Kenya Environment - 2024

Environment - current issues

water pollution from urban and industrial wastes; water shortage and degraded water quality from increased use of pesticides and fertilizers; flooding; water hyacinth infestation in Lake Victoria; deforestation; soil erosion; desertification; poaching

Environment - international agreements

party to: Biodiversity, Climate Change, Climate Change-Kyoto Protocol, Climate Change-Paris Agreement, Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban, Desertification, Endangered Species, Hazardous Wastes, Law of the Sea, Marine Dumping-London Convention, Marine Dumping-London Protocol, Marine Life Conservation, Nuclear Test Ban, Ozone Layer Protection, Ship Pollution, Wetlands, Whaling

signed, but not ratified: none of the selected agreements

Climate

varies from tropical along coast to arid in interior

Land use

agricultural land: 48.1% (2018 est.)

arable land: 9.8% (2018 est.)

permanent crops: 0.9% (2018 est.)

permanent pasture: 37.4% (2018 est.)

forest: 6.1% (2018 est.)

other: 45.8% (2018 est.)

Urbanization

urban population: 29.5% of total population (2023)

rate of urbanization: 4.09% annual rate of change (2020-25 est.)

Food insecurity

exceptional shortfall in aggregate food production/supplies:due to drought conditions - about 4.4 million people were projected to be severely acutely food insecure between October and December 2022 reflecting consecutive poor rainy seasons since late 2020 that affected crop and livestock production; prices of maize are at high levels across the country due to reduced availabilities and high fuel prices inflating production and transportation costs (2023)

Revenue from forest resources

1.3% of GDP (2018 est.)

Revenue from coal

0% of GDP (2018 est.)

Air pollutants

particulate matter emissions: 12.52 micrograms per cubic meter (2019 est.)

carbon dioxide emissions: 17.91 megatons (2016 est.)

methane emissions: 37.65 megatons (2020 est.)

Waste and recycling

municipal solid waste generated annually: 5,595,099 tons (2010 est.)

municipal solid waste recycled annually: 447,608 tons (2009 est.)

percent of municipal solid waste recycled: 8% (2009 est.)

Major lakes (area sq km)

fresh water lake(s): Lake Victoria (shared with Tanzania and Uganda) - 62,940 sq km

salt water lake(s): Lake Turkana (shared with Ethiopia) - 6,400 sq km

Major watersheds (area sq km)

Atlantic Ocean drainage: (Mediterranean Sea) Nile (3,254,853 sq km)

Major aquifers

Ogaden-Juba Basin

Total water withdrawal

municipal: 500 million cubic meters (2020 est.)

industrial: 300 million cubic meters (2020 est.)

agricultural: 3.23 billion cubic meters (2020 est.)

Total renewable water resources

30.7 billion cubic meters (2020 est.)