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This report provides a new approach to examining the links between ecosystem services (the benefits derived from nature) and the poor. Through a series of maps and analyses, the authors focus on the environmental resources most Kenyans rely on such as soil, water, forest, rangeland, livestock, and wildlife. The atlas overlays georeferenced statistical information on population and household expenditures with spatial data on ecosystems and their services (water availability, wood supply, wildlife populations, and the like) to yield a picture of how land, people, and prosperity are related in Kenya.

Live webcams at Mpala Research Center in Kenya, and lessons for grades 3-8

Kenyan girls who grow up in traditionally nomadic, pastoral communities often roam the arid plains of the country with their families in search of grazing grounds for their goats, cows, and camels. But the journey is usually at the expense of an education-moving around so often, and especially to remote areas, makes it difficult for many to attend school on a regular basis.

In this 7-minute excerpt from the documentary Roots of Change: The Vision of Wangari Maathai see how she became the first African woman, and first environmentalist, to win the Nobel Prize for Peace. The Green Belt Movement that she founded has profoundly changed the physical and social landscape of Kenya...and it all began with planting trees.

" Richard Turere, a 13 year-old from Kenya, has been making waves at the TED conference with his innovative invention - a LED system that prevents lions from killing livestock (and also humans). Richard, whose family lives within the Nairobi National Park boundaries and raises livestock, had always seen lions as a threat to their livelihood."

Simple and cost effective investments in predator proof stockades, known as bomas, eliminates much human-predator conflict... The economic well-being of the country depends ultimately, not on the bricks and mortar of runaway development activity, but on the natural environment that-alone-will define the limits of what we can, or cannot, do. Only by embracing conservation can we create a sustainable basis for our continued economic and social development.

60 Minutes on CBS News: The Great Migration - Scott Pelley visits Kenya, the site of the great wildebeest migration, and looks at the threats to this natural spectacle comprised of over a million animals.

What a fun article to use as a conversation starter during discussions focused on experimental design, or adaptations.

Taking Root tells the story of Kenyan Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Wangari Maathai whose simple act of planting trees grew into a nationwide movement to safeguard the environment, protect human rights, and defend democracy-a movement for which this charismatic woman became an iconic inspiration.

Kenya's high-elevation forests are the source for most of the water on which the drought-plagued nation depends. Now, after decades of government-abetted abuse of these regions, a new conservation strategy of working with local communities is showing signs of success.

"A new study in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) examines how the Community Markets for Conservation (COMACO) program has succeeded in stabilizing wildlife while improving agriculture in the Luangwa Valley."

A new study by Kenyan and University of California at Davis researchers shows that grazing by wild animals doesn't always harm, and may sometimes benefit, cattle. The results are published in this week's issue of the journal Science.""Our findings provide further evidence that biodiversity conservation and economic development can be simultaneously achieved in human-occupied savanna landscapes.""

Grazing by zebras, other African wildlife can actually help cattle -- student-friendly summary of the Science article

New study shows widespread and substantial declines in wildlife in Kenya's Masai Mara

These lessons examine how environmental issues such as deforestation are intricately linked to many other social issues, and how organizations such as the Green Belt Movement use certain strategies to mobilize citizen action toward social and environmental justice. These lessons are directed toward grades 9 through 12, and college students for use in the following subject areas: social studies, environmental studies, political science, women's studies, international studies, world history, government and civics.