The class you are viewing has been closed. Therefore all content, and submission forms have been locked. ×

Kenya: Ecological and Water footprint

Environment   Jul 2, 2017 by Marlyn

Ecological footprint

An ecological footprint is a measure of human demand on nature. When considering ones ecological footprint one also has to consider biocapacity, biocapacity is the productive area that can regenerate what people demand from nature. In order for us to reach a sustainable world our ecological footprint has to be less or equal to our biocapacity. Currently 1.6 planets are needed every year to support our needs, which is 60% more than what the earth has to offer. That means its takes 19 months to recover what we used in 12 months. Now if it was money such a case would lead to financial bankruptcy. Which shows if we continue down this path we shall wind up with ecological bankruptcy which in short is a planet with depleted resources, there’d be nothing left for us to take.

The good news is that our planets biocapacity has been increasing in the past years, by as much as 20%. Will we be able to maintain this trend? Problem is our ecological footprint has grown 2.5 times faster. Which means we just keep needing more than what our earth has to provide. Previously we had only a handful of countries in ecological deficit but currently 85% of countries are using more than what they can renew, including my own.

Our group was shocked by the fact that food took up a huge chunk of our graphs, we all expected it to be something like services and goods. The great thing about this is it’s easier to reduce the chunk, therefore reducing our overall ecological footprint. Another way we all felt like we could cut down was mobility. Most of us use private cars, which don’t carry that many people but still emit the same amount of CO2, a great way to do this is to make use of the public transport in Kenya, share an uber or simply ride a bike. Some areas we feel we are unable to reduce for example is how much our shelter and services contribute towards our ecological footprint. Personally I live in a family of 5 so when it comes to costs like electricity etc. me switching off my lights early doesn’t make quite the difference.

In Kenya our average ecological footprint is 1.03 hectares per person while our biocapacity is 0.51 making us an ecological deficit. Our results were as follows:

  • Student 1: 0.9 planets required per year if everyone had the same lifestyle, and uses 1.7 global hectares of earths productive area.
  • Student 2: 0.7 planets required per year if everyone had the same lifestyle, and uses 1.3 global hectares of earths productive area.
  • Student 3: 1.4 planets required per year if everyone had the same lifestyle, and uses 2.5 global hectares of earths productive area.

So compared to our countries average we are all using more than what our nation has to provide. Which isn’t a good thing as I stated earlier, showing us that we need to make some changes. Although compared to the world average most of us are doing pretty well, using less than what the earth regenerates which is a step in the right direction.

Carbon emissions

The average Kenyan has a carbon emission per capita of 0.3 tonnes. It was quite hard finding a country with an even lower carbon footprint but I found that Ethiopia has a carbon emission per capita of just 0.1 tonnes. Ethiopia has set targets to slash carbon emissions by two-thirds within the next 15 years. It is so far one of the most ambitious goals to be presented at the UNCCC. The Ethiopian government has launched major infrastructure projects to increase renewable energy production, including the Gibe dam mentioned below. Similarly, Madagascar has a carbon emission per capita of 0.2. Madagascar has made plans to invest in renewable energy to keep it so low. Kenya has made plans to cut its carbon emissions by 30% by 2030. Similar to Ethiopia the Kenyan government has made plans to invest in renewable energy by expanding solar, wind and geothermal power, bringing forest cover up to 10% and reducing reliance on wood fuel.

I do believe that we can make a great change by reducing our individual carbon footprints. If 7.8 billion people all agreed and worked together to reduce our carbon footprints a lot would change. The biggest limit is that all carbon in the air wouldn’t be going anywhere. We need big companies like the ones mentioned in the article to realize the consequences that came with the betterment of humanity and join in the fight to save this beautiful home of ours

Water footprint

The water footprint of an individual, community or business is defined as the total volume of freshwater used to produce the goods and services consumed by the individual or community or produced by the business. In 1995, Ismail Serageldin prophesized that if the wars of this century are fought over oil, the wars of the next shall be fought over water unless we change our approach to managing this precious and vital resource.

My father always tells me “water is life”, and indeed it is. When searching for inhabitable planets the first and most important sign is water. Water supports all forms of life and without it there’d be no us, it quite literally is us making up to 60% of our bodies. We are surrounded by it, so what should be the problem? Whatever put us here knew how much we need it, and yet we make it undrinkable... Geniuses!

Being able to calculate our water footprint puts us on the path to a sustainable world. One in which we use as much freshwater as the earth can provide and don’t spend our time polluting it. The global average water footprint is 1375 meters cubed per year, currently USA has a water footprint of 2842 meters cubed per year while China has one of 1971 meters cubed per year. Kenya is estimated to have a water footprint of 1101 meters cubed per year.

My water footprint came quite high, which wasn’t really shocking due the fact that we have a greenhouse and crops. Compared to my countries average I use roughly double (2138 meters cubed) the average amount. The areas that I could reduce my water consumption is when it comes to the duration of showers and dish washing and my consumption of food since it contributed majorly.

None of the simulations were really irrelevant in our opinion since these are all things that we do and navigate our path to a sustainable world. The thing is we can’t control something that we can’t measure. Having a measure gives us a voice in how we want things to go. So these simulations really help in the measuring and knowing what we should do in order to reach our goals.

The simulations made us realize that just saying that we believe in climate change and want to help tackle it isn’t enough. We have all been majorly slacking in our lifestyle choices. Furthermore, tackling it isn’t about the big changes we can make in the future but rather the small things we can all do now to help keep our home happy.

Water in Kenya

With a population of 48 million, 60% lack access to reliable water. 37% rely on unimproved water sources such as ponds and shallow wells. While only 9 out of the 55 public water services provide a continuous water supply, leaving many to find their own source of water.

The Government of Kenya declared in 2016 that the countries current drought is a nation emergency. It began during the October – December 2016 period when rains failed and temperatures were unusually high. The areas that received the lowest rainfall are in the northwest and southeastern parts of the country. You can read more about the Kenyan drought here http://www.waterpolitics.com/2017/08/09/thirsty-city-nairobi-may-run-dry/

The cumulative rainfall this year has been 50% – 75% below average, which made farmers delay planting which may result in below average harvest. The low amount of rainfall also resulted in water rationing which began on January 1st 2017 with Nairobi City Water only providing 400,000 cubic meters of water a day. That being 150,000 less than before and 350,000 cubic meters less than needed. Water.org is an organization that is trying to do something about the water and sanitation crisis in Kenya. You can find them here https://water.org/our-impact/kenya/

People living near Lake Turkana in northern Kenya heavily rely on farming and fishing as a source of income and food. Climate change has made farms dry up and livestock die resulting in them turning all their hopes to the lake. Sadly, a neighboring countries hydroelectric dam may be endangering this last hope.

Ethiopia has built a hydroelectric dam called Gibe III. Gibe III has become very controversial in recent years due to impacts it may have to the Turkana community and Rendille ethnic groups of Ethiopia. Many of those who shall be effected by the dam are unaware of the impacts it may have to their source of income and food. The dam shall cause the lake to dry up which will lead to the desertification and depletion of resources. Currently, the lake is in between the Turkana community and the Rendille ethnic community of Ethiopia. If the lake begins to shrink conflict is likely to occur between the two. “This place will turn into an endless uncontrollable battlefield” said Joseph Atach, a community leader. Despite all of this the Kenyan Government still supported the construction of the dam which they believe will increase development by providing more electricity. The dam will provide 300MW of electricity to Kenya. The dam has caused water levels to drop by 1.5 meters in the past two years and the shoreline to recede by as much as 1.7 kilometers. Kenya Ministry of Water and Irrigation is still yet to comment, with the government yet to press charges for damage and mitigation or inform communities on the projects impact.

My question is should we leave families to starve and die in hopes of reducing Ethiopia and Kenya’s carbon footprint? Or should we fight for those being affected and sadly slow Ethiopia and Kenya’s hopes of reducing their carbon footprint?

Let me leave you with a Swahili saying, "mtaka yote hukosa yote" which simply means one who wants it all, loses it all. If we keep on demanding and using more than what the earth has to provide and just do further damage by polluting what it does provide, we shall in turn lose it all.

Done by Yasmin, Marlyn and Gaby

(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GW_VaFE3P-c) link to video on draught


Post comment

You must write a comment to post it!

4 Comment(s)

Lebogang Disele
Sep 28, 2017

Hello Yasmin, Marly and Gaby,

As Ms Gabriel has said, this was a great post. I particularly enjoyed how you engaged with current issues in Kenya, which I think is very important for the concept "Decolonize, Decarbonize". Great work!

I just have some comments which I hope will help you deepen your research in terms of the position of developing countries/the global south and climate change.

In your post you mentioned that you do are not sure how to reduce electricity consumption in the household because you have a big family. This is valid, but since we say that young people are the future, how do you think children can positively influence parents, guardians, and other elders to make small change with big impacts? Do you think culture is a barrier to youth involvement and action? I am thinking about the use of solar power to reduce dependence on electricity generated from fossil fuels, and the use of water storage tanks and grey water systems to reduce water footprint? 

These are just some thoughts I had in response to your post. I hope you find them helpful.

Yasmin Iidow
Sep 18, 2017

I completely agree with your last statement that each and everybody can start making small changes in order to reach the ultimate goal of making this earth more sustainable for the future generations.

Badr
Jul 20, 2017

Excellent work! This was very eye opening and it's an extremely important topic that we must resolve. I really enjoyed  the quote at the end. Amazing work!

This is impressive research on our ecological and water footprints and the need to reduce them to save us from overloading the available resources.

Examples used are very relevant and comparisons made are befitting to the study and task.

Well done Yasmin, Marlyn and Gabby.

Marlyn
Jul 2, 2017

Thank you very much miss