Kenya

Beyond the Complexities: How Do We Engage in Community Land Discussions?

In October, Natural Justice organized an Environmental Justice Forum in Kenya, tackling the issue of securing land ownership for indigenous and local communities, as a way to protect their livelihoods and ensure better conservation practices of lands and forests. Maryama Farah, Senior Officer at Natural Justice, offers a summary along with her reflections on the event.  Read more ▸

The Journey to Kunming (Part II): Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities Make Their Voices Heard in First Official Meeting of Post-2020 Process

From organising demonstrations to delivering statements in UN plenary sessions, representatives of indigenous peoples and local communities around the world are creating an “ecosystem” of collective actions for rights-based approaches and intergenerational equity — and tackling the drivers of biodiversity loss as key elements of the post-2020 global biodiversity framework. Read more ▸

Risks to the sanctity of community lands in Kenya. A critical assessment of new legislation with reference to forestlands

This paper focuses upon loopholes in new laws that could exclude forested lands from collective entitlement, impairing constitutional advances in the process. Ambiguity within the Kenyan Constitution itself plays a role. Therefore, while lesser impediments to land justice may be remedied through clarifying regulations and parliamentary removal of offending clauses, judicial interpretation of constitutional intentions is required.  Read more ▸

Peer-to-peer Dialogue on Weaving SDG 16 and Human Rights Law into the Post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework

A peer-to-peer dialogue took place on the outskirts of Nairobi. Practitioners of environmental and human rights law from the judiciary, academia, civil society and various levels of government discussed and made recommendations for goals to be set for the post 2020 global biodiversity framework and contribute to the implementation of human rights to a healthy and sustainable environment Read more ▸