Nature benefits in Kenya : an atlas of ecosystems and human well-being

This report provides a new approach to examining the links between ecosystems services (the benefits derived from nature) and the poor. Through a series of maps and analysis, it focuses 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.
The maps in chapter 3 indicate that Kenya’s annual rainfall is distributed unevenly over the land : only 15 percent of the country receives sufficient rain to grow maize and other non-drought-resistant crops, another 13 percent has more marginal rainfall sufficient only to grow selected drought-resistant crops. Open surface water is the major source of drinking water for 29 percent of Kenyan households, almost all of them living in rural areas. About 32 percent of households rely on groundwater for drinking water. The same proportion uses piped water.
Families using untreated surface water rely completely on the regulating services of ecosystems to provide uncontaminated water in sufficient quantities. Decision-makers face an increasingly difficult challenge in allocating water resources to accommodate the multitude of demands for agriculture, hydropower, tourism, industry and drinking water, while still supporting plant and animal life. To address links between poverty and lack of access to improved water supply and services will also be increasingly more important.