Environmental problems in Kenya

Losing that safari magic

Kenya is known for its wide open savannas, burning under the sun and animated by some of the largest mammals on earth. But behind this backdrop (and beyond the savanna), problems are brewing.

Kenya is a great destination to come face to face with elephants, lions and zebras. But the country is also looking at some serious environmental problems, including deforestation, soil erosion, desertification, water shortage and degraded water quality, poaching, and domestic and industrial pollution.¹

Habitat loss

Fuelwood needs, logging and clearing for agriculture are decimating important ecoregions such as Eastern Africa Coastal Forests. This area has been heavily settled for many years and only a few blocks of lingering forest remain - widely distributed and isolated. This loss of forest aggravates erosion, the silting of dams and flooding, and the loss of biodiversity. Similar problems afflict the East African Moorlands.

Forests are not the only habitat that are going under the axe. Mangroves in the region area being lost through conversion to rice farms, salt pans, aquaculture, and urbanisation. They also ultimately receive all untreated wastes discharged upstream, as well as oil and industrial pollution, silt and pesticides.

Species loss

In the Horn of Acacia Savannas, populations of most endemic and near endemic larger animals have declined dramatically and are very fragmented due to illegal hunting, following decades of political instability and open warfare over large parts of the region.

In Kenya’s seas, it’s over-exploitation of fisheries and destructive fishing practices that are putting wildlife populations in danger. This includes commercial prawn trawling in Ungwana Bay and the use of destructive gear by artisanal fishers in the coral and seagrass areas. Meanwhile, commercial bottom trawling for shallow-water prawns in Malindi Bay is stripping seagrass fields.

In the country’s lakes, infestations of species such as the water hyacinth (in Lake Victoria) have contributed to a substantial decline in fishing output and endangered fish species.²

Human-Wildlife conflict

In several places, growing human populations – and their expanding activities - are edging into animals’ natural homes. In the Kenyan TransMara, where the human population has grown considerably, the region has become a conflict zone for elephants and local people. Read more about the problem and the solutions.

Lack and loss of water resources

Kenya is one of the water scarce African countries. Statistics show that only 7.6% of Kenyans have access to piped water. The rest fetch it from streams, rivers and wells. Agricultural chemicals, and urban and industrial wastes are decreasing water quality. At the same time, hydroelectric power installations are straining water resources.

In the Mount Kenya water catchment area, a range of problems has affected the water resources, including overextraction of water from rivers on the mountain slopes, deforestation, marijuana cultivation, illegal grazing and the reductions in size of Mount Kenya's glaciers.³