Browsing by Subject "Kenya"

The study contributes to the studies of land cover change and sustainable development in Kenya. It scrutinizes the land use and land cover change (LULCC) and deforestation; forest ecosystem services and vulnerability of natural and human systems; forest management and land tenure; sustainable land management, development and livelihoods; and woodfuel energy in a Kenya and in Africa. It is a case study from Dakatcha Woodland, an un-protected global hotspot for biodiversity adjacent to the Kenyan coast. The local setting of Dakatcha Woodland; the relation of livelihoods, especially charcoal production, to the land cover change; and the environmental and socio-economic impact of land cover change in the study area, are studied in detail. The possibilities to promote sustainable development, livelihoods and ecosystem services in the area are reflected, too. The main objective of this study is to contribute to the planning of sustainable management of land and forests, and sustainable livelihoods of the local population in Dakatcha Woodland. Environment and its change affect biodiversity and ecosystems, and thus ecosystem services that all human beings rely upon. Weakened ecosystem services deteriorate the possibilities to have good living conditions and livelihoods. Dakatcha Woodland is experiencing both environmental and socio-economical problems due to uncontrolled clearance of hilltop Cynometra-Brachylaena forests for agriculture and for charcoal burning to meet the energy demands of both local population as well as to supply the nearby centres and towns. The main underlaying problems are poverty and lack of alternative income generating activities coupled with weak institutional framework and poor land tenure and management system. Drawing from a holistic research epistemology, the study resolves the study objectives with various methods. Remote sensing (RS) and Geographical Information Systems (GIS) provide means to assess the land cover and thus the change in the state of environment. Combined with socio-economic data collected with methods often used in Development Geography they offer ways to assess the poverty-environment linkages and offer data to land and forest resource management planning. This study contributes to the existing local land cover data by analyzing four SPOT satellite images from 2005/06 and 2011, and by forming a supervised land cover classification for those years, thus scrutinizing also the change in land cover. In-situ observation, household questionnaires (90 households were assessed in October 2010) and semi-structured expert interviews (2 from October 2010 and 3 from April 2011), add to literature review in order to reveal the significance of charcoal production to local livelihoods and environment. It was found that more than half of the 90 assessed households are involved in charcoal production which is higher figure than peer studies have suggested, and that the charcoal network is a complex entity that offers income to many, but bears an negative impact on the environment. It was discovered that, like in Kenya, in Dakatcha Woodland, too, the demand for woodfuel (charcoal and fuelwood) is one of the key drivers of deforestation and land degradation. As such, woodfuel energy is a cross-cutting issue, that ties together forest resources, livelihoods and sustainable development, and demands thus further research. The woodland areas are fragmenting and the relevance of the Important Bird Area (IBA) demarcation should be questioned because it was found that the IBA has lost woodland areas to agriculture and to woody vegetation land cover classes from 2005 to 2011. The land and forest management of Dakatcha Woodland must be planned in accordance with all stakeholders in a sustainable manner, drawing from agroforestry and participatory forest management systems, and keeping environmental factors in mind for the relevance of ecosystem services that the environment offers. Sustainable future for Dakatcha Woodland is possible, but changes are needed today.

The thesis examines how the national water policies of Tanzania and Kenya address informality in the urban water sector by critically analysing the representations of “problems” in policies related to increasing urban water access. While access to safely managed water has increased rapidly on a global in the last decades, in most cities in the global south 30¬–60 per cent of the urban population relies on informal practices to meet its daily water needs. Especially the urban areas of sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) struggle to increase access to safe water to citizens, resulting in a high reliance on informal practices, such as getting water from unprotected wells or buying water from street vendors. While these practices are generally associated with health risks and higher water prices, they serve as the main everyday water supply for millions of people. Since the state has failed to provide access to water for everyone, both under private and public management, informally managed water systems are, despite their problems, increasingly seen as a viable alternative to the standard solution of expanding the piped network to increase access. Many of the case studies on informality in SSA cited in this thesis argue that the state should accept and support the informal water sector as a pragmatic alternative for water supply in unserved urban areas. By analysing the national water policies of Tanzania and Kenya, this thesis sets out to answer the research questions of (1) how the problem of water supply is constructed in urban water policy in Tanzania and Kenya and (2) how Tanzanian and Kenyan water policies approach the informal water sector. The analysis applies Carol Bacchi’s (2009) poststructuralist approach to analysing policy, the ‘What’s The Problem Represented To Be?’ (WPR) approach. Four general representations of problems related to urban water access and informality were identified in the data: (1) The problem of lacking infrastructure, (2) the problem of identifying appropriate technologies, (3) the problem of stakeholder involvement and (4) the problem of informality in the water sector. The results show a high reliance on investment in large-scale infrastructure projects as the main policy for increasing access to water in urban areas in both Kenya and Tanzania, even though previous studies on informality and urban water provision suggests this tactic will fail in providing safe water for all. In addressing the informal water sector in urban areas, informality was represented as a problem that eventually will fade away as soon as the piped network reaches all. However, both countries appeared to take a completely different stance towards informality in rural areas. Whereas large-scale infrastructure projects still were the go-to solution for increasing access in urban areas, for rural areas the analysed documents proposed a massive support of community-based informal practices as the cornerstones of future rural water supply, covering tens of millions of people in the coming decade. If the attempt to solve lacking access to safe water in urban areas by expanding the piped network should fail, as previous research suggests it might, the community based policies for rural water supply may be scaled out to solve the urban water problem. This thesis shows that the informal water sector is still to a large extent seen as a temporary problem. However, both Kenyan and Tanzanian water policy has opened the door to supporting informal practices as sustainable solutions as a way to achieve the ambitious goal of safe water for all.

The African start-up scene has been rapidly developing in recent years and respected Silicon Valley VC firms and large tech companies are moving in on the market which could be regarded as a signal of opportunity. Yet a single investment is to be made by a Finnish VC firm into an African start-up. The democratizing effect of technology and internet accessibility has led to the growth of innovation and disruption on the continent with the three selected jurisdictions for the thesis South Africa, Nigeria and Kenya leading the charge. Focusing on the three countries enables more a pragmatic analysis and thus applicable solutions. Analysing three different ecosystems also showcases the heterogeneity of the continent’s opportunities for VC firms. The objective of the thesis is to establish the main blockers for Finnish VC firms when weighing the option of investing in Africa and then provide solutions to overcome the obstacles whilst taking a form of a roadmap to also show the process of investing in Africa and its peculiarities. Because of the specificity and novelty of the subject matter, there is very little research specific to the objective to build on. To paint a picture of the different ecosystems’ comparative legal analysis and market analysis was utilized. The obstacles were identified through thematically analysed qualitative interviews with Finnish VC firms. The solutions to these obstacles were built on qualitative interviews with individuals that have experience from the African start-up scene. Four obstacles rose above the rest in prevalence: mandates, being geographically far from founders, local expertise & networks and corporate governance & unknown risks. Based on the four obstacles a prescription of four actions that enable a Finnish VC firm to invest in Africa was developed: 1. Cannot be focused on early stage start-ups. 2. Needs to find a local co-investor. 3. Cannot have a mandate blocking Africa as an investment option. 4. Is a specialized fund. By adhering to these four “rules” a Finnish VC firm can venture to Africa with confidence.