The theme of Earth Day 2014 is Green Cities, and as the cities of the world gear up for a day, a year, a future of more climate- and Earth-friendly practices and activities, we want to bring focus to a city region that is making an effort toward a sustainable agriculture future.
Naivasha is a city of around 185,000 people that lies just northwest of Nairobi, Kenya. The city is known primarily for its floriculture industry as well as for the views from popular tourist destination at Hell’s Gate National Park, which is nearby. The city is also home to Lake Naivasha in Lake Naivasha National Park, which serves as the center of the region’s watershed, as well as an important resource for vegetable and flower production, geothermal power production, and tourism. While the lake serves those who live in the city, it also is the source of livelihood and the center of economic activity for some 500,000 people living in the Basin region.
Small-scale farmers in the area are both the stewards and benefactors of the basin’s environmental services. In a program called Equitable Payments for Watershed Services (EPWS), put in place by CARE and the World Wildlife Foundation (WWF), downstream water users buy services from upstream providers in order to better protect the health of the watershed. Nearly 800 farmer households have participated in the upstream provider portion of the program, gaining cash incentives that help pay for inputs that can improve farms’ production.
These small-scale farmers have used integrated techniques to improve water quality and reduce erosion, both of which benefit the lake, which is also a reservoir in the region, and the health of the surrounding land. Techniques being used include using grass strips to filter water and prevent erosion, agroforestry, riparian rehabilitation, and cultivation along contours.
With this Earth Day’s Green Cities theme, it is important to bring light to cities and city regions that are not just searching for easy answers or greenwashing, but are working hard over a longer span of time to make a difference in their landscape and in the lives of the people that call the region home.
Naivasha, Kenya, and Lake Naivasha are a case study in a recent report, City Regions as Landscapes for People, Food and Nature by Thomas Forster and Arthur Getz Escudero.
Eleanor Greene is a communications intern at EcoAgriculture Partners and a student at American University studying journalism and creative writing.
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