More People, Less Erosion: Environmental Recovery in Kenya

Abstract

This study examines the interactions between people and the environment of the semi-arid Machakos District Kenya over a period of sixty years from 1930 to 1990. In the 1930s the district was considered an environmental disaster with famine relief and food imports needed between 1942 and 1962. Over the sixty years between 1930 and 1990 the population of the District increased more than five-fold however the environment in 1990 was in a much better condition than in the 1930s. Soil erosion had declined due to terraces in place to protect arable land and predictions of a wood fuel crisis were not fulfilled because of a larger number of farmed and protected trees. Additionally agricultural production...was higher and new technologies and farming systems had been introduced....This study combines the findings of physical and social scientists from the Overseas Development Institute London and the University of Nairobi Kenya. It uses conventional data oral history and photographic records....The study concludes with an explanation of the positive contribution that population growth in low density areas can have on economic and social development technology change and environmental sustainability under the right policies. (EXCERPT)

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