UDTR Global Rights of Nature Radar

‘We are our land’—Ogiek of Mount Elgon, Kenya: securing community tenure as the key enabling condition for sustaining community lands

Identification

Public canonical key

doi:10.1017/s003060532300008x

Authors

Justin Kenrick · Tom Rowley · Peter Kitelo

Reported year

2023

Reported language

en

Source type

article

First detected

2026-11-09T19:13:38.723944+00:00

Last metadata observation

2026-11-09T19:13:38.723944+00:00

Last HTTP verification

Not checked

Institutions reported by the source

Forest Peoples Programme · University of Edinburgh

Documentary abstract — original language

Abstract We outline how securing the community tenure rights of forest peoples can create a rapid, rights-based route to the effective and sustainable conservation of their forests. We draw on the different skillsets and experiences of the authors (long-term fieldwork, mapping and monitoring, and a lifetime of experience) to identify the conditions that enable the Ogiek of Chepkitale, Mount Elgon, Kenya, to sustain and be sustained by their lands. We also identify the conditions that drive the disruption of this sustainable relationship through an appropriation of Ogiek resources by external interests that threaten to degrade, alienate and destroy their ecosystem. It is increasingly recognized that securing sustainable conservation outcomes can be best achieved through the deep knowledge, connection and commitment that ancestral communities have regarding their lands. Evidence from Mount Elgon and more broadly shows that Indigenous Peoples are better guardians of their forests than international or state protection agencies. This challenges the idea that evicting forest peoples is the best way to protect forests. Other studies, including those conducted by the Kenyan governmental Taskforce on Illegal Logging, highlight the way Kenyan state agencies such as the Kenya Forest Service have been responsible for the severe depletion of Indigenous forests. We examine how collective community control can enable decisions to be made in line with taking care of community lands over the long term, but also highlight how this ability is under constant threat until and unless national law and practice recognizes the collective tenure rights of such communities.

Identifiers

OPENALEX

W4377226331

DOI

10.1017/s003060532300008x

Documentary context

Documentary family

Scholarship

Source-reported types

article

Jurisdictions studied — explicit sources

KE

Natural entities mentioned

Forest · Ecosystem

Entity mentions are not evidence of legal recognition. Jurisdiction studied is separate from author affiliation country.

Sources

OpenAlex · Record 1 · Record 2

• DOI · https://doi.org/10.1017/s003060532300008x
• OpenAlex · https://openalex.org/W4377226331

Documented bibliographic relations

Source-declared references and links; they do not establish legal support or UGLC qualification. Up to 20 outgoing references are displayed.

• openalex:w1981213426 · CITES
• openalex:w2070242798 · CITES
• openalex:w2073313811 · CITES
• openalex:w2127083193 · CITES
• openalex:w2136774757 · CITES
• openalex:w2175723801 · CITES
• openalex:w2332489679 · CITES
• openalex:w2342905576 · CITES
• openalex:w2398350456 · CITES
• openalex:w248259726 · CITES
• openalex:w2604767272 · CITES
• openalex:w2738711488 · CITES
• openalex:w2742699571 · CITES
• openalex:w2806485645 · CITES
• openalex:w2840063536 · CITES
• openalex:w2855100445 · CITES
• openalex:w3004220838 · CITES
• Local communities’ and indigenous peoples’ land and forestry rights: Assessing the law and practice on tenure security in Kenya · CITES
• openalex:w3197735684 · CITES
• openalex:w3215984863 · CITES

1 incoming references within the detected corpus

Documentary status

Relevance pending

Library

This identity is not yet included in the Legal Library.