Biochar is commended as a multifunctional carbon-removal technology: it stabilizes carbon stored in biomass, helping mitigate adverse climate effects, and it also serves as a soil amender, a fertilizer, and even a water filter.
This blog reflects on Kenya’s current urban landscape and outlines a pathway and framework for a robust urban development policy, guided by the principle that “Urban areas and cities are meant for the people, planned by the people, and built with the people.”
Across sub-Saharan Africa, shifts in research practice are emerging that place greater emphasis on context. Women researchers are frequently at the forefront of these shifts, shaped in part by the conditions under which they work. They are less embedded in well-resourced, standardised research pipelines and more engaged in interface roles between research, practice, and communities. This positioning requires adapting approaches to resource-constrained, dynamic, and often informal systems.
“Hii ni jua ya mvua”
For any other Nairobian, this is just an ordinary statement, but for a resident of Mukuru, this statement and the heat coming from the sun is a call to quick retrospection. Is my bed raised high enough? Did I remember to put the important documents in the backpack? Will I be out of work by the time it starts to pour?
In nature, silicate rocks such as basalt slowly react with CO₂ and water, converting carbon into stable carbonate minerals or dissolved bicarbonates over long time scales. Enhanced Rock Withering (ERW) speeds up this reaction by mining suitable silicate rocks, grinding them into fine particles to increase surface area, and applying them to agricultural soils.
The government requires all new mini-grids to comply with the Kenya National Distribution Code to build grid-ready mini-grids. This approach is intended to support long-term planning and prevent duplication of infrastructure. However, this policy has created uncertainty for investors. Developers are unsure what will happen when their systems are integrated into the grid. Without clear protocols for compensation, asset transfer or operational continuity post-integration, investors remain cautious.
While technological advancement continues to reshape agriculture globally, its potential in the African context is both profound and complex. Given that the agricultural sector is largely composed of resource-poor smallholders, the integration of technology faces inherent limitations, often operating at a more foundational and fragmented level.
In Kenya’s informal settlements, electricity access remains a persistent socio-technical challenge shaped by the tension between the national utility’s push for formal connections and the entrenched presence of informal electricity providers, often called cartels.
Across much of sub-Saharan Africa, cooking is still very much a smoky affair for both rural and urban households. Despite decades of policy ambition and investment, biomass remains a dominant player in the cooking landscape.
The Kenyan government’s current program of demolishing structures and relocating residents living on riparian land in Nairobi has raised concerns about equity and fairness.
The Ecotreat waste digester is a microorganism based product that breaks down different kinds of waste: human solid waste, animal waste, vegetable gums, fats, complex proteins, oils, and greases as well as cellulose (tissue paper) and starches at an accelerated rate.
From the forum, it was apparent that people across different socio-economic divides and geographical regions had different views and opinions regarding electric cooking.
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