Solutions that help people and nature
Protect Nature While You Work!
Protecting land and resource rights for marginalized communities in Northern Kenya, addressing the impact of political instability and climate change, and creating sustainable economic opportunities to foster peace and dignity
Northern Kenya has a semi-arid to arid climate with unreliable rainfall, which has a direct impact on its largely pastoralist, land-reliant communities .Climate change has further exacerbated underlying political and governance issues in the region, leading to extremes in weather patterns, including drought and flooding, with limited response from the government.
Pastoralists’ land rights are also threatened by government policies which seek to sell or appropriate their land, often doing so in violent ways. Communities are faced with a strain on already limited resources such as water and food; ongoing mining activities leading to further environmental degradation; insufficient/poor waste management systems leading to environmental pollution and climate change; and overgrazing, deforestation for charcoal production, contributing to desertification and land degradation
The Solution
Through community forums, HSI sensitizes communities on their environmental and land rights in Garissa and litigates on their behalf where their rights have been violated, collecting textured evidence to support the cases, and ensuring a participatory, community-centered approach to case-building.
By mid-2026, we will build three culturally sensitive resource packages on land and environmental rights aligned with current laws and relevant themes, specifically carbon credit or carbon mitigation schemes, and conduct monthly mobile outreach sessions in 10 communities, to improve legal awareness and prevent rights violations. These packages will be used to support one environment- focused radio show per month and two community- forums with inclusion of different sectors, including fishermen in Lamu County. On top of this, paralegals will receive formal Environmental Human Rights Defenders training to grow capacity
By mid-2026, we will collaborate with at least five civil society organisations to co-lead two major climate justice campaigns, aimed at increasing public engagement and political pressure on government bodies and extractive industry
By the end of 2026, we will convene at least six multi- stakeholder meetings across Lamu, Garissa, and Tana River counties, bringing together representatives from national and county governments, local communities, women’s land rights groups, and paralegals. These meetings will aim to identify and address persistent bottlenecks in the community land registration process, especially in areas impacted by climate-related displacement or large-scale land acquisition. Insights from these sessions will inform a publicly available policy brief and feed into advocacy efforts targeting improved implementation of the Community Land Act and stronger recognition of collective land rights.
Forging cross-cultural understandings, we will host two community exchanges per month, bringing together Dadaab Complex dwellers with host community members. To support this, we will train a small cohort of community mediators, starting with elders/chiefs/ opinion leaders within communities to promote peaceful resolution of disputes, invariably land related.
From 2025 to 2027, we will provide technical policy inputs or consultation support to at least two county governments and one national ministry, contributing to the drafting or revision of three environmental laws or policies that directly impact Northern Kenya’s ecosystems and communities. This includes, but is not limited to, advocacy around the persistent impact of flooding in Garissa County, preventing travel across large parts of the area and threatening the livelihoods of small-holder farmers, in particular, as well as pastoralist groups.
By mid-2026, we will support the enforcement of at least two existing environmental laws by working with legal institutions and government bodies and contribute to the development of one new policy or legal instrument at either county or national level to close identified enforcement gaps.
By March 2026, we will launch two dedicated multimedia advocacy campaigns (e.g., social media series, podcasts, radio shows or short videos) in collaboration with academic partners to simplify technical legal arguments in ongoing environmental justice cases and increase public awareness and support.
By August 2026, in partnership with two academic or research institutions, we will complete and publish at least two in-depth, cross-border research reports analysing the implications of Kenya’s participation in the Africa Carbon Markets Initiative and other climate- related land-use changes, including the implications of the Dadaab Complex, any changes associated with the Shirika PLan, and the presence of IDPs, with a focus on their impact on ‘indigenous’ and community land rights and how they interact with other forms of systemic exclusions, such as lack of access to national ID cards and access to effective justice mechanisms, ‘formal’ or ‘informal’.