Environmental justice: Kenya’s Poorest Children Paying the Price of the Climate Crisis

East Africa’s largest economy, Kenya faces a severe environmental health crisis, and the next generation bears the heaviest burden.

 

Millions of children and young people across the country are growing up in neighborhoods and attending schools where the air they breathe is legally or environmentally unsafe.

 

For decades, environmental pollution has been a problem that has disrupted Kenyan lives, and our future generation is paying for a greener future. From the plastic litter on busy streets to the toxic fumes in industrial areas and waste disposal in illegal dumping sites.

 

One thing is, however, clear: the root cause of environmental pollution is largely due to public ignorance. An additional decade of these practices will not just leave Kenyans struggling to survive; it will leave them with no place to call home.

 

Ensuring environmental cleanliness is the responsibility of the public just as much as it’s the responsibility of the government. It seems that the public has a hard time understanding that. Have we normalized littering to the extent that our city’s roads are never spotless?

 

There are always plastic papers dropped on the roads, peelings of fruit, used tissues, used bottles; the list is endless. This normalization is one of the factors that explain Kenyan deaths.

 

During the heavy rain season from March to May, these plastics block our drainage systems and cause floods that destroy properties and claim lives. Additionally, the industrial emissions from factories and illegal dumping sites in towns such as Kibera, Mathare, Dandora, and Mukuru kwa Njenga threaten residents’ health and quality of life.

 

This has caused a serious public health crisis that causes children to develop respiratory illnesses such as chronic bronchitis and high levels of lead and mercury from heavy metal poisoning.

 

On March 11, 2026, the National Environment Management Authority (NEMA), in partnership with Unite Platform Solutions (UPS), launched the Kenya Online Continuous Emission Monitoring System (KOCEMS).

 

This is a digital platform that tracks industrial emissions across the country in real time. According to NEMA and UPS, it’s meant to prevent the harmful effects of emissions and promote compliance of industrial facilities.

 

Most importantly, KOCEMS was launched due to numerous deaths caused by emissions. According to WHO reports of 2019, a staggering 6.7 million people had died due to air pollution. During the launch, the Cabinet Secretary for the Ministry of Environment, Climate Change and Forestry, Dr. Deborah Longo Barasa, commended NEMA for coming up with the emission monitoring system, noting that it had come right on time.

 

Additionally, Dr. Deborah said, “This milestone marks an important step in strengthening environmental governance in Kenya through technology-driven monitoring, transparency and improved regulatory oversight.” Unfortunately, industries still emit harmful fumes that harm residents, especially school-going children.

 

The government is expected to enforce the rule of law and ensure factories pay the price for polluting our air. The CS also encouraged Kenyans to come out and plant half a billion tree seedlings in order to reach our 15 billion trees target.

 

She noted that Ethiopia was able to plant 500 million trees in one day, and Burkina Faso was also able to plant 100 million trees in the same amount of time. The CS believed that Kenyans could plant 1 billion trees similarly in one day. This tree planting exercise would reduce the likelihood of drought and floods, as it would influence Kenyans to be accountable for their environment.

 

Rwanda, the cleanest country in Africa, practices environmental hygiene that’s impressed millions of people globally. Many of the country’s tourists arrive completely taken aback by how clean the air and streets are. Rwanda’s government didn’t achieve this environmental conscience alone.

 

It came about when the government and Rwandan citizens made collaborative efforts to sustain the environment. In 2008, the Rwandan government banned plastic bags to ensure only biodegradable bags were used. The law is enforced even for foreigners entering Rwanda at the borders and airports. This eradicated plastic pollution and made Rwanda the pristine country it is today.

 

Furthermore, there exists a mandatory practice called Umuganda where able-bodied citizens between the age of 18 and 65 clean the streets and cut grass.

 

The citizens actually enjoy Umuganda and see it as a community-building initiative rather than a national chore. Maybe Kenyans should adopt this practice; maybe then Nairobi would look like the capital city of Africa as it’s often termed. Just like in Kenya, littering is illegal in Rwanda; it carries heavy fines, and the law is heavily enforced by the police.

The only key difference is the lack of enforcement in Kenya by local leaders and authorities. A slight glance at Rwanda and we can all see how a country operates when citizens are accountable for their environment.

 

Kenya’s environmental crisis requires a two-step strategy that involves collaborative efforts between citizens and the government. First, we need to conduct Behavior Change Communication (BCC) campaigns advocating for environmental sustainability.

 

We need a national shift in perspectives and to start protecting our surroundings. Second, the government needs to enforce the law on factories emitting toxic fumes, individuals who pile up waste at illegal dumping sites, and those who litter. Authorities should demand stricter penalties, especially on individuals who offer them brown envelopes to avoid accountability for polluting the environment.

 

The BCC campaigns will educate Kenyans on the benefits of conserving the environment and the risks associated with pollution. This will eventually breed a culture that discourages illegal, unregulated waste disposal.

 

Nairobi is known to be the largest economy in East Africa, driven by its diversified commercial, financial, and logistical operations. It’s also known as the Silicon Savannah due to it being a major tech hub. If Nairobi can achieve this much despite degrading its environment, imagine what our city could achieve if we sustained it.

 

Nairobi is termed “The Green City in the Sun” due to its brilliant year-round sunshine and dense green spaces. We can’t forget to pay tribute to Professor Wangari Maathai for all the sacrifices she made to protect our green country that now attracts tourists from all over the world. To show our gratitude, we should carry on her legacy, conserve the environment, and pay it forward.

 

Written by, Joy Ruguru, a mass communication student at Mount Kenya University with a keen interest in environmental policy.