The cyclists of the Tour de France may not set off until next week but in Kenya a group of young people have taken to their bikes to raise awareness about the power of sustainable energy ahead of the country's general election on August 8.
JOE WARE reports
Tensions are rising in Kenya as the country approaches local and national elections in August. But we could choose to use our differences as a strength, not a cause of conflict, says DEBORA LANGAT
Who are the best guardians of forests and other wild places? Governments? Conservation NGOs? Corporations? No, writes Prakash Kashwan, it's the indigenous peoples who have lived in harmony with their environment for millennia. But to be able do so, they must first be accorded rights to their historic lands and resources, both in law and in practice. Among the countries leading the way, Mexico. Among the laggards, Kenya and India.
The conflict between lions and Africa's cattle herders goes back centuries, write Grant Hopcraft and Sara Blackburn - and lions have been the big losers in recent years. But where local people benefit from ecotourism, that ancient enmity can quickly be set aside. 'Community conservancies' around formal protected areas are helping both lions and indigenous communities to survive and thrive.
Persistent droughts are undermining the self-sufficiency of Maasai communities in the Great Rift Valley and worsening their living conditions, writes Simone Sarchi. Now these fearless warriors are fighting the battle against climate change through adaptation, education and technology, and by making peace with traditional enemies.
Lead poisoning from industrial pollution has imposed a terrible toll on Kenyans, writes Sophie Morlin-Yron, and single mother Phyllis Omido is no exception - lead from a nearby metal refinery badly damaged her own son's health. But it was when she decided to fight back against the polluters that a whole new realm of threats and dangers opened up.
The eviction of Kenya's Sengwer forest people in a World Bank financed project was a failure of the Bank's duty to protect indigenous people, according to an internal report. The Bank's directors are to decide on how to respond today - but if they follow their own management's advice, the evictions will continue.
GM crops may benefit agribusiness, writes Andrew Adam-Bradford. But they offer little to Africa or the millions of farming communities that feed the continent. Rather than impose corporate 'solutions', governments should invest in indigenous agro-ecological farming.
The Kenyan government has begun to forcibly evict tens of thousands of Sengwer indigenous people from their ancestral forest lands and burn their homes, food stores and belongings to the ground. The World Bank wrings its hands.
Sunday is Mother's Day, which for many of us, means flowers. But how green are your blooms and can you really get a bunch that doesn’t come with a price for the planet?
Environmentalist, democracy campaigner and Nobel laureate; Wangari Maathai led an extraordinary life but it's her overwhelming kindness and charm that I’ll always remember, says Ruth Styles
More than 3000 elephants may have been slaughtered in 2011 so far - and that's just those we know about. In Kenya, Mary Rice from the Environmental Investigation Agency witnesses the bloody reality of the global ivory trade
In the midst of a dire need to feed millions of people facing hunger because of drought, Kenya's newly passed Biosafety Act allows for the importation of GM crops - but at what cost?
Cyril Christo and Marie Wilkinson’s stunning images highlight the luminous beauty of Africa’s elephants, says Ruth Styles, and show why ending the ivory trade is more important than ever
Wide-ranging plans to link up Kenya, Ethiopia and Southern Sudan include the building of a port which threatens the Lamu district's indigenous coastal communities and fragile ecology, reports Tafline Laylin
Dearly beloved, we are gathered here today to celebrate the coming together of marriage and environmentalism. Do you, reader, take this, the Ecologist, to be your guide to environmentally friendly weddings...
With rich, resource-poor nations increasingly outsourcing their food production to less developed nations, a new website aims to expose the extent of the agricultural land-grab epidemic
