
Use: Lessons for Fisheries Reform Prepared
Eco-labelling of African Fisheries 920-21
for the Global Program on Fisheries
November 2012), Nairobi, Kenya.
(PROFISH). April 2010. Agriculture and
Rural Development Department. The
FAO. 2009. Guidelines for the
World Bank. Washington DC. 97-118pp.
eco-labelling of fish and fishery products
from marine capture fisheries, revision 1,
United Nations. 2012. Report of the
2009. United Nations Food and
United Nations Conference on Sustainable
Agriculture Organisation, Rome, Italy.52p
Development Rio de Janeiro, Brazil 20–22
June 2012. New York, USA. 126p
FAO. 2012. The state of world fisheries
and aquaculture. United Nations Food and
UNEP. 2012. Green economy: poverty
Agriculture Organisation, Rome, Italy.
reduction. Briefing paper. United National
230p
Environmental Programme. Economics
and Trade Branch. Geneva, Switzerland.
Hüsken, S.M.C and Heck, S. 2012. The
4p
‘Fish Trader+’ model: reducing female fish
traders’ vulnerability to HIV. African
World Bank. 2009. Revitalising the
Journal of AIDS Research 2012, 11(1):
Ghanaian Fisheries Sector for Wealth and
17–26
Sustainability Scoping study. Washington
DC, USA. 39p
ISU. 2012. Towards global sustainable
fisheries the opportunity. The Prince’s
WorldFish Centre. 2009. Report of the
Charities’ International Sustainability Unit
First Policy Advisory Group Meeting of
(ISU), Clarence House, London, UK. 49p
the Regional Programme “Fisheries and
HIV/AIDS in Africa: Investing in
MRAG. 2005. Review of Impacts of
Sustainable Solutions”, Lilongwe, Malawi,
Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated
24th- 26th March 2009. 28p
Fishing on Developing Countries.
Synthesis report. Marine Resources
WorldFish Centre. 2011. The role of fish
Assessment Group Ltd, London, UK. 17p
in human nutrition A technical review
paper. Penang, Malaysia. 30p
NEPAD. 2005. NEPAD Action Plan for
the Development of African Fisheries and
 FEATURE
Bonanza In Kenya’s
South Coast
By Sergi Pérez, Zeno Wijtten and Inês Gomes
“K
ishuku!" Ramla’s
little seven year
old sister cried
excitedly as she
raced from their reed-thatched
houses towards the beach. Within
minutes, the word, ‘Kishuku,’ had
spread throughout the sandy
alleys of Wasini village, depositing
dozens of kids on the sea shore to
have a look at Kishuku, as dolphin
is known in Swahili.
Children in Wasini Island grow up
knowing that dolphins are human
friends that should be celebrated.
Their regular dolphin sighting is
the envy for many of the visitors
who throng the nearby Kisite
Mpunguti Marine Park, one of four
fully protected marine parks in
coastal Kenya. Including these
parks, Kenya has six Marine
Protected Areas spread along the
coastline.
In addition, there are six restricted
fishing marine reserves, covering
nearly 9 percent of the continental
shelf, one of the highest
percentage along the Western
Indian Ocean.
Kisite-Mpunguti Marine Protected
Area (KMMPA, 04°04’S - 39°02’E),
located on the southern coast of
Kenya, lies south of Wasini Island
and incorporates the Kisite Marine
Park, which at 28 square kilometers,
is the largest no-take area in Kenya.
At 11 square kilometers, the
adjacent Mpunguti Marine Reserve
is Kenya’s smallest reserve. This
MPA was established in 1978 and it
has been under administration of
Kenya Wildlife Service since 1988.
The Kenya Wildlife Service is a
government parastatal entrusted
with the protection and conservation
of Kenya’s flora and fauna.
The serene and dynamic marine
protected area (MPA) provides an
important year-round feeding
ground for the Indian Ocean
bottlenose dolphin ( Tursiops
aduncus ) and supports a high
diversity of marine life including
corals, reef fish and sea turtles.
Furthermore, the MPA comprises
islands which are home to the
locally rare coconut crab ( Birgus
latro ).
Kisite Island is also considered to
be an Important Bird Area (IBA),
. Photo Credit: Sergi Perez
hosting many palearctic migrant
birds. As many as 1 000 breeding
pairs of roseate terns (Sterna
dougallii) have been recorded. Of
equal importance for the
long-term environmental
management of this region are
the habitats and wildlife in the
surrounding areas of the MPA,
including a wide range of
habitats, from mangrove forests,
coral reefs, seagrass beds and
offshore waters which are
considered important fish nursery
grounds.
These natural attributes have
attracted tourism to the area, and
the influx of visitors has
increased in recent years, with
more than 50 000 tourists in
2011. They were drawn by a
beautiful marine ecosystem that
shelters and nurtures dolphins
and other marine flora and fauna
in bountiful measure.
Dolphins in action
It is then necessary to have an
adequate tourism management to
ensure the stability of these
resources, as well as the benefits
they offer to local communities.
This tourism and resource
management has already
incorporated vital input from the
government and civil societies.
One of the active organization in
the region is GVI (Global Vision
International).
GVI assists the Kenya Wildlife
Service (KWS) to understand and
manage tourism and its potential
impacts on the local dolphin
populations. These studies hope
to provide aa greater
understanding of the local
cetacean population, distribution
and seasonal variability.
Marine mammal
research
GVI is a non-political, non-religious
organisation, which through its
alliance with over 150 project
partners in more than 30
countries, provides opportunities
for volunteers to fill a critical void
in environmental research,
conservation, education and
community development.
GVI Kenya has been carrying out
surveys around the
Kisite-Mpunguti MPA in
partnership with KWS since
January 2006. These surveys were
conducted from the research
vessel ‘Bardan’ traditional Arab
boat with 9.5 meters in length
and a 15HP engine, gathering data
on species, number of individuals,
behavior, and other relevant
environmental data.
Between the period of 2006 and
2009, more than 13 400 km were
covered and 480 sightings were
recorded. Indo-Pacific bottlenose
dolphins (Tursiops aduncus ) were
observed in shallow water
throughout the year (a total of 367
times), and the population was
estimated to be around 100
individuals. This estimation was
based on data collected during the
photo-identification sessions and
mark-recapture models.
Researchers have also observed
seasonal dolphin movements
along the coast, with several
individuals recaptured in the
Malindi/Watamu MPA (140 km
from Kisite).
Another species, the Indo-Pacific
humpback dolphins ( Sousa
chinensis ), were seen 88 times in
waters less than 15 meters off the
coast, mainly in Wasini channel.
This species was sighted
throughout the year (30
individuals were identified). These
animals show a moderate
interaction with local fisheries,
exhibiting scars on their dorsal
fins and caudal peduncle.
Seasonally, Spinner dolphins
(Stenella longirostris) and
humpback whales ( Megaptera
novaengliae ) are also present in
the area. The latter species
migrates from their Antartic
feeding grounds to warm breeding
grounds, between the months of
July to November.
These humpback breeding stocks
migrate along the continental
coast of East Africa. Furthermore,
over the past 6 years, there have
been only two sightings of the
most endangered marine mammal
in the western coast of the Indian
Ocean, the dugong ( Dugong
dugon ).
Dolphin-watching around
Kisite-Mpunguti MPA
The cetacean populations present
around Kisite-Mpunguti MPA have
A dolphin shows off to tourists in
Kenya’s South Coast
been targeted by the
dolphin-watching boats since mid
90s. The dolphin watching
companies operate daily from
Shimoni. These boats usually
encounter groups of Indo-Pacific
bottlenose dolphins, and in less
frequency groups of Indo-Pacific
humpback dolphins. Dolphin
watching and diving has led to an
increase of tourism in the area,
from 29 200 visitors in 1998 to
66 700 in 2006.
As a result, tourism represents
an important economic resource
for Shimoni and neighboring
communities, generating more
than US$ 1.6 million excluding
park entry fees in 1998.
Nowadays, it is one the most
important dolphin-watching
destinations in East Africa, and it
is vital to the local economy.
Photo Credit: Sergi Perez
Eco-tourism represents an activity
which combines the matters of
human development and
environmental sustainability and
therefore needs proper
management if it is to continue to
support the lives of the people
who rely on coastal resources.
In 2007, with input from GVI, KWS
introduced the first
dolphin-watching code of conduct
in Kenya, aiming to promote it as
an ecotourism activity that can
economically benefit the local
community and also ensure the
protection of dolphins, regulating
the interaction of boats with the
animals and prohibiting swimming
with them. Swimming with
dolphins has been demonstrated
to have negative impacts on the
animals in other parts of the
world.
A study conducted on the
Indo-Pacific bottlenose dolphin
population in Kizimkazi (Tanzania),
showed the impacts of the
dolphin-watching activity on this
cetacean population. Some of
these impacts included the
alteration of the behavioral
patterns with the presence of
more than 2 boats around the
animals. In 2010, Fredrik
Christiansen, from the University
of Stockholm, recommended to
decrease the tourism pressure so
as not jeopardize the survival and
reproductive success of this
species in this area.
Based on Christiansen’s
recommendations and taking into
account that only 6,375 tourists
were present in Kizimkazi in 2003
compared to the 66,700 visitors in
Kisite-Mpunguti MPA in 2006, it is
critically important to evaluate the
local dolphin-watching impact on
the dolphin population.
Unregulated and intrusive dolphin
watching practices can disturb
natural behavior like breeding and
feeding and threaten young calves.
Swimming with dolphins
has been demonstrated to
have negative impacts on
the animals in other parts
of the world.
Moreover, it is essential to know
the cetacean species encounter
rate around Kisite-Mpunguti MPA
along the year, their distribution,
abundance and survival rate.
Training boat-operators
In an effort to raise the standards
of dolphin watching practices and
dolphin welfare in Kisite, and
improve the quality of the natural
wildlife experience for the
Kisite-Mpunguti MPA visitors,
KWS and GVI have been focusing
on a continuing training program
to tour operators since 2009.
Workshops include improved
customer service and focus on the
do’s and don’ts of dolphin
watching; keeping a safe distance
and not interfering with the
dolphins, not chasing them
especially if they have young
calves and not jumping in the
water with them. This will mean
less stress for the dolphins and
therefore a more natural
experience for guests. The
response so far from boat
operators who have been trained
is positive and compliance to
guidelines is high.
The future of the dolphin-watching
activity around Kisite-Mpunguti
MPA, and Kenya in general, will
depend on the sustainable levels
of tourist boats and their level of
compliance with the codes of
conduct. The joint effort between
NGOs, researchers, tourist
companies and governmental
bodies will be crucial to achieve
these objectives.
 Responsible Wildlife Watching
(Code of Conduct)
• If dolphins are sighted, you should slow down gradually to no-wake
speed and maintain this speed until clear of the animals.

• DO NOT chase the dolphins, circle them, or drive your boat directly
toward them.

• If you wish to approach the dolphins, do it very slowly, keeping parallel

to their course and avoid sudden changes of direction or speed which
could confuse or disorient them.

• DO NOT drive through or between groups of dolphins.

• Move away slowly if you notice signs of disturbance from the dolphins,
such as erratic changes in speed and direction or lengthy periods under
water. Slapping of the tail and/or head on the surface of the water may
be a sign of distress.

• Avoid dolphins with young and DO NOT make loud noises.

• Allow the animals to approach you. If they do approach and ‘bowride’

maintain steady speed and steady course.

• If already in the water snorkelling, remain calm, DO NOT get over excited,
and let them approach you, instead you to them.

• Try not to have more than 2 boats at one time at dolphin sightings and
keep a distance of not less than 100 metres from the animals.

• DO NOT spend more than 20 minutes (at a time) with the animals (bear in
mind the need of other operators who too want to offer their clients the
opportunity).

• Do not dispose of fuel or oil in the SEA/OCEAN and other contaminants.

Dispose off in appropriate containers on board the boat or at your
destination, not into the SEA.

• DO NOT feed, touch or swim with the dolphins.

The Kenya Marine Mammal Network

The Kenya Marine Mammal Network (KMMN) was established by

GVI-Kenya, WMA (Watamu Marine Association) and KASA (Kenya
Association of Sea Anglers) in May 2011 and is partnered by the Kenya
Wildlife Service (KWS) and the Kenya Marine Fisheries Research
Institute (KMFRI).

This network aims to provide the first consistent data on occurrence

and abundance of marine mammals along the Kenyan coast collected
by sport fishing vessels, diving clubs, artisanal fishers and NGOs as a
platform of opportunity. Also, this project will help to define areas of
“High Importance” for marine mammals, which will improve our
understanding of these species in this region and on a broader
temporal scale.

More than 300 sightings were reported to the network between

October 2011 and September 2012, with the Indo-Pacific bottlenose
dolphin being the species most encountered. This species was sighted
along the length of the Kenya coast, from Manda Bay (Lamu) to Shimoni
(Kwale District), with most sightings close to shore, indicating this
animal’s preference for coastal inshore waters.

Humpback whales were reported on 72 occasions between the

months of June and November. Spinner dolphins were reported 25 times,
most of them by sea anglers from Shimoni and Watamu. These animals
were mainly found in deep waters off the Pemba Channel and Watamu
Banks. Killer whales (Orca) were observed on three occasions in
Watamu waters during the month of February and around the sport
fishing area known as “The Rips”. Other species such as humpback
and common dolphins, pilot and sperm whales were also sighted.

These reports are serving to increase public awareness and

appreciation of these magnificent marine animals.
 The Kenya Marine Mammal Network

This association was established in 2012 and is formed by 79

members, including boat owners, crews, captains and sellers. The
Association can arrange dhow tours, snorkelling, dolphin safaris, bird
watching, scuba diving, accommodation and mangrove trips as well
as visits to Wasini Island and Shimoni Slave Caves.

To go out with them you can call their Secretary,

Omari Kibadeni
+254724244635 / +254721857354.
Photo Credit: Photocredit: © Martin Fisch, used under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike license
 FEATURE
Fishy FISHING
IN KENYA
D
eep in Lake Victoria,
in the vicinity of
Ringiti Island, three
traditional fishing
canoes host ten fishermen as they
brave the biting midnight cold,
hoping and praying that tonight,
the catch will be better than the
previous night. A few hours later,
their prayers are answered. They
return with the catch and sell it.
Many a time, they make just
enough to cater for daily needs. It
is soon finished and they have to
set sail again. For many, this is the
cycle, through generations of
fishing as an occupation; the world
of a fisherman.
For several years now Kenyans
have watched the same old scene
play out at fish landing sites.
Photo Credit: Carol Hunsberger
By Halinishi Yusuf
Mostly, it is a buzz of activities with In many occasions, fishermen go
boats landing fish and fish out fishing for hours, days or even
mongers hustling to buy. But it is weeks. While there, they try to find
always the trucks waiting by the ice cubes to preserve the fish.
weighing shade that take the bulk
of the daily catch, loading dozens Kenya is endowed with a wealth of
of kilograms of the product to resources, in terms of fisheries, of
external markets. varied characteristics from
freshwater to saline, inland and
Well, that’s the situation in the marine. The sub-sector plays an
Kenyan fish industry and that trend important role in the Kenyan
hasn’t changed for years, with a economy. It provides employment
persistently small proportion of the to over 500 000 Kenyans engaged in
total landings serving the local fish production and other related
market. Price of the product is enterprises in several relatively
therefore inflated at the source poor areas. The sector contributes
and no real financial benefit to significantly to Kenya’s export. Lake
show for the day’s work. Victoria, for instance earns the
Fishing is known to be one of the country KES 11 billion annually.
oldest occupations of mankind. It
has been largely practiced at Kenya has not adequately
artisanal levels. harnessed the great potential
 sector through
enactment of laws to
govern the resource
as well as allocating
funds to develop the
sector. Millions of
dollars are also
invested in the sector
in foreign
Photo Credit: Kennedy Orwa

development support
channeled through
intergovernmental and
civil society
organizations.
Weighing of the
day's catch at a
However, exploitation
banda on the shores
of Lake Victoria .
of the resource has
remained marred with

fishery is increasingly skewed in unsustainable practices,

favor of the owners of fish under-exploitation of deep seas and

that the fisheries sector
processing and animal feed a grave disregard of the
provides. Some of the reasons
factories, against the fishers, unexploited potential that has
attributed to this include under
factory employees and fish remained just that – potential –
exploitation and overexploitation
consumers. Kenya’s Exclusive over many years.
in some cases, poor market
systems, and weak regulatory Economic Zone (EEZ) in the Indian
Ocean is 95% exploited by foreign Even with billions recorded as
environment. Human activities
investors under unfavorable revenue coming into the country
are contributing to destruction of
economic agreements, owing to from sale of fish and fish products,
habitats through pollution and
lack of technical capacity and a commensurate plough back into
reduction in water levels.
capital to exploit fisheries sustainably developing the sector is

resources in the deep waters. This lacking. The situation remains dire
However, the sub-sector grew
unfortunate scenario explains why and will continue to be so since
from 3.1% to 13.2% since 2008
the fishing communities have most of the revenue collected is not
according the Kenya National
remained some of the poorest of reinvested in either the community
Bureau of Statistics (KNBS),
the poor communities in Kenya. or in management of the resource.
Economic Survey Report 2012.

Through the Ministry of Fisheries But the Kenyan fisheries can attain
Though this is great news, other
Development, the government has self-reliance and financing through
studies indicate that the
made efforts to promote the the establishment of a Fisheries’
incomedistribution from the
Retention Scheme (as has been
done in Tanzania) deriving revenue
from fish levies and royalties on
fish export from Lake Victoria and
marine waters. These monies
collectively can be used to sponsor
community based projects
concentrated along the lines of
preserving both the employee’s
human-dignity and the resource
for sustainable exploitation by the
future Kenyan fisher.
The recent reforms on Beach
Management Units (BMUs)
however, which have bestowed
powers on these institutions by
the regional and national BMU
guidelines and national legislation,
have brought in a new game-play
into the concept of
co-management.
Increasingly, funds can be
harnessed through the BMUs for
greater reinvestment into fisheries
management, since the
management board of every BMU
constitutes all stakeholders of the
said resource. In this arrangement,
the boat owners, their crew and
local fish mongers and traders
collectively make up to 70% of the
executive committee giving them
the ‘burden’ of power to decide
how best to manage their resource
sustainably while improving their
livelihoods.
Thus if the sector is improved and
opened up to further exploitation
through fishers training on modern
capture and culture methods;
subsidised price on input;
regulated exploitation by foreign
players and market exploration,
then the sector will produce more
than its estimated potential. This
way, it is not just the big boys who
will smile all the way to the bank,
but the real kingpins of fishery –
the fishers. Equally important the
fish will not just be a hapless
commodity to be fished, sold and
bought.
Rather, fish will be.... well, the
cherished queen.

Empowering People and Nature (EPN)

With 57% of the population in the Lake Victoria region living below the poverty line and the myriad of
environmental challenges that the lake faces (invasion of the water hyacinth, agricultural runoff from neighbouring
farms, industrial and domestic pollution), time seems to be running out for the aquatic pride of East Africa.

This is where the Environment Liaison Centre International (ELCI) and Act! come in to address these issues with
the project ‘Empowering People Nature(EPN) – Lake Victoria’. With financial support from the Swedish
International Development Agency (SIDA) and the Department for International Development (DFID), EPN strives
to improve the livelihoods of fishing communities in 4 counties (Homa-Bay, Siaya, Kisumu and Busia) through
sustainable utilization of the fisheries resource.

It does this by strengthening the capacities of non-state actors involved in the sector to respond to the challenges
by actively supporting conservation activities, and addressing policy issues related to overfishing, destructive
fishing methods, pollution, climate change, weaknesses in policy implementation and fish market system. EPN has
also managed to facilitate the coordination amongst local, national and regional stakeholders to influence the
adoption of policies that will enhance the growth of the fisheries sector.

The project is still on going and its potential benefits has managed to attract over 50 non-state actors that include
fishermen's associations, women groups, youth groups, beach management units, community-based
organizations, fishermen's cooperative societies, associations of fish traders, and NGOs. Such a turnout of
participants in the project is quite indicative of the need to urgently act on solving the problems facing Lake
Victoria before it is too late.
FEATURE LAKE VICTORIA FISHERIES:
Facing the Wrath of Pollution
“If we had the power, we could
force all industrialists around Lake
Victoria to dig septic holes in
their own factory compounds to
direct their waste so that it never
reaches the lake”, laments
Patricia Waga, a fishmonger since
1979 working at Usoma beach of
Lake Victoria, Kenya.
According to Waga who has
observed the lake at her beach
over the past several years, the
lake at Usoma beach behaves like
a chameleon. “One moment it is
brown, another moment it is blue,
then green… it depends on which
factory has just released its load
of waste into the lake”.
Waga’s is the voice of not just one
woman, ageing and struggling to
eke a living out of the only
resource she has known – the fish
of Lake Victoria. The lake and the
fishery is the lifeline for millions of
people in Kenya, Uganda and
Tanzania. Among this population,
at least 84% rely directly or
indirectly on the fishery for their
household income and nutrition.
By Halinishi Yusuf and Kennedy Orwa
Apart from producing fish, the
lake is also the main source of
water for drinking and other
domestic uses for riparian
families. To say it is so heavily
polluted is therefore to subject the
dependent families to the most
efficient recipe for desperation
and disease. Indeed, the region
reports some of the highest
incidences of waterborne
diseases like typhoid, dysentery
and skin infections.
Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania
collectively report average annual
fish catch of over 800,000 tonnes,
worth over US$590 million, of
which US$340 million is generated
at the shore and a further US$250
million a year is earned in exports
from the Nile perch fishery alone.
The fishery supports almost 2
million people with household
incomes and meets the annual
fish consumption needs of almost
22 million people in the region.
In 2011, Kenya reported a total
fish catch of nearly 112,000 metric
tonnes valued at about US$ 136
million (KES 11.5 billion) from
Lake Victoria. However, after
reaching its peak in the 1980’s,
the lake’s fishery is reportedly on
a steady decline. A fisherman
landing with an empty vessel
after a whole night fishing
expedition is not news.
The decline is despite millions of
dollars pumped for many years
into the management of Lake
Victoria ecosystem and resources
through bilateral and direct
financing involving government,
private sector, research,
academia and civil society
institutions. Indeed, the East
African states have established
the Lake Victoria Basin
Commission (LVBC) and Lake
Victoria Fisheries Organizations
(LVFO) aiming at enhanced
coordination of management of
the resources, with LVFO focusing
on management of the fisheries
alone.
“Due to anthropogenic related
activities, the biomass (of fish)
has gone down considerably”,
says Dr William Ojwang’, the whose wastes are washed away In April 2013, a consultation of top
Assistant Director, Freshwater and during rainy seasons. All these find fisheries scientists, water experts,
Inland Fisheries at Kenya Marine their way into the lake! chemists and regulators from
and Fisheries Institute. Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania and
Among the trends blamed on Norway, meeting in Kisumu under
Dr Ojwang’ explains that pollution of the lake are the algal the facilitation of Environment
anthropogenic activities in bloom and proliferation of hyacinth. Liaison Centre International and
question present in two forms: There is also a general increase in Acts!, concluded that pollution is a
overexploitation and pollution. temperatures and reduced oxygen major factor with serious effects on
Overexploitation mainly arises concentration in the waters. Due to the fisheries of Lake Victoria. In the
when fishers are in large numbers increased turbidity and low oxygen, consultation, Dr Jeppe Kolding of
and/or use wrong fishing gears, unusual formations have been the University of Bergen, Norway,
wrong fishing methods and fish in observed in the gills of fish, showed that indeed, the current
areas that should be protected explained by fisheries scientists as regulatory regime which focuses on
because they are known to be fish adaptation to the changing quality controlling effort (amount of fish
breeding grounds. of water – the fish habitat. caught), should be reviewed as the
Occasional fish deaths have been laws and policies are not entirely
Pollution results from poor land reported, and some species, for consistent with scientific principles.
use practices upstream which lead example haplochromines cannot be
to erosion followed by siltation and traced indicating a risk to Participants in this high level
turbidity of the lake. There are biodiversity of the lake. meeting concluded nutrient levels
also agrochemicals from upstream
farms, whose residues are swept
to the rivers and to the lake in
rainy seasons. Further,
populations in urban centres
including Kisumu, Homabay,
Mwanza, Kampala and Entebbe,
have outstripped the sewage
treatment capacity leading to
heavy spills of raw sewer into the
lake. Industries around the lake
have inadequate or no provision
for effluence treatment, and
communities around the lake
defecate in open bushes and
directly in the lake while fishing,
and keep animals A close view of Lake Victoria water at one of the beaches
in Lake Victoria may have
exceeded the desirable limits as
evidenced by the algal bloom and
hyacinth invasion. Among other
recommendations, they asserted
the need to undertake
classification of water bodies in
the Lake Victoria Basin to establish
allowable levels of phosphorus and
nitrogen, and any other relevant
environmental parameters.
According to Dr Kolding, Lake
Victoria fishery is threatened by
eutrophication, not fishing. He
radically notes that open access is
the best approach for Lake Victoria
fisheries, and that gill-net sizes
should in fact not be regulated but
rather, fishing should be done
such that mature and young fish
are equitably exploited. He asserts
that age and size structures
change under selective fishing,
leading to fish populations of
younger and smaller individuals.
This is the theory of natural
selection in practice – the average
size of mature fish landed at the
beaches of Lake Victoria is
increasingly smaller indeed, and
the fish have developed physical
adaptations, indicative of the
heavy eutrophication. Further, the
experts meeting in Kisumu
observed that ecosystem approach
is best for management of Lake
Victoria basin environment and
resources, for comprehensive
results. This may however be the
subject of a coordination
nightmare.
Such an approach would require
the cooperation of a myriad
institutions and government
departments, parastatals, and
academia scattered in a number of
government ministries, among
them (i) Environment, Water and
Natural Resource, (ii) Agriculture,
Livestock and Fisheries under
which are the Department of
Agriculture, Department of
Livestock and Department of
Fisheries, (iii) Industrialization and
Enterprise Development, and Land,
(iv) Housing and Urban
Development. Furthermore, some
functions have been devolved to
County governments, making these
another important entity.
Coordination matters are further
complicated by the trans-boundary
nature of Lake Victoria ecosystem.
It covers the five states of East
Africa, and downstream states,
notably Egypt, have a keen interest
in the use of Lake Victoria waters.
The National Environment
Management Authority (NEMA)
stands in the most prominent
position being the institution
charged with the responsibility to
exercise general supervision and
co-ordination over all matters
relating to the environment, and to be
the principal instrument of
government of Kenya in the
implementation of all policies relating
to the environment.
Mr Benjamin Langwen, Director of
Compliance and Enforcement at
NEMA, laments that compliance
levels are low due to lack of the
requisite infrastructure. He says
there is inadequate investment in
pollution prevention measures and
anti-pollution control equipment, and
that there are many informal
businesses and activities in which
environmental protection is not given
a thought.
Meanwhile, from a socio-economic
standpoint, the idea of catching only
mature fish favours the more
lucrative international and affluent
local markets. With mature fish going
to these up-markets and the
immature fish remaining banned
under the current regulations, the
poor local traders and consumers are
disenfranchised. Indeed poverty and
malnutrition is rife among the Lake
Victoria riparian populations, despite
the billions of revenue reported at
the national level. The locals thrive on
what is popularly known as mgongo
wazi (skeleton of fish), the left over
bones after filleting for up-markets.
 A ray of hope exists in an initiative The two are facilitating allowable nutrient loads in industrial and
facilitated by ELCI and the Kenya multi-stakeholder engagement to municipal effluence. This will pave the
Marine and Fisheries Institute, start by classifying Lake Victoria and way for developing concrete legislation
Kisumu Centre. basin rivers in terms of for more efficient enforcement.

Filling a basin with fish is an uphill task for the fishmongers

who need it for income and feeding families
 FEATURE
T
The small house stands

Kenya’s
alone, like a lone guard,

GREEN
at the entrance of the
large one-acre
homestead. It is round like one of
the big trees that stands regally a
stone throw away. Its smooth
light-grey walls stand just over six
Architecture
feet tall, grass-thatched roof resting
on these walls like a yellow crown.
Odyssey
By Nickson Otieno

It is a naturally breathing house

with air flowing through the aerated
thatched roof, the openings between
the roof and the wall and windows -
applying the same principles of
chimneys and atria. The mud wall
provides the thick mass that
insulates occupants from intense
heat during the day and from cold at
night. This is a simba
simba, small
bachelor’s house, in Kandaria village
near Lake Victoria. As this house
Source: Building for the future: A United Nations Showcase in Nairobi, UNEP, 2011
proves, green architecture is not
exclusive to contemporary times. the first American use of the term British Research Establishment
‘green architecture’ in mid-1990, Environmental Assessment
Sustainable design practices have on the editor’s page of Architecture Method (BREEAM), Canada’s
been applied in buildings for magazine.4 Since then, a number Building Environmental
millennia. However, the term of green building programs and Performance Assessment Criteria
sustainable or green architecture projects have been established (BEPAC), Hong Kong Building
only emerged about two decades nationally and internationally in Environmental Assessment
ago. The first references to ‘green both the public and private sectors. Method (HK-BEAM), US Green
architecture’ and ’green building Building Council's Leadership in
label’ reportedly appeared in the Different Green Building programs Environmental and Energy Design
British publication The Independent balance various dimensions of (LEED), and Australian Green Star,
in London in early 1990, followed by sustainability. They include: among others.
To be affordable and
sustainable, buildings must
optimize the flow of materials,
water, energy, currency, and
information. Green buildings are
designed to optimize these flows
while providing the best
aesthetic and structural
performance.
Green buildings are a mix of
design and functionality. They
harvest and manage water,
energy, and natural light. They
also convert solid and liquid
wastes to resources even as
they embrace local materials
and labor. Additionally, green
buildings integrate building and
plants to optimize nature’s
ability to produce foodstuffs.
They enhance building and site
microclimates, increase comfort,
and reduce costs.
Green buildings entail site
selection and building layout that
minimizes the environmental
burden of buildings; creating an
efficient and integrated building
envelope system. They integrate
Heating, Ventilation and
Air-conditioning (HVAC) and
electrical systems to reduce
energy use; and specifying
reused, renewable or recycled
materials.
In Karen, Nairobi, a green home is
almost ready for residence. It
belongs to Dr Isaac Kalua, the
founder and Chairman of Green
Africa Foundation. Why is he keen
to move with his family to this new
home? "It is energy efficient and
sustainable," says Dr Kalua,
"energy associated with heating,
cooling, lighting and ventilating
buildings typically accounts for a
third of global energy consumption
and majority of carbon emissions."
Even as it embraces
technology, green
architecture should look
beyond it.
His new home, on the other hand,
optimizes the physical
characteristics of buildings and
their systems to balance energy
demands through the installation
of smart and efficient appliances.
It also exploits renewable energy
sources and minimizes the
reliance on polluting fossil fuel.
Green buildings incorporate
nature into the building to provide
ventilation. They seek to include
and integrate as much nature as
possible. Through passive design,
fresh natural air is permitted to
flow in the building through
cross-ventilation. Roof form
creates natural ventilation and
reduces mechanical ventilation
needs. The surrounding trees
clear the dust in the air, give
moisture besides providing visual
space that inspires people
spiritually through the connection
with the tranquil nature.
Green building materials are
selected based on their
sustainability; process of
extraction, manufacture,
transformation and degradation
through proper resource
management and biodiversity on a
global and local scale. All
materials should be considered in
terms of their embodied energy
and characteristics of toxicity,
potential off-gassing, finish and
maintenance requirements.
Even as it embraces technology,
green architecture should look
beyond it. There can be no
magical reduction of the impact of
buildings on the environment if we
ignore a broad range of simple,
inexpensive, and largely invisible
actions that could be taken to
reduce carbon dioxide emissions
of the existing built stock.
Some simple design and
construction choices are:
sun-shading fins, balconies,
shade glasses from direct sun, Thus, the building and housing that facilitates
light-colored external finishes that construction industry plays a productivity, job-generation, micro
reflect solar radiation, use of major role. Unfortunately, Kenya industry, local economies, and
glazed skylights and full-height lacks an affordable housing policy resident participation in building
windows to increase natural that addresses demand while their homes. To be affordable and
lighting; cross-ventilation through producing ecologically, socially sustainable, these solutions must
permanent louvers, chimneys and and economically sustainable address economics over the
atriums; harnessing surface communities. building life cycle, and
run-off for environmental
irrigation and economics.
car-washing;
using gravel The last three years
and plants on saw the green
pavements as building movement
opposed to in Kenya gaining
'hard' concrete momentum. Public
paving; and private sector
sighting the entities are adopting
longer facades green building
of buildings to policies and clean
face the energy standards.
north-south Green Africa
orientation that Foundation initiated
reduces heat a process to engage
gain as well as building and
providing for construction
site amenities industry
like parking stakeholders to
racks for develop locally
bicycles. relevant and
Source: Building for the future: A United Nations
guidelines (Green
Showcase in Nairobi, UNEP, 2011
Kenya is Africa Building
growing rapidly with the goal of Kenya urgently needs solutions Standards ) for certifying green
5

becoming a developed country by that integrate local labor, buildings. A parallel undertaking to
the year 2030. At the fulcrum of traditional building techniques, establish the Kenya Green Building
this growth is urbanization and and potential regional materials, Council and green building rating
infrastructural development. to provide affordable-sustainable tool is also at an advanced stage.
 A number of buildings in Kenya
already boast of the fête of
achieving sustainability goals.
Some of them are highlighted
below:
The UN New Office
Facility in Nairobi
in Nairobi6, which houses the
headquarters of both the United
Nations Environment Programme
(UNEP) and UN-HABITAT was
designed to be energy neutral. It
accomodates 1 200 staff. The
facility is characterized by four
buildings, linked by airy walkways,
green areas individually
landscaped and themed, 6 000
square metres of solar panels
cover the roof space, automated
low energy fluorescent lighting
fitted with a daylight sensing and
presence detection system
illuminating workspaces.

TThe United Nations Office Facility flooded with natural light; with

The use of low energy lighting and rain water harvesting

Source: Building for the future: A United Nations
technologies are a good start to greening buildings Showcase in Nairobi, UNEP, 2011
Rainwater is collected from the
roofs to feed the fountains and
ponds at the four entrances, and
sewage is treated in a
state-of-the-art aeration system
and recycled to irrigate the
beautifully landscaped gardens
beneath the atriums and around
the building. There are water
saving taps and lavatories, a
central atrium and light-wells in
every open plan office zone
maximizes cooling natural airflow
through the building, all
contribute further to
sustainability. Data centers
utilize air and cool water to
maintain server temperatures.
The building is faces north-south,
achieving maximum daytime
lighting with minimum heat
intake. The carpet has a very
high recycled content and is 100
per cent recyclable, and all
paints are environmentally
friendly.
The Strathmore
Business School
The Building situated at
Strathmore University's Campus
in Nairobi was completed in
2011. It has three floors and a
basement with a total area of
approximately 8 000 sm.
The building's main green
features include:
• An Atrium featuring two giant
waterfalls, a tensile
structured glass roof curtain
wall system and a double
volume maximize the daylight
and ventilation.
• Evaporative Cooling air units
situated at the top of the
building utilize rain water
harvested to control
temperatures and humidity in
the classrooms.
• The main facades of the
building face the North -
South directions to reduce
heat gain. The longer side
facades have a double walling
with the space created
in-between serving as
balconies, breakout areas
and a space for circulation
and evaporative cooling units.
• Full access for the disabled to
all the levels and areas of the
building
• Rain water is collected from
the roof, softened and
channeled to an underground
tank (made of recycled
plastic) for firefighting
purpose and irrigation of
lawns (with timed sprinklers).
• Use LED lighting connected
directly to Photovoltaic Solar
Louvers that will also act as
sun shading devices to the
East West facades.
• UBOT Structural system
utilizing a recycled PVC
system to replace the
concrete port system thus
reducing energy and
carbon emissions.
KCB Plaza
Kenya Commercial Bank is
currently putting up a green
building complex in Upper Hill,
Nairobi as part of its commitment
to environmental sustainability.
The 21-storey building consisting
of approximately 171 800 square
feet of lettable office space and
parking for about 450 vehicles.
KCB Plaza was designed to use
natural light and has facilities for
waste water recycling. It
incorporates mechanisms for
efficient energy consumption
including solar installations, use
of smart technology to manage
consumption of energy and
water resources, a rain water
harvesting system and use of
open space office plans for
effective air circulation and the
good health of employees and
appropriate access for people
with disabilities.
Despite these green architecture breakthroughs, around 80 percent of At the end of the day, built
Kenyan building stock are decades old and scarcely able to environment should simply follow the
accommodate the growing loads, nor do they meet contemporary example of natural environment and
economic and ecological standards. More focus should be on the embrace sustainability at every
renewal, refurbishment and retrofitting of existing building stock. stage, at all times.

REFERENCES
The planning system and accompanying policies are a good
4. Nathan Engstrom,
instrument to challenge traditional design and elicit creative “The Rise of
solutions. Post-construction checks need to take place not Environmental
Awareness in
just based on plans and proposals but also after American
completion to ensure that the final buildings adhere to Architecture: From
the Bruntland
the proposed design schemes. Commission to
LEED,” Platform
(A publication of
To encourage local green buildings investment, the School of
cross-subsidizing properties may be necessary. Architecture at the
University of
In this case, you would only be allowed to Texas at Austin),
build a new building if you have ‘off-set’ the Fall 2002.

additional energy use by increasing 5. Developed by

efficiency in existing properties. Similarly the Green Africa
Foundation in
if you retrofit five buildings to save corporation with
water, you are allowed to build a new the leading
industry
one which would increase water stakeholders like
usage. KEBS, Ministry of
Environment and
Mineral Resources,
Occupier behaviour is also crucial in Ministry of
Housing,
transitioning to a green built Architectural
environment. Education is key in Association of
Kenya, the
transforming attitudes, and Institution of
ensuring that the occupiers are Engineers of Kenya
among others.
engaged in a green building
management.Significant reduction 6. Source: Building
Photo Credit: By Nickson Otieno

for the future: A

target could be achieved by United Nations
reducing air-conditioning, turning showcase in
Nairobi, UNEP,
off electronics and lights when 2011
leaving the house and repairing
leaking taps. Smart metering and
billing is an excellent education
tool in both a residential and
commercial building.
FEATURE
GREEN growth
In the world, the environmental
paradigm has had dramatic
changes during the last century.
One of the main triggers was the
late consequences of the Industrial
Revolution. The global green
movement helped Governments,
industries and communities focus
on the importance of the balance
of the different dimensions of
sustainability.
In 1987, the Brundltand Report
opened the eyes of Governments
and different stakeholders by
making them understand that
national growth had to be analyzed
from an economic perspective to a
social and environmental balance.
Since its adoption in the Earth
Summit, in 1992, it has faced
several challenges, understanding
that growth is a very complex
element in a nation. But, due to
this, the Latin America and the
Caribbean region have had
numerous practices that have been
very important and can be
replicated in a local context.
in Colombia By Kenneth Ochoa
In Colombia, green growth can be they created the Ministry of
traced back to 1825, when Simon Environment as well as the
Bolivar, the liberator of more than Environmental National System,
5 countries in South America, which gathers the main
promulgated a law about the stakeholders on this field, including
conservation and good practices of all of the major groups, as
the freshwater usage, as a presented on the Title III of the
shifting of the environment Agenda 21.
conception that was inherited
from the Spanish conquers. Since that time, this country has
been working to achieve
150 years later, Colombia sustainable development with
experienced a green milestone limited results. Most of these
when Decreto 2811 a law that initiatives have been developed
is also known as the
Source (Gobernación de Cundinamarca, 2009)
National Code of the
Renewable Natural
Resources was
enacted.
One year after
the Earth
Summit in
1992,
Colombia’s
national
Government
promulgated
the Law 99 of
1993, through which Cundinamarca and Bogota.
with a group of public policies,
such as one on biodiversity and
another one on cleaner production
and consumption.
This has helped corporations and
communities develop their work
by taking into account other
non-economic dimensions
including social, technological,
cultural, ecological and political.
One of the milestones in
corporate sustainability in
Colombia was the Public Policy on
Cleaner Production publication on
1997. This was an important event
for different industrial groups and
corporations. Small and Medium
Enterprises (SMEs) in Colombia
employ eighty percent of
Colombians and produce
seventy-five percent of industrial
GDP.
The cleaner production policy,
therefore guides the operations of
these SMEs. There is now an
updated version of the policy
entitled ‘Policy on Sustainable
Production and Consumption,’ and
it has a strong focus on the
industrial arena.
One of the great cases of success
has been the ‘Parque Industrial
Ecoeficiente de Ártes Gráficas’
(Ecoefficient industrial park of
graphical arts), which was the
result of a public-private alliance.
This was the result of a project
that was inspired by Kalundborg
(in Denmark) and that was
contextualized and replicated in a
very small scale by using it to
relocate a group of industries that
used to work where it was going
to be built the Tercer Milenio’s
Park, in 2001, and opened in
October 2003.
It has different goals, such as
green architecture, clean
production programs,
consumption reduction and
recycling promotion. All this is
done through an investment of
USD 2.5 million per year.
54 businesses participated in this
program. It had a general
manager of the infrastructure
who helped to create a complex
but helpful environmental
management structure, including
a load room for wastes, a
wastewater treatment plant and
other facilities for the members of
the association.
Some of the lessons learnt are
related to the social awareness of
the members, who had never
worked this way. It has been
difficult, within the industry of
graphical arts, to have
environmental management not
as an externality but in the cost of
production due to the reduction of
the profits and the way this
affects the business competition.
On the other hand, one of the
elements that helped this project,
is the consumer behavioral
change. Consumers are more
conscious of their responsibility to
buy products with green
practices, instead of cheaper
products with a higher impact to
the environment.
On the other hand, another
important perspective to analyze
green growth in Colombia
includes vital community
advances. One of the most
remarkable examples is an effort
to promote mitigation and
adaptation to climate change in
the region of Bogota and nearby.
This project is known as PRICC
(which stands for Plan Regional
Integral de Cambio Climático
Cundinamarca – Bogotá , or
Climate Change Integrate
Regional Plan for Cundinamarca –
Bogota).
This is an interesting case to
analyze, due to its complexity.
Bogota, Colombia’s capital city is
located in the middle of the
country. Also, it is in the center of
Cundinamarca (a Department or
State in the country).These two
places have completely different
jurisdictions; Bogota holds 7.5
million people and Cundinamarca
1.5 million more. And this is why
the different Government
structures have always been a
regional cooperative work
challenge.
For ten years, both Governments
have been working together in
different strategies to work not
from a Governmental point of view,
but a territorial one, reducing the
problems generated by one of the
main consciousness of our
communities – borders.
The main goal of this initiative is to
reduce the risks generated by
climate change,
focusing on poverty and
sustainability through
the empowerment of
the local and regional
government in order to
promote adaptation
and mitigation actions.
It involves several
stakeholders such as
local authorities,
intergovernmental
agencies, civil societies
and academia, among
others. Territorial Approach to Climate Change (TACC) projects around the world
It also promotes the north-south and
south-south cooperation with
projects and best practices that can
be replicated within an international
network that includes other regions
on this project. It has three specific
elements: Governance and Alliances
framework; Mitigation and adaptation
focused strategic planning; and
Financial Policies Framework.
Nowadays, this project is in an
executing phase, and due to its early
stages no reports have been
published, but due to its importance
since 2010, it is estimated that it has
been running 10 projects in the
world.
Such projects promote the green
growth in the cities of Bogota and
nearby, understanding that the
special focus of it, as presented in
Rio+20, includes a holistic thought
as well as a glocalization
perspective.
In conclusion, the two cases
presented in this article, present a
couple of examples and invites
communities, academics and
decision makers to figure out
alternative ways to prevent and
solve environmental problems, with
a focus on the local and national
economy. Colombia is crawling on
along the sustainability road and as
Martin Luther King Jnr said, ‘if you
can't fly then run, if you can't run
then walk, if you can't walk then
crawl, but whatever you do you
have to keep moving forward.’
Let us keep moving forward along
this sustainability road.
Source: UNDP, 2009.
 FEATURE
SWEDEN
Needs Transition, Rather
Than
G
Gärdet in Stockholm
is a huge recreation
area. It is also the
location of many of
the city's museums, but there
would not normally be a lot of
people coming here on a Tuesday
morning. Today is different though.
The bus from the city centre is
nearly full, and everyone is heading
for the Technical Museum, where
the Minister for Enterprise, Annie
Lööf, is going to present the report
‘The Road to a Greener Future’
The event takes place at the
ongoing innovation exhibition –
where the car has been voted to be
a more important invention than
the wheel – and as Annie Lööf
says: “it is not a coincidence that
we are here”. Instead the Swedish
government wants to make it clear
Growth
that it sees creativity and
enterprise as the solution to our
challenges.
Even though the museum is
spacious, there is not a lot of room
for anyone who dares to question
the necessity of economic growth.
When the Minister for Enterprise is
asked by a member of the audience
if it is not “transition” rather than
“growth” that is needed to achieve
sustainability, her response is that
we will not save the climate with
“politics that are hostile to growth”.
But outside of the government
there are those who are
questioning the current
paradigm.At the grassroots level
the transition movement is slowly
growing – and even within the
finance industry a few people are
By Kjell Vowles, Sweden
starting to wake up.
The problem is that our economic
system was first fueled by cheap
oil, and then pumped up even
further by a finance system where
the central bank started creating
money out of nothing and lending it
out to private banks at low
interest, who then added a few
percentage points to the interest
and loaned it out again to its
customers.
Overspending became inevitable,
as the money in circulation was not
backed by actual physical
resources.
With the aid of cheap fossil fuels
and financial instruments the
economy grows exponentially, a
growth curve that quickly gets out
of hand.
The classic fable about the
emperor and the chess board can
serve as an example. The
emperor was so pleased when the
game of chess was created, that
he asked the inventor to name his
price for the invention.
The inventor asked for one grain
of rice to be put on the first
square of the chess board, and
that the amount of rice would
double for every square, so that
there would be one grain on the
first square, two grains on the
second, four on the third and so
forth. The emperor was nearly
offended because he thought the
inventor was too modest. The
empire, however, went bankrupt
when it became apparent that the
total number of rice grains would
be 18 446 744 073 709 551 615.
The emperor was kicked out and
the inventor became the new king.
An economic system that is based
on exponential growth will sooner
or later collapse – just like the
empire – and that is what we are
seeing at the moment. The
economic crisis that has shaken
many industrialized countries to
the core for more than four years
is not going to disappear anytime
soon. And we need a new system
to replace it.
A system where nature is not garden, arranging seminars and
taken for granted, and which does politicians to plan for a future
not push us to overstep the so without fossil fuels.
called planetary boundaries that
Professor Johan Rockström and Obviously the group in Alingsås
his colleagues have defined as will not change the world alone,
the safe operating space for and to be honest the effect on
humanity. political policies so far has been
limited at most. But it is initiatives
Where do we start to create such like this that are needed if we are
a system? In Sweden the going to achieve long-term
transition movement – which sustainability. We need
started in the UK in 2006 – is grassroots movements that can
slowly spreading. I recently influence elected politicians and
visited a group in Alingsås, a demand that we change our
small town in the south-west part course. We cannot keep on living
of the country – that has as if there is no tomorrow,
managed to form a very active borrowing resources from coming
transition group for a place with generations and leaving a
only 24 000 inhabitants. They are collapsed civilization behind us on
creating an urban community a fried planet.
Photo Credit: Kjell Vowles
People living in cities have started adopting urban agriculture,
reducing dependence on food imports
Thankfully the grassroots are
spreading their seeds, even if not
as quickly as one might have
hoped. But partly thanks to the
economic crisis, people are
starting to wake up and realize
that the party is nearly over.
There is a renewed interest in
food and agriculture, as well as in
self-sufficient living. Urban
gardening has become popular
not only in Alingsås, but in major
cities like Stockholm, Gothenburg
and Malmö as well.
These steps are mainly about
people reducing their own
emissions of greenhouse gases.
To add further pressure on the
politicians the movement needs
to be more vocal in the public
debate – and here it has lost
momentum – at least in Sweden.
In the run up to the COP 15
meeting in Copenhagen in 2009
the climate action groups
reached their peak, but the
bubble burst with the
disappointing outcome of the
meeting. A lot of people returned
home and turned their back on
politics and decided to start
growing food in their gardens.
This is all fine up to a point, but it
is not enough. For the sake of
future generations, and in
solidarity with the people in
less developed nations who are
already suffering the
consequences of the developed
world's historic greenhouse gas
emissions, we need to make sure
that our government acts now to
stop the burning of fossil fuels.
For a rich economy in the northern
hemisphere like Sweden, future
green economic and materialistic
growth is a delusion. As talked
about earlier our economy has
been driven by fossil fuels and
financial loans that are not
secured by physical resources.
These are two aspects of the
current system that have to be
taken away in order to achieve a
truly sustainable society. To still
expect some kind of
business-as-usual scenario, when
we undermine the two driving
forces behind the economy, is folly.
We can change our ways
before we reach the
ultimate climate
catastrophe, but time is
short.
There are a few politicians who
are starting to question the idea of
green growth in its standard form,
and people within finance who are
realizing that the current economic
downturn is not just a blip in the
curve.
One alternative road that is
talked about more and more is a
circular economy, based on
reusing, and recycling material
goods. A system where it will
always be cheaper to repair
products than to buy new ones.
A circular economy would
probably also need to be a local
economy, maybe with an
alternative local currency. In a
small-scale local solution, the
economy can be kept in check by
making sure that the amount of
money that is available is
guaranteed by actual resources.
The economy would not be able
to grow exponentially; instead it
would function within the natural
and absolute boundaries that are
set by the ecological system.
We can change our ways before
we reach the ultimate climate
catastrophe, but time is short.
And the green growth based on
innovation within this current
system that the Swedish
government is talking about, will
at best buy us some time before
we adapt to a long-term
sustainable system not based on
materialistic growth and further
resource depletion. At worst it is
only pushing us closer towards
another tipping point.
Advert

Advert

Uganda’s
OIL OPPORTUNITY
Y
Your, toothpaste,
pens, paint,
toiletries, cooking
gas, motors,
television, mobile phone,
computer, cutlery… the list is
endless. These are among
multifarious domestic and
industrial products, containing a
property of hydrocarbons.
Undoubtedly, we seemingly cannot
live without the mining of gas and
fossil fuels. Alluding to the fact
that there are alternative raw
materials to hydrocarbons
nevertheless, setting up their
infrastructure will take decades to
supersede that of natural gas and
fossil fuels.
Therefore I ask, are we ready to
halt the exploration and mining of
fossil fuels altogether or should
we also, at least for the current
time, focus on a holistic
sustainability in its extraction?
Is the feared depletion of this
non-renewable resource soon
bound to reach its finitude? Can
the extreme contra-petrol
activists, flying around the world,
in petroleum fuelled planes look
at oil exploration and mining from
a more realistic angle?
Oil and gas exploration activity
still continue around the world.
British petroleum statistics show
that there are 831 000 Million
FRANK TALK
DEPARTMENT
Green
By Margaret Koli
tonnes of oil equivalent (Mtoe)
known deposits for exploration.
Exploration still continues and
more oil deposits are bound to be
discovered. This shows that oil
companies are still in business.
A recent find, though there were
earlier speculations, is that there
is oil in Northern Kenya containing
commercially viable reserves.
Further North is the disputed
great shale reservoir in the
earth’s crust of the historic
Nubian and Cushitic kingdoms.
However, let us focus on the
intriguing deposits in the
western vein of the Great
RiftValley.
Even more dramatic is its Even as it stirs hope, oil extraction wealthier countries with better
embedment under the waters of can motivate conflict for an regulatory frameworks? While
Lake Albert like a sub-petroleum individualistic benefit of the oil working in less equipped and
lake spreading crossing through proceeds. But this reality should impoverished countries, can
the strata of geopolitical not dim another reality – that companies maintain ethics and
boundaries of Uganda and the maybe it is possible to retain the set high standards, thus forgoing
Democratic Republic of Congo. baby even as you throw away the the additional profit that would be
Nevertheless, nature is not bathing water. make if some ¨short-cuts¨ are
founded on political borders but used?
is based on an The case of Uganda sheds a few
interconnectedness of various crucial insights into this dilemma. It is imperative for the Ugandan
aspects of itself. leadership to implement good oil
Are companies operating in governance strategies. A vital
It goes on that on the Ugandan Western Uganda, such as Tullow step is transparency. For
government via the operations of Oil, Total and the Chinese National instance, the Production Sharing
oil exploration companies have Offshore Oil Corporation, adhering Agreements between the state
greatly advanced in to the to the same standards they and companies should be
speculation and setting up oil implement when operating in available to the public.
rigs, hence looking forward to
commercial oil extraction.
Nevertheless there is much to be
considered such as The 22
national parks, home to an exotic
biodiversity on which local
communities derive their
livelihood. Moreover, it is an
ecosystem that attracts income
from tourism. Not forgetting the
Lake Albert that supports a
fishing community on the
Ugandan and Congolese front.

One cannot be blinded to the

possibility of a negative or
Photo Credit: Margaret Koli

positive impact of the extraction

of hydrocarbons on the
surrounding.
There is no need to hastily mine
the oil without the proper
infrastructure in place. What’s
more, the oil deposits are an asset
with an ever increasing value.
Therefore the resources should be
tapped into when the right
structures are in place. If the
explication of the infrastructural is
wanting, one can only imagine the
even worse provisions that are
there for the waste treatment such
as the toxic mud waste let out
during the mining process. The
Ugandan government has set laws
for proper waste management,
disaster preparedness, health and
safety therefore mining should not
continue if the physical
requirements to support this are
not in place.
Like Norway, it should be deeply
ingrained in the national spectrum
that when commercial mining
starts, the oil and the proceeds
from oil should be used for the
benefits of its people. Often times,
raw materials are plundered from
various African countries for their
utility in foreign nations without
benefiting the parent countries.
An extension of this is the oil
companies’ pursuance in having
the Rift Valley’s oil sent to another
country.
While the Ugandan government
fight for an oil refinery to be built
in Uganda, companies argue that
building a refinery would cost up
to USD 5 billion while building a
1 400 km pipeline to Mombasa,
Kenya will cost USD 1.5 billion.
Often times, raw
materials are
plundered from various
African countries for
their utility in foreign
nations without
benefiting the parent
countries.
TThe other option that has been
suggested is the use of rail
transport through Tanzania. This
also requires more security
measures, renovation of the
existing rail road. This distance is
not shocking at all as even longer
pipelines such as the Siberia -
Belaruse 4000km has been
operating since 1964.
Besides oil extraction for
commercial use, the intrinsic
value of oil in itself as a source of
energy is vital for an
impoverished country such as
Uganda. Energy can be ranked as
a basic need alongside food,
shelter, clothing, security and
medical care.
According to the World Wildlife
Fund, traditional biomass such as
wood fuel is popular, particularly
amongst the 1.4 billion world
population who do not have access
to reliable electricity. A majority of
the Ugandan population is a part
of this and those living in Western
Uganda can cut back on
deforestation is alternative
energy such as that of oil mined
from their land is availed to them.
Elaborating that at the micro-level,
energy independence portends
decreased deforestation for wood
fuel and as a result a reduction in
respiratory diseases. Access to a
reliable source of energy in itself
aids impoverished countries to
have access to better healthcare,
improved education, and reduced
crime through lighting, particularly
in big cities.
Availability of reliable lighting in
homes, be it solar- or
electric-powered, means that
children in rural villages can do
their homework without having to
strain their eyes in the faint light
of a kerosene lamp, torch or
candle. Uganda is well endowed
with an estimated 2.5 billion
barrels of oil and gas deposits
from a total of 20 discovered
wells; therefore, this serves
as a grand opportunity to provide
for its country’s dire energy needs
(Uganda Ministry of Energy and
Mineral Development).
Through good governance,
Uganda can adopt an oil
exploration strategy which bears
in mind and caters to the
needs of the local people, their
livelihoods, and the environment
at large with an aim to achieve
energy independence.
In my judgment, this is the only
opportunity, for decades to come,
that Uganda has to build a strong
nation which is not divested of
basic human rights.
It is the sole opportunity it has to
reduce its debt and lower its
deficit. Availability of energy in the
form of electricity, petroleum, or
natural gas to people such as
those living in Hoima District, from
where fossil fuels are being
Advert
extracted, translates into peace
and conflict prevention in that the
people see tangible evidence
through infrastructure that the
proceeds from oil are benefiting
them.
These are just a few examples of
a long inventory of merits of
energy availability. Energy
sufficiency is the key to Uganda
achieving its development goals.

THE GREEN
ECONOMY Conundrum
I
n the wake of the June 2012
United Nations Earth
Summit commemorating
with great fanfare the 20th
birthday of ‘Sustainable
Development’, the Future We Want 7
has been clearly announced to
‘consider green economy in the
context of sustainable development
and poverty eradication as one of
the important tools available for
achieving sustainable development’
(UNCSD 2012: 9).
On everyone’s lips and quills within
the international development
circles, the Green Economy
Initiative is increasingly emerging
as the backbone structuring the
framework for environmental
policies; yet as its stardom rose –
so did the controversy.
By Timothé Feodoroff, NETHERLANDS
While urged by the establishment
as a panacea fix for the crisis
intertwining economic and
ecological issues, its opponents are
simply tearing the strip off it. Great
Cure for the former and greed
curse according to the latter, it
triggers a highly polarized debate
on ideological grounds.
Exceeding the strict boundaries of
the actual proposal, the dispute
has fundamentally at stake the
economic rational undermining the
ruling of our societies. Green
Economy, the latest conceptual
exercise from mainstream
policy-makers for dealing with
sustainability requirements,
however clashed with the fierce
opposition of a world already
frustrated by decades of failing
FRANK TALK
DEPARTMENT
neo-liberal economics8 .
Institutionally speaking, the Green
Economy expression was first
coined at the end of the 1980s by a
group of lead ing environmental
economists advising the British
government (Pearce, Markandya
and Barbier, 1989).
Two more reports, preceding and
following the 1992 Rio Earth
Summit, are produced (1991; 1994)
and lay the ground for Green
Economy as the economic bedrock
to implement the Brundtland
Commission findings.
Though, the idea does achieve a
breakthrough in the international
development policy-making arena
before 2008.
Falling within the context of the
world economic recession and the
increasing leverage of
environmental concerns, the United
Nation Environmental Programme
(UNEP), pioneered the revival of
the concept. Two main reports
were then released (2008; 2009),
delivering a mix of policy actions
aimed at environment-related
sectors, supporting public
investment packages that would
foster their economic recovery
efforts. This time, the idea is
caught on, outracing other
proposals in the conceptual
scramble for our ‘planet’s survival’.
The 2009 UN Climate Change
Conference in Copenhagen
positively acknowledged the
initiative as ‘a transformation to
address multiple crises’ (UNDP
2009) while in 2010 the UN
Photo Credit: DJ Bwakali
General Assembly stated Green
Economy’s approach as one of the
main pillar for the sustainable
development agenda.
Partnering with broader actors and
other UN agencies, benefiting from
the parallel emergence of concepts
such ‘green growth’ and ‘low-carbon
development’ UNEP takes the lead,
gives credibility to its economic
analysis by adding a considerable
weight of expert minds and produces
another major report (2011)
containing more than 600 pages. By
doing so, it asserts Green Economy
as the new dominant framework
within which debates, negotiations
and policy-making are to happen.
Encompassing schemes such as
PES,9 REDD10 and TEEB11, Green
Economy extensively designs policy
tools and means ‘to advance
economic and environmental goals
simultaneously’ (UNDESA 2012:
63), drifting away from ‘business
as usual’ practices.
Acknowledging the need to
reshape the current economic
system such that it can become
sustainable, it further makes the
case for this transformation being
profitable for all.
As defined by the Green Economy
Coalition12 , Green Economy
blueprint revolves around several
axis, namely 1) low-carbon
energy, infrastructure and
transport; 2) sustainable systems
of food production, water and
sanitation, and waste; 3) ways of
protecting and sustainably using
biodiversity; 4) green jobs, decent
work, sustainable lifestyles and
livelihoods that ensure social
justice and equity, and set real
measures for progress and
wellbeing; 5) investment in
green sectors, environmental
accounting and the introduction
of new business models and 6)
policy reform.
By several aspects, Green
Economy comes as a
breakthrough from previous
environmental policy statements
and incorporates a progressive
voice. Offering a triple-win
framework where ‘economic
growth, social progress and
environmental stewardship can
be seen as complementary
strategic objectives’ (WESS
2011: 10), this paradigm comes
as a certain innovation bridging
the conceptual gap that had
evolved over the last decades
between conciliating growing
finite environmental resources
and infinite economic growth.
Mired until then in a ‘zero-sum
game’, that is to say an
either/or approach regarding
economy – environment as
witnessed since the Club of
Rome’s The Limit to Growth
report (Meadows 1972), Green
Economy allows to bypass this
contraction that has been a
major impediment for
comprehensive international
development.
The report itself addresses this
when stating that ‘Perhaps the
most prevalent myth is that
there is an inescapable trade-off
between environmental
sustainability and economic
progress.
There is now substantial
evidence that the greening of
economies neither inhibits
wealth creation nor employment
opportunities’ (UNEP 2011: 15).
Besides further large-scale
investment in
environment-related and green
technology sector, the greening
of economies refers to the
paradigm’s desire to
‘commodify’ –bend to market
relations– more of nature realm,
e.g. ecosystems assets, etc. It
participates into the will to see a
global economy being
sustainable because it is less
dependent on extracting the
resources, rather operating
through the financial circulation
of those new commodities as
well as incentivising
environmental conservation.
Subsequently, this vision
performs the challenge of having
the environmental scientists’
words reaching the reluctant
business world.14
At last but not least, its advocacy
for both market-driven allocations
interweaved with strong
leadership through state-led
interventions had proven to be a
winning formula to get both
private and public sector
audiences, key players, picking up
on it.
It must be noted here that this
growing popularity among the
international policy-makers is not
still synonyms of consensus
amidst them. Internal debates on
technical shapes between
supporters have been many. To
name few (see Khor 2011), first
the financial aspect involves a
cluster of issues: the scale of
funding, the ways public and
private investments should be
hang together, the priorities in the
allocations within sectors and
between countries, etc.
Second is the extent and
appropriate reform for technology
transfers. Third range of
discussion comes from how to
model the several aggregates –
the welfare of future generations,
supply and demand in the new
markets and so on. Finally, at the
global geopolitics, several pitfalls
with potential misuse of the
concept are also pinpointed, such
as for shielding trade protectionist
policies, limiting the policy space of
countries with weaker green
economy sectors or for imposing
new conditionality on developing
countries for international aid.
Zooming out on the general patterns
of the contention – one could
observe that the global acceptance
among the establishment is
concurrently Green Economy’s main
strength and main weakness as well
as the core of the debates arousing
around it. Ask for reforms of the
global economy, thoroughly
criticized for its uneven set of
political, social and ecological
relations unable to cope with the
several spreading crises has been a
growing voice over the past two
decades, and great hopes have been
carried towards the development
arena alongside the deepening of
the social and ecological injustice.
The deception and frustration
prompted being as high as the
expectations that were held by
majority of civil society and
scholarship in development
agencies to more substantially
improve sustainable development.
This paradigm has come as a
response from a growing pressure
for a plan B in front of multiple
crises – financial turmoil, energy
crossroad, endemic food hunger,
climate chaos and ecological
meltdown. Yet this plan B put
forward is increasingly criticized
for being actually simply the plan
A dubbed with a ‘greenish
smokescreen’ (Anderson 2009:
48), hence a mere change
furthermore going into the wrong
direction.
Mere change first because it
remains within capitalist
rationality and leaves
unaddressed some key issues.
Although it does have a
progressive tone ruling out some
of the neo-liberal dogma, the
profit remains the necessary
condition of all economic activity,
but now subordinating
environmental protection to it;
likewise, the centrality of the
market as the best place to
allocate resources is enhanced.
The faith in market is particularly
striking through statements such
as Green Economy ‘rest almost
entirely on getting the economy
right’ (UNEP 2011: 16) – which is
not without recalling the infamous
neo-liberal motto ‘getting the
prices right’ used to promote ever
further liberalisation. The same
mantras about the necessity of
growth, etc. are reiterated.
Appraised as an exercise aiming
at the greening of capitalism15, that
is to say staying within the path of
capitalist development rather than
rethinking a genuine alternative,
Green Economy paradigm is
belittled by radical civil society for
being ‘a brutal green washing of
capitalism that only implements
false solutions’ (LVC 2012).
In light of its conniving and
seducing tone, but hidden
implications, it is saddled with
nicknames such as ‘Trojan Horse’
(Naido 2012) or ‘the wolf in
sheep’s clothing’ (Lander 2011).
Besides, convincing solutions for
equity, redistribution and social
sustainability, or ‘economic
justice’, are not provided (Harcourt
2012). By the same token, Green
Economy is limited to policies and
ignores the issue of politics and
the power relations (ETC 2011).
Focussing on technical silver bullet
and other one-size-fits-all
quick-techno fix, it disregards the
political patterns and underlying
logics compelling eco-harmful
behaviours, as if it was a single
question of incentives to prevent
them. By the same token, the
power relations, especially the one
of transnational corporations over
existing political systems to
establish regulations and
restrictions are eluded.
Second, going into the wrong
direction because it enhances
‘establishing the supremacy of the
logic of capital accumulation over
society’s relationship with nature’
(Arsel 2012: 58). Termed
‘eco-management vision’ (McAfee
2012) or even ‘NatureTM Inc.’ (Arsel
2012), the scholarship critic here
emphasizes that the hegemonic
model based on integrating
environmental concerns within a
global market economy of nature
would reinforce existing patterns of
resource control; it extends
capitalist relations deeper into
nature realm and the associated
grabbing at the expense of real
alternative pro-poor approaches.
In that sense, the controversy is
framed and to be analysed in terms
of pro versus anti-capitalism forces
and comes as one more expression
of the endless battle, here revived
throughout environmental policies,
between Right and Left, the
proponents and opponents about the
economic philosophy that should
rule our society.
The Green Economy approach, first
presented as the last string for hope
in reaching all stakeholders involved
in a sustainable development in lack
of inspiration, has however been
denounced by its opponents for
being once again a red herring, the
last straw that breaks the camel’s 7. Name of the outcome document
released at the end of the conference.
back of a civil society decades long
frustrated about the global economy 8. Neoliberalism is here understood
as a political ideology related to
outcomes. practices attempting to subordinate
all social affairs to capitalist market
dynamics.
In a nutshell, at the bottom and at
the root, the Green Economy overall 9. Payment for Environmental
Services is a programme promoting
debate is ‘simply’ about the ethical the conservation of natural resources
and ideological question whether through incentives in the
marketplace.
social and environmental justice can
and should be achieved within the 10. Reducing Emissions from
Deforestation and forest Degradation
realm of market-driven approach. is a mechanism designed to use
economic incentives in order to
reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
As is at stake the economics
underpinning environmental and 11. The Economics of Ecosystems
and Biodiversity is an initiative
international development policy aiming at highlight and
standardising the economic cost of
statements, hence should it be still
ecosystem degradation and
neo-liberal or not, one cannot but biodiversity loss.
recall Albert Einstein’s saying ‘we
12. This is only one among
cannot solve our problems with the numerous working definitions.
same level of thinking that created
13. One could recall the troubles and
them’. jostles around having climate change
being
recognized and
accepted as a
reality by both
policy-makers
and the private
sector.
14. Understood
here as our
dominant
system of social
relations
predicated upon
commodificatio
n/market
dependence
Photo Credit: DJ Bwakali
and
characterized
by constant
cycles of profit
extraction and
accumulation
Sustainability must commerce at the grassroots.
Advert
 FEATURE
PAINTING EAST
AFRICA REDD+
T
he environment
seems lucky at
last. We are living
in a time when
everyone wants to associate with
conservation based ideologies.
Terms such as sustainable
development, green economy,
green energy and climate change
are no longer for use by top-class
scientists only.
For your project proposal to be
funded one has to just add words
such as ‘global warming’ and
‘climate change’ to the project
title and stand guaranteed of
receiving funding. This is a
charming trend but under closer
scrutiny could still spell danger to
our treasured environment.
When we talk of green growth,
we might want to breakdown the
constituent words and have
their feel individually. Growth
means, ‘become larger or
greater over a period of time’;
according to the Concise Oxford
Dictionary tenth edition. Thus, in
layman, green growth may mean
having greater or larger
‘greens’. This calls for more
chlorophyll on the face of our
earth. This can only come from
plants with trees bearing the
largest portion. The issue of
REDD+ (Reducing Emissions
from Deforestation and
Degradation) has not been
spared by this huge
development wind.
REDD+ is a climate change
mitigation strategy introduced
by the United Nations to help
stop destruction of the world's
By Washington Wachira
forests. The basic idea behind
REDD is simple: Countries that
are willing and able to reduce
emissions from deforestation
should be financially
compensated for doing so.
Previous approaches to curb
global deforestation have so far
been unsuccessful thus REDD
provides a new framework to
allow deforesting countries to
break this historic trend.
According to IPCC 2007, 65% of
global carbon mitigation potential
is located in the tropics and at
least 50% of that total could be
achieved by reducing emissions
from deforestation. Twenty
percent of the world's annual
greenhouse gas emissions come
from the destruction of tropical
forests. REDD projects help to
prevent the destruction of these
forests by providing sustainable
economic alternatives to the rural
communities.
The unfortunate bit is that REDD
strategies were not featured in
the Kyoto Protocol; which happens
to be the most preferred
reference document on issues to
do with climate change (the
protocol came to an end in
January 2013. Yet, climate talks in
Doha, Qatar created a second
compliance period of upto year
2020). This probably is what
needs to be noted by the
Intergovernmental Panel on
Climate Change (IPCC)
established in 1988 jointly by the
World Meteorological
Organization and the United
Nations Environment Programme,
Kyoto Protocol 1998.
Photo Courtesy of Kennedy Orwa
Examples of REDD Projects
globally include the Noel Kempff
Mercado Project in Bolivia (first
forest emissions reduction project
verified with international
standards), Makira in Madagascar
and Kalimantan in Indonesia.
The East African region has not
been left behind in these worthy
global initiatives. Kenya-based
Kasigau Corridor REDD project is
the first ever to be issued
Voluntary Carbon Units (VCUs) for
REDD under the Voluntary Carbon
Standard (VCS), the most widely
used carbon accounting standard
among projects issuing credits in
the voluntary market.
Kasigau Corridor REDD Project in
Kenya has also been awarded the
first gold level validation in Africa;
under the Climate Community and
REDD+ initiative is a welcome
call to dying forest lands.
Biodiversity (CCB) Alliance's
REDD Standard, 2009. In addition
they have entered into a contract
with a major South African bank,
Nedbank, to sell the Voluntary
Emission Reductions (VERs)
generated by the project.
The Wildlife Works Carbon LLC's
first project based at Rukinga,
Kenya, has been operating since
2005 protecting local wildlife and
forests.
The aim of this project is to bring
the benefits of direct carbon
financing to surrounding
communities, while
simultaneously addressing
alternative livelihoods.
An additional goal is to secure a
contiguous wildlife migration
corridor between Tsavo East and
West National Parks.
The project brings substantial
benefits to local communities in
education, job creation,
environmental protection and
direct financial rewards, while
protecting precious biodiversity at
the same time, and proves that
well designed, well managed
REDD projects can succeed in
Africa.
The Kenya Forest Service as the
national REDD focal point, is
currently spearheading a local
multi-stakeholder effort to among
other things develop a national
strategy for implementation of
REDD activities in the country. This
will be done in close liaison with
the Ministry of Environment and
Mineral Resources which is
mandated to coordinate climate
change activities in the country.
Tanzania is lucky to have a
National Strategy for REDD+ in
process which states that “Climate
change is one of the biggest global
problem posing challenges to
sustainable livelihoods and
economic development,
particularly for Least Developed
Countries (LDCs). The adverse
impacts of climate change on
environment, human health, food
security, human settlements,
economic activities, natural
resources and physical
Photo
Still require an image of the
REDD+ logo and photos of
Kasigau corridor,Rukinga Sanc-
tuary or Kolo Hills forest
infrastructure are already
noticeable in many countries.
There are a number of global
and national efforts to address
the problem of climate change
through adaptation and
mitigation activities. The United
Nations Framework Convention
on Climate Change (UNFCCC)
recognizes various mitigation
and adaptation options,
including pro-REDD+ forestry
related activities”.
The country has 35.3 million
hectares of forestland. Between
2000 and 2005, high rates of
deforestation led to a loss of
412 000 ha of forests per year.
According to the draft strategy,
there are three main objectives
of Participatory Forest
Management in Tanzania
namely (i)
improving rural
livelihoods, (ii)
conserving and
regenerating
forest
resources and
(iii) promoting
good
governance.
An example of
a successful
forest landscape restoration is
the Ngitili system of agro-pastoral
communities in Shinyanga Region.
Studies have found that more
than 350 000 ha of land were
occupied by restored or newly
established Ngitili, of which about
50% was owned by groups and
another 50% by individuals.
Benefits from Ngitili were
estimated at US$ 14 per person
per month, which is much higher
than the average monthly
spending per person in rural
Tanzania (US$ 8.5).
The success stories on forest
landscape restoration e.g. Ngitili
have always been associated
with situations where
communities were actively
involved, and their interests, local
knowledge and practices taken
into account.
This notion is already part of the
current policies and legislation in
almost all sectors, which provide
the necessary enabling
environment for restoration of
degraded lands. The initial
positive impacts of landscape
restoration provide guidance and
encouragement for wider success
in the future.
Another REDD project in Tanzania
is titled: Advancing REDD in the
Kolo Hills Forests (ARKFor) in
Central Tanzania; Kondoa District
of Dodoma Region. The project
aims at mitigating climate change
by conserving Kolo Hills Forests
as well as to reduce poverty
among the target communities in
the project area. The project also
prepares the local stakeholders
to enter carbon trading
successfully.
It works to halt and reduce
deforestation and forest
degradation and addresses the
fundamental drivers of
deforestation through sustainable
joint forestry management (JFM),
land use planning (LUP) and
the development of alternative
energy sources. Uganda is also
having good progress in REDD+
initiatives with the Uganda
Carbon Bureau leading the way.
It is aimed at developing the
Ugandan REDD methodology. It
has helped initiate the Bushenyi
‘Plan Vivo’ carbon finance scheme
in western Uganda, as the first
voluntary carbon project for
smallholder tree farmers in
Uganda. This is today supervised
by ECOTRUST.
The Bureau is now involved in a
wide range of projects across the
energy, forestry and allied fields
involving either emissions
reductions or carbon
sequestration. The Bureau’s
largest activity is the creation of a
regional Clean Development
Mechanism (CDM) Programme of
Activities (PoA) hub in Uganda
that covers East Africa and
neighboring countries.
Protecting forests is about
keeping the lungs of the
world healthy so that the
earthy can operate
optimally
This is aimed at providing
affordable and speedy carbon
market access to a very large
number of projects, on a fair trade
and open-access basis. It already
has made milestones in
sustainable energy provisions like
improved jikos.
The Bureau has also been
involved in several significant
forestry projects. One involves
carbon finance on a CDM PoA
basis involving mostly small
growers; and a scheme for a
major REDD and eco-tourism
initiative for Mabira forest.
The Bureau was a peer reviewer
for the forestry toolkit on avoided
deforestation that was accredited
by the Voluntary Carbon Standard
during 2010, and is implementing
an early REDD project with a local
partner. Research has proven that
the Mabira forest is of high
potential in the REDD+ initiative
(Gorettie Nabanoga, Justine
Namaalwa, and Edward
Ssenyonjo.
REDD and Sustainable
Development – Perspective from
Uganda. London: International
Institute for Environment and
Development, 2010). The activities
happening in the Mabira Forest
Reserve are similar to those
taking place in the Kenyan and
Tanzanian case studies. This just
confirms the real on-the-ground
existence of initiatives to address
REDD+.
As seen in the REDD+ projects of
East Africa, the principles applied
are beneficial to communities in
various ways. Some primary goals
achieved include having direct
financial awards, improved
education and jobs. Secondary
benefits also emerge such as
reduction of human-wildlife
conflicts; which curbs poaching,
the second largest threat to
biodiversity after habitat
destruction. We can boldly say
that REDD initiatives are worthy
implementing.
The issues of addressing climate
change have been taking very
debatable courses with the
coming of arguments such as the
infamous movies: The
Inconvenient Truth and The Great
Global Warming Swindle.
Renowned nature films maker
David Attenborough on an
exclusive interview by The
Guardian noted that it will only
take disaster for humanity to act
on some of these issues regarding
climate change. Many people are
coming up to say that the
activities being observed should
not be blamed solely on
anthropogenic production of
carbon dioxide.
Some scientists remind us of
times when the earth was way
warmer such as during the
medieval warm period. True to the
facts, most carbon emissions
are sourced by large water
bodies like oceans; which act as
carbon reservoirs. However, if
there was no greenhouse gas
like carbon dioxide, the solar
radiation would be reflected
back into space directly (100%
albedo) leaving us with a chilling
cold uninhabitable planet.
Carbon dioxide is thus of
importance. The only problem
that comes in is when we exceed
the optimum amounts. This is
what causes the global warming
we experience. To balance this
we need carbon sinks. Forests
are evidently the best option
that mankind has for this
purpose. This is where the
REDD+ strategy comes in
handy.
They can help us earn ourselves
carbon credits and reduce our
carbon footprint as a region.
2013 is the United Nations
International Year of Water
Cooperation. For this dream to
be realized water towers and
other catchments in the region
will have to be conserved. This
spells out another secondary
benefit of REDD+.
REDD+ initiative has not had a
smooth road however. With the
introduction of biofuel potential
crops like Jatropha curcas, many
communities are opting to clear
forested lands for farmlands to
grow the ‘gas plants’. Other
challenges are like forest fires.
Kenya in 2012 lost thousands of
acres of forested land to fires in
places like Mt. Kenya and
Aberdare forests. With the
political instability and climate
vulnerability being experienced in
the horn of Africa, many hectares
of land are also being cleared to
host displaced local and foreign
refugees.
Development of infrastructure and
timber harvesting has also been
notoriously eating into our forests.
The issue of tragedy of commons
is also prominent in forest lands
through agricultural land and
overgrazing. This comes with the
current population explosion in the
region. Garett Hardin in his article
The Tragedy of the Commons
wrote; “I think that everyone will
grant, without argument or proof,
that maximizing population does
not maximize goods.” This
statement needs no further
breakdown for it answers its bit of
questions. These are the major
problems that have affected the
whole East African region.
Nevertheless, REDD+ is in the
path towards enhancing
sustainable development in East
Africa and beyond.
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 FEATURE
Sustainability
IN AFRICA
Clashes are increasing as people fight over dwindling resources.
Africa is a continent endowed with
an abundance of natural resources.
Cocoa production in Ivory Coast,
gold mining in South Africa and tea
harvesting in Kenya are but a few
examples of how resources have
managed to support economies by
providing jobs bringing in foreign
exchange and supporting families
across the continent. Due to an
By Benson Arudo, ELCI
Photo Credit: Kennedy Orwa
increase in the world’s population,
demand for the earth’s resources
has been on the increase. Countries
have intensified extraction in order
to meet growing demands and
sustain their economic growth. The
current mode of resource
extraction and exploitation does
not address future concerns
effectively. A shift from this kind of
thinking should urgently take place
if we are to survive on the
evidently limited resources that we
have.
In 2005, the Millennium Ecosystem
Assessment found that 60% of the
world's ecosystems had been
degraded. Up to 90% of the GDP of
the poor is found within these
resources according to The
Economics of Ecosystems and
Biodiversity (TEEB). Sustainable
development and protection of
these resources is therefore vital
in safeguarding the lives
ofAfricans, who account for 15% of
the world's population.
The path to sustainable
development is however marred
with many challenges; rapid
urbanization, poverty,
deforestation, pollution and climate
variability are some examples.
Anthropogenic activities are the
genesis of all these problems and
they have invariably increased the
risk of vulnerable populations in
urban and rural areas i.e; food
security and settlements are being
threatened by floods and droughts;
longer periods between rains
and changing seasonal patterns
are increasing the risk of crop
failure and loss.
As Africa strives to achieve its
developmental objectives through
heavy reliance on natural
resources, the environmental
implications of its activities could
potentially leave an adverse
footprint on future generations.
Exploring Solutions
Challenges we face globally go
beyond borders and thus need
international solutions, regardless
of the effect they have on different
scales in different regions.
Strategies implemented in one
region have the potential of being
replicated elsewhere albeit if they
are tweaked to a region's
demands. They should also be
supplemented by thorough
monitoring and evaluation (M&E)
to ensure the economic and
environmental sustainability of
initiatives.
Unfortunately, the dependence on
donor funding to support many
projects geared at enabling
communities end up failing because
of poor project execution and M&E.
With quick fix solutions such as
food donations ending up with
requests for more hand-outs while
failing to address the underlying
causes poverty and degradation. If
skills are however imparted on
individuals, more so the
disenfranchised members of the
society, then a holistic change can
be expected within a community.
‘Send-a-Cow’ is an organisation that
best exemplifies this principle. It
works with disadvantaged families
in Africa, teaching them sustainable
farming techniques as it fosters
social development by providing
training on gender equality, conflict
resolution, health matters and
HIV/AIDS awareness.
Benefits gained by trained
individuals are then disbursed to the
rest of the community using the
‘Pass-It-On’ system. During
‘Pass-It-On’ ceremonies, individuals
who were once needy have the
opportunity to become donors by
giving out their first born female
livestock or the knowledge they
gained the Send-a-Cow’s
programme. Depending on the local
needs, the initial donations may
range from goats given to orphaned
families to a good breeding bull in
communities where livestock quality
needs to be improved.
This process is then simulated with
each subsequent donation creating
a multiplier effect transforming a
once impoverished society to an
enhanced self-sustaining one.
Research carried out by Bright
World Consult showed that for
every one farmer trained by
Send-a-Cow, an average of seven
community members would adopt
the practices when they saw an
increased productivity in the
trainee’s land. The implication of
this is that over the years, poverty's
link to environmental degradation is
then essentially severed and
cohesive communities that are
mindful of the sustainability of their
resources are created.
By providing practical assistance
and enhancing social development,
Send-a-Cow has even gone a step
further to climate proof
communities. The resilience of
trained farmers from the effects of
drought, floods or changes in
rainfall patterns is much greater
than that of their untrained
counterparts.
Communities that have adopted the
building key-hole gardens,
substituting fertilisers with manure,
agroforestry and using fuel efficient
stoves have witnessed the benefits
of working in harmony with the
environment. These techniques
have reduced impacts of poor
farming practices on soil fertility,
increased soil water holding
capacity, reduced soil erosion and
increased the amount of carbon
captured by approximately twice
the amount according to an
environmental assessment carried
out by Promise Consulting.
The improved livelihoods of the
beneficiaries of Send-a-Cow’s
training have been able to
influence neighbouring villages and
other non-governmental
organisations. With an ever
increasing number of success
stories and 25 years of experience
in, Send-a-Cow’s efforts can
certainly be used as a benchmark
in its sector.
Urban Development
and Reporting
Urban growth is significantly
increasing the ecological footprint
of cities all over the world.
Efficiency energy and water use,
waste management, air quality and
emissions control become
paramount if urban centers are to
support ever increasing
populations. In this case,
environmental reporting can play a
major role in achieving sustainable
societies.
A study commissioned by the
telecommunications company,
Siemens, and released in 2011
came up with Green Cities Index
where Accra, Casablanca, Tunis
and Cape Town ranked above
average in Africa. Cities that were
below average were Dar Es Sallam
and Maputo. Categories used to
compare the cities' environmental
performance were energy and
carbon dioxide, land use, transport,
waste, water, sanitation, air quality
and environmental governance.
It was of note that North African
cities have the most favorable
infrastructure services whereas,
South African countries have better
environmental governance. Such
comparisons encourage innovation
within local governments and urban
dwellers on how to improve on their
weaknesses. With 40% of Africa's
population living in urban areas,
transformation of unsustainable
practices is imperative if we are to
continue living off the earth.
Safaricom's
Sustainability
Strategy
With energy efficiency being an
integral part of sustainable
development, corporates in Africa
seek to ‘green’ their businesses in
myriad of ways. The growing
telecommunications sector in Africa
continues to demand greatly from
energy sources in order enhance
connectivity amongst the
continent's ever increasing
population. In Kenya, Safaricom's
primary energy source is power
from the national grid (90.5%)
supplemented by 24/7 diesel
powered generators (5%) and
renewable sources. (4.5%).
The unpredictability and long
outages of the grid supply have
unfortunately set a dependence
on diesel powered generators,
which support 90% of the firm's
base transmitting stations. Risks
such us GHG emissions,
availability and cost of energy
have called for the initiation of
sustainable practices. In its first
sustainability report, carbon
emissions from these energy
sources were scoped to be about
92% of its total emissions for the
year 2012.
In order to manage its emissions,
the company has implemented a
number of initiatives aimed at
improving energy efficiency. LED
lighting and the installation of a
Digital Addressable Lighting
System in the administration
facilities has managed to reduced
energy consumption by 40%.
Installation of LED lights in its
retail centers is therefore
expected to reduce consumption
further. They have also installed Waste management takes place at
power factor correction banks to different levels within the
ensure that its facilities only draw company. Waste generated from
from the grid the actual load it Base Transmitting Stations is
uses. returned to suppliers for recycling
or disposal. Old computers and IT
In addition to this, water and equipment are recycled
waste management initiatives are refurbished under a partnership
also being implemented. The between the Safaricom Foundation
company had consumed 57 420 and Computer For Schools Kenya.
000 liters of water( from municipal
and tank delivery) by the time the A pilot program on recycling
report was published. Plans are mobile handsets is also underway
underway to reduce this figure by to reduce the impact of old mobile
installing sensor taps and rain devices in landfills. Other forms of
water collection systems in its solid waste are separated to
facilities. Borehole construction is promote recycling of paper waste,
also underway to supplement which is sold to Chandaria
existing water supplies and reduce Industries and composting of any
their dependency on the limited biodegradable waste. The
municipal supply. promotion of the 3R's (Reduce,
Reuse and Recycle) has ultimately
Africa should focus on set Safaricom on the path of
sustainably developing the sustainable waste management.
resource-rich cradle of
Man kind
Eco-tourism is a common practise amongst
coastal communities today as it promotes
sustainable development of their resources
Photo Credit: Rodah Owako
Gazi Community Funds from the ecotourism African countries have willingly

Group facilities have been used to ratified a number of international

provide scholarships to poor agreements such as the Rio

The role of community groups children from the village, improve Convention on Declaration on

cannot be stressed enough in the the physical facilities of the only Environment and Development, the

promotion of sustainable school in the village, to support Johannesburg Plan of

development. As degradation in their community water project and Implementation and the UN

Africa is related to poverty levels, it improve health care. The Gazi Millenium Declaration. Their

is imperative to empower people at youth group and fisherfolk are also effectiveness has however been

the grassroots level with the contributing to the conservation of hindered by capacity to implement

knowledge and skills to help them the forest by establishing tree them. Assistance to improve the

develop without significantly harm nurseries of suitable species such effectiveness of institutions, policies

their environment. as Casuarina sp . for sale and and regulatory capacity is required
practicing aquaculture to conserve if a sustainable future is to be

A community in Gazi rose to the their marine fish stock. achieved.

challenge of conserving a 6.2 Km2

of mangroves that is an important In addition to this, another project Even though awareness of

fish breeding habitat and coastal has been incorporated within the environmental challenges that

protection area after years of community group's activities to Africa faces is rigorously ongoing,

degradation by loggers and supplement the income they are the lack of alternatives still

fishermen. Since the 1970's the gaining from the mangroves. Titled encourages degradation.

forest has suffered from Mikoko Pamoja, the project seeks Sustainable solutions are being

deforestation and logging by the to protect and expand an area of provided for Africa to use but a

locals who depend on it for mangroves in Gazi Bay by global Green Future is in the hands

sustenance in building materials, encouraging payment for carbon of coordinated efforts from the rest

fuel, medicinal products and fish. credits from one of the most of the world governments too.
efficient natural carbon sinks in Chinese Premier Wen Jinbao is

With help from the Kenya Marine the world. Studies show that quoted saying that, “Any trivial

and Fisheries Institute and Kenya mangrove forests sequester six matter multiplied by 1.3 billion will

Forest Service, the community has times more carbon than any other become a big problem; any

reforested the area and now earns productive terrestrial forest. astronomical figure divided by 1.3

a living from the restoration Therefore, their conservation billion will become a tiny number”

activities. The Gazi Women Group, through the Payment for with reference to the Chinese

who lead the Gazi Mangrove Ecosystem Services will maintain people and the problems they faced.

Project, repaired and extended the the environment's integrity while Africa should also take this quote in

mangrove boardwalk facility in enhancing the economic context and focus on sustainably

order to enhance ecotourism in the development of the Gazi developing the resource-rich Cradle

once dilapidated area. community. of Mankind.

 RESOURCE TOOL
DEPARTMENT

M
y name is Krona Assistance Strategy (KJAS), which
and I am the was agreed upon by the Kenyan
currency of government and its main
Sweden. I have development partners. The grant
been around since 1873 and I am still
SWEDEN’S was part of Swedish development
going strong. Every month, I am cooperation whose overall goal is to
collected from Swedish citizens SOLIDARITY create conditions that enable the
through tax. Every year, I am sent to
FLOW poor to improve their lives.
different parts of the world to
undertake vital developmental and DJ Bwakali & ELCI Team
Why did I travel for thousands of
humanitarian tasks. miles, across oceans, just to
Photo Credit: Rodah Owako

The need for improved domestic water and sanitation

services has never been great than it is today.

In 2005, the Swedish government This grant was based on the be here in this East African country?
made a grant to Kenya and I set off Swedish Cooperation Strategy The answer to this question can be
to this tropical East African country. with Kenya and the Kenya Joint found in the words of Abraham
 Embassy of In other words, they’ve got to
Sweden, make it happen just as it was
Ministry officials intended!
and other water
sector My work at KWSP was to
stakeholders. facilitate action that would result
in reliable provision of water
I was the main services, sustainable
agenda during management of water resources
most of the and steadfast implementation of
meetings since I water sector reforms from 2005
had to be put to end of 2010.
Photo Credit: Kennedy Orwa

into good use

now that I had In 2002, three years prior to my
arrived. One of arrival, Kenya had enacted the
my primary Water Act 2002. It was a
Long trips to the lakeside to fetch water are
well underway to being a thing of the past destinations landmark enactment that
was the Kenya provided a vibrant and productive

Lincoln two centuries ago, "I can Water Supply and Sanitation legislative framework for Kenya’s

make more generals, but horses cost Programme (KWSP). For more Water Sector. Although a lot had

money." than five years from 2005 – 2010, been done to implement this
I strolled the watery corridors of landmark Act, a lot more still

Ladies and gentlemen, I am here the water sector institutions, needed to be done.

because without me, the means of from Nairobi through to national

executing a strategy often remain and local levels, in the company As Aristotle once said, "The law

beyond reach. In essence, I help to of Kenyan Shillings and Danish is reason, free from passion."

actualize good intentions. I am here Kroner trying to ensure the Although a good water law was

so that the horses can be bought to enhancement of water quality in place, it couldn’t implement

ferry generals towards victory. and quantity. itself. Passion had to team up
with reason if sustainable action

My first stop after arriving in Kenya As a rule, I never execute action was to be attained.

was at the Ministry of Water and – I only facilitate it. This means
Irrigation. What a place it was! The that those who execute the action All water Stakeholders needed to

Ministry was located in a sturdy must be men and women of take informed and united action

building that stood silently behind integrity who will diligently that would operationalize the

Nairobi’s Uhuru Park. I was there for execute the agreed upon action in Water Act. Towards this end, I

one of the many meetings that were order to realize desirable outputs facilitated the effective

held between representatives of the in a timely fashion. establishment of eight Water

Sector Boards that are now This alliance birthed the provided much needed help to

responsible for the efficient and ‘Community Project Cycle (CPC),’ many Kenyans, many more

economical provision of water a new investment framework for communities in the country still

and sewerage services within rural water and sanitation need help. The Kenya Water

their area of jurisdiction. services. Supply and Sanitation Programme

did not have the finances to fund

Even after these Boards had CPC was a resource allocation all the target locations and there

been set up, I continued asking procedure that prioritized fifty continues to be a serious funding

myself what more could be done poorest areas in each Water deficit in the WSTF. It is therefore

to ensure that water consumers Service Board jurisdiction. vital for the Kenyan government

at the local level are not Through CPC, poor communities to step in and fund the target

short-changed in any way. In all across Kenya were targeted communities that are yet to

order to ensure accountable for funding that would help them receive help.

usage of financial resources, I meet their water needs. Such

subsequently assisted in the funding was demand-driven and Indeed, the flow of solidarity from

establishment of the Water not politically instigated. There my country Sweden and other

Services Trust Fund (WSTF). was no greater joy for me than to partners can only result in a

WSTF is a State Corporation that see people who needed my constant flow of water if the

was established under the helpreceiving it. Kenya government remains

Water Act, 2002. Its mandate is vigilant and fully responsive to

to ‘assist in financing the Although this funding has the water needs of Kenyans.

provision of water services to

areas of
Kenya which are without
adequate water services.’ In this
regard, it acts as a basket fund
for mobilizing resources and
providing financial assistance
towards capital investment costs
of providing Water Service and
Sanitation (WSS).

"Great!" I exclaimed after my

Photo Credit: DJ Bwakali

encounter with WSTF. I already

had a plan up my sleeve so I
quickly facilitated an alliance
between the Water Service
Let us allow water flow in purity in consistency
Boards and WSTF.
Advert

Advert
 FEATURE
Private solutions
for KENYA’S water
W
ater services
provision in Kenya
has variously been
described as
‘challenging’, with words such as
‘crisis’ and ‘scarce’ often used by
authors in articles to describe the
sorry state of affairs in the sector.
From reading recent articles and
statistics on the sector, one would
be hard pressed to deny that the
country really is a water-scarce
country – for example, only 59% of
the population has access to safe
16
water as at 2012 . By some
estimates, water scarcity is set to
get worse, aggravating an already
alarming situation.
We, however, cannot lose sight of
the improvement that has taken
place in the sector since water
supply and sanitation services
provision by government was
decentralised with the passage of
the Water Act, 2002. Passage and
implementation of this Act triggered private sector, comprising both
massive investment in the sector by
Government, often in partnership
with multi and bilateral agencies
and banks such as the African
Development Bank and the World
Bank.
These investments, primarily in
water supply and sewerage
treatment infrastructure, have seen
improvement in water supply and
sanitation services in urban and
peri-urban areas, and contributed
markedly to the current 59% of
population that now has access to
safe water. (One wonders what the
coverage was before 2002).
Figures and statistics on the amount
of investment in the sector by
government and its agencies are
readily available and only a
mouse-click away. What is not
widely known, however, is the type
and level of investment by private
enterprises in the sector. Why this
is so is a puzzle, considering that the
By Philip Kariuki
households and the corporate
sector, is responsible for most of
the resource allocation within any
economy.
The private sector can
be a key player in
providing water
solutions
Granted, the private sector is large
and varied, and therefore difficult
to engage with as an entity – quite
unlike a government agency. But
that does not negate its role, in
aggregate at least, as a key source
of solutions for a sector frequently
described as ‘in crisis’.
Governments are aware of this
and have recently ratcheted
efforts to coral this animal called
private sector through specific
legislation (the PPP Act, for one) in
an attempt to promote investments
by the private sector to achieve
certain objectives in water
services provision.
Other bi-lateral and multi-lateral
agencies, including
non-governmental organizations,
have also attempted to engage the
private sector (this includes
communities) to be more involved
in owning and managing water
utilities, with mixed results. All
these efforts are to be commended
since any effort that recognises
and enhances the role of private
enterprise, in any sector, is a good
thing. They also mark recognition,
by governments and their
agencies, on the pivotal role of the
private sector as an ‘engine of
development.’
But, then again, how is the private
sector involved in the water
services, including water-borne
sewerage services sector?
• Running and managing of
water utility companies.
Examples include Runda
and Malindi Water and
Sewerage Companies –
both sustainable entities;
unfortunately, the only two
entities held up in most
literature as examples;
• Running and managing of
community water points
(wells to you and me);
• Manufacturing and
distribution of bottled
water, nationally. (Remember
when you walked with bottled
water to look ‘hot’. Now people
walk with bottled when
they’re feeling hot);
• Provision of borehole
services (drilling, servicing
and sale of water from
boreholes);
• Water delivery services and
sewerage exhauster services
(true story: I’ve seen
residents of Nairobi City
Council houses buy water
in jerry cans from a hand
cart salesman who sources
his water from a privately
run borehole. It’s ironic
that the Nairobi City
Council is a majority
shareholder of the Nairobi
Water and Sewerage
Company, which the same
houses have connections
to);
• Manufacturing and
distribution of assorted
water tools and equipment
for domestic, industrial and
agricultural use (think
water tanks and irrigation
equipment).
• Professional services to the
water sector (water and
sewerage services
specialists, contractors and
consultants).
• Construction of water
storage infrastructure
(multi-purpose dams and
other big ticket
infrastructure)
Bear in mind that the above list is
not exhaustive. But at least it is the
first attempt I’ve come across that
lists how private enterprise
engages in the water services
sector, and I’m rightfully proud to
have made it.
The private sector players listed
above undertake their activities
and provide solutions the way
they’ve always done since the
dawn of commerce: privately and
for profit. No fanfare from them –
unless it moves units. Is it any
wonder that they are taken for
granted and frequently overlooked
in the national dialogue. And called
names such as greedy, to boot.
Yet, without them, Kenya would be
in more of a ‘crisis’ with regards to
water. Which begs the question:
how does government engage with
the above to enhance water
services provision?
To ramp up investment in social
infrastructure, the Kenya
Government enacted the Private
Public Partnerships (PPP) Act to
enhance private sector
participation and investment in
the provision of services such as
water, energy and transport.
The Government, however,
seems to be under the
impression that this applies only
to the construction of
multi-billion shilling
infrastructure projects.

No mention is ever made of PPPs

Photo Credit: Benson Arudo

potential in the water sector, in

any scale. Besides, multi-billion
shilling investments in the water
sector are funded through
government backed loans with
bi-lateral agencies and the
proceeds garnered from floating
infrastructure bonds. Other
government related agencies,
including bi and multi-lateral
agencies, also can’t seem to get
a handle on how to make PPP
work in the water sector - not for
lack of trying though. But their
efforts, like that of government,
seem to be targeted at trying to
get the private sector (rural
communities mostly) to build and
manage water utility companies,
as a means of achieving
maximum social impact.
Maybe there’s a reason the
private sector (large, medium and
small) doesn’t want to build or
operate a water utility company, but
would rather operate a water
bottling plant.
Maybe there’s a reason why
investments by the private sector in
government approved water projects
are not readily forthcoming. Is the
provision of water services, up to a
certain scale, profitable?
Has anyone asked the private sector
these questions, by the way? Maybe,
someone should ask the private
sector, through appropriate
representative organizations, as a
first step, how they can make their
expertise, entrepreneurship and
capital work for the improvement of
water services provision in Kenya.
It’s hard and probably humbling, but
not impossible (it is taking place as we
speak). But when asking, never, ever,
forget the reason the private sector is
involved in the first place: for profit.
16. WHO / UNICEF Joint
Monitoring Programme
(JMP) for Water Supply and
Sanitation, retrieved on April
22, 2010’
 FEATURE
Somalia’s
FISHERY
FORTUNE
O
n 16th October, 2011,
the Kenyan Defence
Forces marched across
the Kenyan Somalia
border as a result of increasing
concerns about the continued
instability in Somalia. 450 000
Somali refugees had fled to Dadaab
refugee camp, fleeing the chaos at
home.
Since the ouster of President Siad
Barre in 1991, Somalia has
unfortunately been marred with
anarchy and mayhem. Withouta
functioning government or Kenya’s
and AMISOM intervention in Somalia
is supposedly meant to herald a
period of peace and stability for a
country that has experienced
neither in its 50 years history as
an independent country.
Somalia is located in the Horn of
Africa, bordered by Ethiopia to the
west, Djibouti to the northwest,
Gulf of Aden to the north, Indian
Ocean to the east and Kenya to
the southwest.
The country has the longest
coastline in Africa at 3 300 km and
the region is located along one of
the major upwellings ( a zone
By Dishon Murage
where the nutrient rich bottom
water comes or rather upwells to
the surface of the ocean which
stimulates growth and
reproduction of primary
producers such as phytoplankton
which acts as food for fish ) region
in the Western Indian Ocean.
At 637 657km2 and a population
of 10 million mainly comprised of
ethnic Somalis, the country is
scarcely populated. Ironically,
while the country can boast of
having one tradition, one religion
and one language, this has not
translated to peace and
prosperity. Nevertheless, though
the country is semi-arid, it is
richly endowed with marine fish
resources/stocks.
These stocks are lightly exploited
by the artisanal fishery sector,
but are heavily exploited by the
industrial fishery sector, mainly
by foreign-flag distant-water
fishing fleets, and it is possible
that they are overexploited.
The foreign vessels compete with
the artisanal fishermen, by
coming close inshore and
inflicting losses, including
physical confrontation between
the two sides which has led to
gear losses and at times to loss
of life.
In the years preceding the
overthrow of Said Bare, the
fishery sector with support from
the former communist USSR in
the 70’s and other governments
such as Japan, Sweden,
Denmark, Germany, FAO and
UNDP in the 80’s had experienced
rapid expansion.
Over a span of 20 years from mid
1970’s to the late 1980’s, Somalia
industrial fish production
experienced rapid expansion,
unmatched by any other country
within the region. At its peak in
1985, industrial fish production
was equivalent to approximately
12 000 Metric Tonnes (MT) and
500 MT of lobsters. Industrial
fish production was mainly
achieved through joint ventures
with foreign countries such as the
now defunct USSR and Italy.
USSR support in 1974 through
SOMALFISH, a joint venture with
the Somalia government helped
the country develop the sector
through provision of 10 factory
trawlers and 500 mechanized
boats and fish processing
units.The fishing industry
however experienced a brief
lapse with the termination of
diplomatic relationship in 1977.
Somalia has the longest
coastline in Africa at
3 300 km
Nevertheless, additional support
from Italy in 1983, through a joint
venture SHIFCO enabled the
country acquire 5 stern trawlers
and 1 freezer mothership. Japan,
Sweden, Denmark, Germany, FAO
and UNDP helped to further
develop this industry in the 80’s.
However, none of these once
extensive and highly successful
shore based fish industry exists
with the civil war that followed
the ouster of Siad Barre having
ruined the entire shore based
fishery installations like
cold-storage units, factories,
ports and vessels.
Current national capacity is
mainly comprised of artisanal
fisheries which is not well
developed with most of fishing
activities concentrated in the
north-eastern coast between
Alula and Berbera.
The fishery is divided into 7 main
zones: Kismayu, Mogadishu, Eil,
Margal, Bolimag, Las Korey and
Berbera. There are over 50
fishing villages with over 30 000
full time fishers.
It however needs to be noted that
at its apex in the 80’s the Somalia
fishery had not yet fully achieved
its potential. Somalia fisheries
resources have the potential to
drive growth and economic
prosperity which by the latest
surveys in the 80’s was
approximately 400 000 MT
harvestable stock of both pelagic
and demersal fish species.
The EEZ fishery resources are
divided into large pelagic stocks
with an estimate of 200 000 MT
consisting of migratory species
such as Tuna and mackerel, small
pelagic stocks estimated at
120 000 MT also consisting of
migratory species such as
sardines, anchovies and scads
and demersal species found
around coral reefs areas of Adale
to the Kenyan border with stocks
estimated at 70 000 MT. Most
species are non-migratory with a
potential to support all year round
fishery.
According to FAO and Shuraako,
a Somalian non-profit making
 Typical fish catch for a somali
artisanal fisher
Photo Credit: Dishon Murage
initiative, the fishery sector has
the potential to expand and
provide excellent opportunities
for economic growth and
employment creation as the
country looks forward to a
brighter future with a newly
elected government and
enhanced stabilization.
The contribution of the sector to
the national economy is small but
likely can Xeconomy is small but
likely can expand once there is a
focus to utilize
the opportunities of the Somalia
fishery sector.
Among the commercial and
valuable fish species landed in
Somalia include Tuna, spiny
lobster and swordfish. Tuna is a
valuable fish species that belongs
to the scombrid family that is
found throughout the world’s
oceans and the species are highly
valued as either fresh, canned or
for the sushi and sashimi market.
Global production of the species
is approximately 6 million tonnes
(FAO, 2004) valued at nearly
USD$5 billion.
Within the Western
Indian Ocean, production of tuna
is approximately 826 000 MT
which is nearly 20 % of the global
production. Most of the major
fishing grounds are located within
the Somalian Economic Exclusive
Zone (EEZ).
An exact estimate of how much of
the total Somalia EEZ fish
resources comprises Tuna
species is lacking. However,
according to various documented
reports including the FAO, 2005
report on the Somali fisheries
resources, the large pelagic
species found within the EEZ
include tuna and big mackerels,
mainly yellowfin tuna ( Thunnus
albacares), longtail tuna
(Thunnus tonggol), bonito
(Sarda orientalis), skipjack tuna
(Katsuwonus pelamis) and
Spanish mackerel
(Scomberomorus commerson).

Photo Credit: DJ Bwakali

They are usually caught in
inshore waters with notable
temporal variations in
abundance. Two peaks are
observed in landings in November
and in March.

The value of the catch for the

period 1997-2006 has been
estimated at US$ 46 million per
annum which is only 1% of
Somalia GDP from annual
landings equivalent to 32 419 MT.
With a potential to harvest nearly
Somali people must be the key beneficiaries of
10 times this amount, income
Somali’s Marine treasure.
from the fishing sector could
significantly contribute to nation
building efforts.
result of unhampered exploitation estimate consisted of more than
As a comparison with by illegal fishers from Europe and 700 vessels.
neighbouring countries, the Asia.
fishing sector accounts for only 2 To fully exploit the available
% of Kenya’s GDP, 3 % of Offshore within the EEZ, rich opportunities within the Somalia
Tanzania, 2.2 % of Uganda’s and fishing resources estimated at fishery sector there is need to first
4 % of Malawi. nearly 400 000 MT of harvestable establish current status of the
stocks of both demersal and fishery, strengthen capacity of local
However, the road to recovery is pelagic fish species provide profit fishers and provide for adequate
littered with various challenges for an ever expanding Illegal Monitoring, Control and
including the need to address the Undeclared and Unreported (IUU) Surveillance (MCS) for the Somalia
current resource levels as a fishing fleet which at the latest EEZ resources.

Photo Credit: Rodah Owako
M
My right hand
remained
clasped around
the long,
slender glass that was now empty
after I had gulped the orange juice
in one long gulp. The weather in
Accra was so hot. I needed a refill.
"Excuse me!" I shouted to the
gentle waitress at the next table.
"Another glass of orange juice
please." She nodded and smiled as
she took off to the counter.
"David!" I heard a happy voice
behind me shout. It was Sena
Alouka from Togo. He was dressed
in one of those multi-colored
canvas-like tops that can only be
found in Togo.
AFRICAN Youth’s
CLIMATE JOURNEY
Together with
him was James
Hallowell from
Sierra Leone,
Daniel Edah
from Benin and
Emmanuel
Edudzie from
Ghana. They
joined me at the table and
proceeded to order their drinks and
meals.
It was our third day in Accra where
we had gathered for a week-long
regional youth meeting convened by
UNEP’s Africa Environment Outlook
for Youth, a project that I was then
leading. This particular meeting had
brought together youth
environmental leaders from
thirteen West African countries. For
these young leaders, environmental
work was a mission that they were
immensely passionate about. As I
looked around at the four who had
just joined me, I couldn’t help but
feel greatly inspired by their
incredible energy and enthusiasm.
OUR EXPERIENCES
DEPARTMENT
David John Bwakali
I wanted to learn from what they
were doing so that youth action
across the continent could benefit
from all these rich experiences. Sena
was the Director of Togo’s Young
Volunteers for the Environment. In
between his characteristic loud
bursts of laughter and mouthfuls of
rice and chicken, he told me about a
youth climate initiative that was in
the process of being formed.
After a week of vigorous debates and
presentations from the youth leaders,
I packed my stuffy black bag and bid
emotional farewells to the young
green army.
We had exchanged emails and vowed
to keep in touch. Africa was counting
on us, we had whispered into each
other’s ears during the farewell hugs.
Two years later in 2005, I saw Sena’s
familiar email in my inbox. It was late
afternoon and I was eager to call it a
day and dash off to a tea date with a
lady I had recently met in an
environmental forum.
But I decided to click on the mail
and peruse through it hurriedly.
It was the first of many emails that
I would receive and send in
relation to the climate youth
initiative.
This communication was catalyzed
by the United Nations Framework
Convention on Climate Change
(UNFCCC) meeting that was due to
be held in Nairobi later that
November and December. This
meeting would be the second
Conference of Parties (COP2) and
we had decided to use it to
officially launch the Africa Youth
Initiative on Climate Change.
There was only one problem to this
grand plan – we had no money. For
the launch to be truly reflective of
the African and youthful nature of
this initiative, it was important for
youth leaders across the continent
to be fully involved from the very
beginning.
This realization that collective
effort was needed informed a
concerted effort from us to contact
as many youth activists as
possible, telling them about the
Africa Youth Initiative on Climate
Change and the upcoming launch
of the same.
We also decided that although the
initiative was African, it could not
and must not exist in isolation to
other youth movements globally.
After all, climate change is a global
issue that doesn’t need visas to
move across borders. We therefore
engaged and involved as many global
youth activists as we could think of.
Consequently, the Canadian youth
began playing a pivotal role in these
efforts. Together, we decided to also
organize the second Conference of
Youth on Climate (COY2) to also
coincide with COP2 and the AYICC
launch. This way, we would launch
AYICC in the global youth conference
and also at COP2.
We also decided that
although the initiative was
African, it could not and
must not exist in isolation
to other youth movements
globally.
As November drew closer, our
anxiety rose higher. It was even
worse for us in Kenya because on
our shoulders had fallen the huge
task of hosting youth from across the
world. But in our midst were strong
shoulders ready and raring to go.
Steve Itela the Director of Youth for
Conservation was one such person.
I ambushed Steve in his office one
afternoon in August 2005. I had
escaped from my own workplace
almost two hours before close of
business so that I could get Steve
before he left for the day. For
almost three hours, we
brainstormed with Steve and David
Waiganjo, a colleague of his, about
the AYICC launch, COP2 and COY2.
In less than three months, we
needed to find accommodation,
organize for the meeting venue
plus a host of other related
logistical and substantive issues.
We also had to fundraise. And
fundraise, fundraise, fundraise.
In the spirit of collective efforts and
ownership, that late afternoon
meeting resolved to form a working
group comprising of youth drawn
from the Youth Environment
Network (YEN), Kenya. The first
meeting of this working group
would take place the following
Sunday at my house.
This became the routine for many
Sundays afterwards. Youth leaders
from YEN Kenya would converge
either at my house or at the Youth
for Conservation offices to
brainstorm, plan, debate, discuss
and decide. Prominent in these
meetings was Kenyatta University’s
Environment Club and other
members of the Inter-Varsity
Environment Network, which we
had founded one year earlier.
Maurice Odera, the then UNEP
Tunza Youth Advisor also played a
key role these preparatory
activities.
When November came, these
young leaders from Kenya joined
hands with other leaders from
across Africa and all over the
world at Six-Eighty Hotel in Nairobi.
Also present was Halinishi Yusuf
from the same university. She was
a strong believer in pragmatic
environmentalism was eager to
see Africa's youth take decisive
action.
Together, they officially launched
the Africa Youth Initiative on
Climate Change. As we raised our
hands in solidarity, I was standing
next to Grace Mwaura, a diligent
leader from Kenyatta University
who had embraced the course with
amazing vigor and passion.
I also liked the fact that she was a
fellow writer. I kept telling her that
Africa’s climate story needed to be
written by people like her.
On the last day of the Conference
of Youth, eight of us were elected
to spearhead the coordination of
AYICC at the sub-regional and
regional levels.
Later that week, we went on to
launch AYICC at a UNFCCC event
that we had organized. The ball
had now been set rolling and it
was up to us to keep it rolling. A
week later, we exchanged
emails, hugs and vowed to
indeed keep the climate ball
rolling.
"We are the ones who need to
change, not the climate!" I
reminded everyone. "The time is
now!" Sena thundered. "We must
take action!" Kogi and Ingrid from
South Africa urged us. "We must
spearhead sustainable
adaptation!" Excellence Uso from
Nigeria insisted. He had also
been present in that Accra
meeting and was one of the youth
leaders whose efforts were truly
tireless.
Sustainability action
must take precedence
over verbal climate
change activism
The year after AYICC’s launch
was followed by an avalanche of
enthusiasm but a trickle of
coordinated action. It became the
classic case of enthusiasm
superseding strategy.
Sustaining the initiative proved to
be much harder than starting it.
The harder it became to take
coherent and coordinated action,
the easier it was to lay the blame
elsewhere and forget that such
action had to begin with oneself.
And so at the regional level,
nothing much happened that year
and the year after. But the seed
had been sown and maybe others
needed to take up the mantle and
take AYICC to the next level.
Others needed to take up the
responsibility even as we also
took responsibility for what we
had achieved, or failed to
achieve.
For me, what matters is that the
journey began and continues. It
does not matter that we are no
longer in the driver’s seat. What
matters is that the journey is on.
We must all play our part to
ensure that this journey will lead
to a more sustainable destination
for Africa.
PS – To those who did take up
the mantle and the
accompanying responsibility,
‘thank you and I wish you well!’