Scope of Activities

Over the last fifty years, Kenyan wetlands have experienced major changes due to climate change, land use changes, upper catchment impoundments, agricultural development through irrigation schemes and species introductions. The effects of these changes have led to the loss of livelihoods for communities that are directly dependent on wetland resources. Rapid biodiversity loss in these wetlands has created a need for better assessments of the ecosystem functions, socio-economic values and important biodiversity.

In the past, several independent studies have been carried out in some wetlands but information necessary for mitigation, conservation and management has failed to effectively reach policy makers, often because of the inability of scientists to communicate it in suitable format to bridge the science-policy gap.

In addition, several advocacy NGOs such as Nature Kenya and the East African Wildlife Society have shown great need for accurate data to justify pleas for conservation of important habitats for the benefit of biodiversity and people. This high demand for biodiversity information on wetlands therefore necessitated the coalition of wetlands experts into a consortium.

KENWEB is a consortium or group of experts brings together ecologists, taxonomists, anthropologists, geographers, climatologists, geomorphologists, wildlife managers among others, in order to strenghten existing linkages among partner insitutions. The group also consolidates a vast amount of experience in these diverse fields of science and tropical wetlands and a means of sharing resources including methodology, equipment, publications, data and contacts.

KENWEB endeavours to produce reliable scientific information on biodiversity values, ecosystem services and the well-being of people dependent on wetlands, share it with local stakeholders and make it available in appropriate format to the policy-formulating and decision-making levels.