Scientific assessments and politics addressing environmental changes rarely involve local residents and their knowledge. Usually reasons of demographic growth and environmental mismanagement are used to justify local degradation; however, our aim is to understand the local perspective about causes and reasons of the degradation that causes insecurity, livelihood changes, migration trends and other decisions that bring into further environmental degradation. An ethnographic research has been conducted in two catchments of Taita Hills, South-East Kenya. Participatory mapping, observation, transect walks, historical timelines, semi-structured interviews with experts and civil society representatives, as well as focus groups were employed as main methods of data gathering.

Team

Paola Minoia, Johanna Hohenthal, Belinda Kivivuori, Marinka Leppänen, Emmah Owidi.