Globally, mangrove deforestation occurs at a rate of 0.17% per year. This equates to roughly 24 million tonnes of CO2 lost to the atmosphere each year. To compare, Myanmar’s annual emissions are of a similar scale[1]. Mangrove ecosystems are hugely beneficial both in terms of carbon storage and the ecosystem services they provide. Mangroves provide… Read the full article >
Reducing long distances for the rural poor in search of water
Kenya is a water-scarce country with the large majority of the population struggling to access water – leave alone safe water. Tharaka Nithi County in the Eastern region of Kenya is semi-arid with farming as the main economic activity. Within the sub-counties of Tharaka North and South many families struggle to access water for domestic… Read the full article >
Breaking Barriers to Sharing Domestic Chore Burden
For many women in Kenya water remains a personal crisis. Majority of women and girls are overburdened by the many domestic chores assigned to them by society i.e. fetching water, collecting firewood, taking care of children etc. Women and girls spend disproportionately more time than men fetching water and firewood, farming, caring for children, the… Read the full article >
Helping prevent the spread of COVID-19
COVID-19 has hit the world with a force that has upturned lives and devastatingly, is continuing to claim lives. This invisible killer has hit the entire globe, first with Asia, Europe, the USA and now Africa. The communities across the countries we operate in are highly vulnerable and susceptible to the virus given the large… Read the full article >
Impacting lives through Safe Water in Kenya; Kilifi County
With an approximated of about 50 million people, 41 percent of Kenyans still rely on unimproved water sources, such as ponds, shallow wells and rivers, while 59 percent of Kenyans use unimproved sanitation solutions. These challenges are especially evident in the rural areas and the urban slums. Due to this acute access to safe water challenge many development organizations for years have sunk many boreholes in… Read the full article >
CO2balance Keeping its ears on the Ground in Kenya
In any project implementation it is important from the onset to engage the local community to understand their interests, beliefs, social networks etc. For any organization to implement a project well it requires to put its ears on the ground to listen to stakeholders and thus gather enough knowledge about local context and the local… Read the full article >
Turning the tide in Africa’s 5000-year fight against desertification
Did you know that the Sahara Desert used to be green? The vast expanse of dusty desert and blistering sand was, 9000 years ago, a lush green savannah. This period was known as the ‘Neolithic Subpluvial’, a time of mega-lakes surrounded by grasslands and wildebeest and early human settlements[1]. Then, about 5000 years ago, the… Read the full article >
VCS Issuance Kenya Cookstoves 2018!
This year, CO2balance have successfully issued over 30,000 VERs under VCS (now Verra). This applies to efficient cookstove projects in Kenya located in the constituencies of Mathira, Eldoret East, and Keiyo district. The issuance comes 7 years after the initial distribution of cookstoves in these areas. Among the stoves that were distributed was the Carbon… Read the full article >
Kenya Boreholes Project: Local Stakeholder Consultation
At the end of October, I travelled to Kenya to host a local stakeholder meeting for new borehole projects located on the coast in Kilifi County. The coastal county is largely rural and is frequented by tourists during the dry seasons for its white sandy beaches stretching 265km along the Kenyan coastline. Its main economic… Read the full article >
Final Kenya Cookstove Verification and CSR Project Visit
In April I travelled to Kenya to visit three cookstove projects that we have in the counties of Meru, Mathira and Eldoret with the CarbonZero Kenya team. In addition, I also went to see two CSR projects that co2balance are implementing for a client in the Aberdare’s county which will involve the restoration of community… Read the full article >
Impacting Lives in Maungu
In the Coastal region of Kenya in Shimba hills Carbon zero has distributed over 10,000 energy efficient cook stoves. The stove beneficiaries highly appreciate the many social, health and economic impact that the stoves have had in their lives. The stoves have also led to the protection of the Shimba hills forest that was under… Read the full article >
Sadly Women are Primary Woodfuel Collectors
Cooking is a very simple art but with far reaching effects to millions of people under the sun. It is estimated that globally more than three billion people currently rely on solid fuels. Most of this wood is collected from forests. Worst of all is that in Africa, burden of wood fuel collection still lies… Read the full article >