Kenya Office

Kenya is a strategically important country in the Greater Horn of Africa Region. The location of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) headquarters in Nairobi has catapulted environmental law issues to a high level of importance.

IELRC Kenya seeks to address environmental issues from a national and international perspective. Given the proliferation of international environmental agreements and Kenya’s membership thereto, IELRC’s discourse links local and national issues to the global arena.

Besides research on the environment, the Kenya office of the IELRC carries out research on gender issues, biotechnology and intellectual property rights. We link the discourses in the different fields to have a synergistic frame of reference. Consequently, access to environmental resources for women is as much our concern as access to new technologies by developing countries and communities of farmers.

The focus in the environmental law area is on:

• Law and the management of biological diversity;
• Property rights and environmental resources;
• The role of international environmental agreements on land and resource rights;
• Environment, conflict and cooperation;
• The role of civil society in the management of transboundary water resources focusing on the River Nile;
• Mapping the Environment Dynamic of the Conflict in the Great Lakes Region;
• Access to justice in environmental decision-making;
• and Wildlife law and policy.

The focus on gender issues is on:

• Engendering law and policy reform;
• Access, Control and Ownership of Land and Resources;
• Challenging the Dominant Discourse and Changing Paradigms on Women’s Rights to Land and Resources;
• The interface between formal and informal norm-creating and enforcing institutions and their impact on women’s rights in agricultural and pastoral communities.

The focus on biotechnology is on:

• The impact of intellectual property protection and access to biotechnology for small scale farmers;
• Regulatory frameworks for Genetically Modified Organisms in African countries;
• and Legal frameworks for liability and redress in biotechnology research, development and commercialisation in Africa.

Recent Publications

Country Report for Kenya

Mapping out Options for Model Legislation for Sustainable Soil Management in Africa

Wildlife Conservation and Community Property Rights in Kenya

A Fitting Tribute to Charles Odidi Okidi: The Father of Environmental Law

Building an Army of Environmental Law Scholars: Professor Charles Odidi Okidi's Legacy

Reconfiguring Legal Education to Deepen Gender Equality: Mainstreaming Gender Through Curriculum Review at the School of Law University of Nairobi

Sexual Harassment in the Workplace in Kenya

Constitutions as Pathways to Gender Equality in Plural Legal Contexts