Ecosystems when faced by disturbances whether naturally or human-induced work towards recovery – this is a show of ecological resilience. The ease with which a particular ecosystem regains its previous or improved status is a measure of this resilience. Where perturbation is of high magnitude, recovery takes place slowly and over a relatively longer period. […]
Farmers who hold small parcels of land strive to attain high productivity, despite these size of their lands which they have homestead in them too. However, with decreasing land sizes as a result of land subdivision, it is getting more difficult to survive on farming alone. Meru is one of the regions where agricultural land […]
At Ngurumo village, Ntakira Location, Meru, she is known as queen of arrow-roots. Eunice Ngoki is a member of Meru Jitegemee group. After training on agro-ecological farming and need to revive indigenous seed and crops, Eunice decided to specialise on arrow-roots among other crops that had disappeared in the community. It was a time that […]
The first thing that strikes any visitor to the Thiiti Mothers group as odd is that there are men in the group! “The group was founded in 1989 by mothers who were then agitating against female genital mutilation but later they decided to strategically include us in the group to increase their lobbying power and […]
Cathreen Kareaikwa is what you may call a typical African entrepreneur driven by both a passion to serve her community and the desire to turn up a profit. She is the outgoing coordinator of the Tharaka Nithi Environmental Change Network (TECNet), a conservation advocacy network whose existence has been facilitated by ICE as part of […]
Besides the transfer of innovative agricultural farming technologies to farmers, the Institute for Culture and Ecology (ICE) is also involved in building the capacity of local institutions to champion the course of environmental conservation in their localities. In Machakos, it is doing this through the Masinga, Yatta, and Matungulu Advocacy Network (MaYaMa). MaYaMa was established […]
Anthony Kioko, is the Ward Agricultural Officer (WAO) for Matungulu and Kyeleni wards in Machakos County in the new decentralised government system. In the former system, he would have been the District Agricultural Extension Officer (DAEO). Kioko first heard about the work Institute for Culture and Ecology (ICE) was doing in Machakos through one of […]
“As a flower blossoms, so shall be my kitchen garden”, those are the words that keeps reminding her to put more effort in what she does. Agnes Wairimu is a member of Nyamutuagaki Women Self Help Group, one of the groups ICE started to work with through Climate Seed, and Knowledge (CSK) project in 2008. […]
For millennia, indigenous and local communities around the world have upheld the responsibilities of their great-great grandparents and their ancestors as the Custodians of Sacred Natural Sites and Territories. Sacred Natural Sites are critical places within ecosystems, such as forests, mountains, rivers and sources of water, which exist as a network embedded within a territory. […]
The small garden occupying about an eighth of an acre is a beautiful sight to look at. On one side of the garden are neat rows of cabbages planted next to a bumper crop of beans inter-planted with maize. One can tell that the maize was planted recently because at the extreme end of the […]