August 1998 
5 
PROJECTS 
KIPEPEO PROJECT WINS INTERNATIONAL 
PRIZE 
On 5 October, 1998 the Kipepeo Project was one of ten 
(out of 470 projects nominated from more than 40 
countries) to receive the Dubai International Award for 
Best Practices in Improving the Living Environment. 
The Dubai Award was established under the directive 
of H.H Sheikh Maktoum Bin Rashid A1 Maktoum. 
Vice President, Prime Minister of the United Arab 
Emirates, and Ruler of Dubai, during the 1995 UNCHS/ 
HABITAT conference in Dubai This conference 
adopted what is known as die Dubai Declaration which, 
among other things, set down clear criteria for the 
recognition of best practices. These are initiatives which 
have demonstrated a tangible impact on improving the 
living environment for the benefit of humanity, and 
which arc worthy of dissemination on a global scale. 
The Dubai Declaration was subsequently adopted by 
the Second United Nations Conference on Human 
Settlements (Habitat) II Conference in Istanbul, Tlirkey 
in June 1996. The first six Best Practices Awards were 
presented at this conference by the then Secretary 
General to the United Nations. Dr Boutros Boutros 
Ghali. 
The Kipepeo Project was nominated by UNDP 
Kenya in May 1998 and was one of 40 projects short- 
listed for the Award by a meeting of technical experts 
hosted by the City of Vienna from 7-10 July. It was 
subsequently chosen for the Award by an independent 
international Jury of eminent persons on 26 July. The 
other Award winners were from Zuhai (China), Medellin 
(Columbia). Cairo (Egypt), Vera Cruz (Mexico), Surat 
(India). Dar-es-Salaam (Tanzania), Naga City 
(Philippines). Malaga (Spain), and Kennesaw (USA) 
With the exception of Kipepeo, all the award winners 
were urban or industrial initiatives, reflecting the close 
connection of the Award with the problems of cities 
and urban areas. Kipepeo broke new ground as the first 
award winner to connect human settlements with 
biodiversity conservation 
A common theme for all the award winners was the 
belief, expressed in action, that practical solutions to 
difficult environmental problems can be found. For 
example. Sural, a city devastated by plague in 1994, 
was transformed in the space of 18 months, into what 
has been judged as the second cleanest city in India, 
with major reductions in the transmission of infectious 
diseases through participatory planning, proper waste 
management and improved water supplies. Looking 
ahead to the next century. Interface Inc., in Georgia, 
USA, offers a model for sustainable industry in the 
next century, through its detailed attention to recycling, 
waste reduction and renewable sources of energy, saving 
USS 50 million since 1994 and showing that green 
policies pay economic dividends. 
Each of the winners gave a presentation at the Dubai 
Awards Seminar on the day before the Award Ceremony. 
They were asked to concentrate on impacts, success 
factors and the lessons learned. The following an edited 
copy of the presentation given by Dr Ian Gordon, the 
founder and outgoing manager of Kipepeo. The project 
was also represented at the Award Ceremony by 
Washington Ayiemba, Dr Gordon’s counterpart and the 
incoming manager of the project. 
CONTEXT AND PROBLEM 
The majority of human settlements in Africa arc in 
rural areas Some of these settlements present special 
problems and opportunities because they arc adjacent 
to habitats of global conservation importance. The 
settlements around Arabuko-Sokoke Forest on the north 
coast of Kenya are a good example of such a situation. 
Arabuko-Sokoke is one of the last surviving remnants 
of a coastal strip of forest that once stretched from 
southern Somalia down to northern Mozambique It 
harbours six globally threatened bird species, four 
threatened mammals and unknown numbers or other 
threatened species. It is one of the most important forests 
in Africa for bird conservation and is under 
consideration as a World Heritage Site. Around 90,000 
people live in the 12 administrative sub-locations that 
surround the forest and about 5,000 live in 
approximately 400 households immediately on its 
borders The Kipepeo Project currently works with about 
a third of these households. 
Despite the proximity of the forest to the relatively 
prosperous tourist resorts of Malindi and Watamu, 
famous for their beaches, fine hotels and big game 
fishing, the people around the forest have desperately 
few resources. Their per capita cash incomes have been 
independently estimated at between thirty and fifty 
dollars a year They survive by what they can grow on 
their farms, with the major crops being maize and 
cassava, supplemented by coconuts and cowpeas. Illegal 
hunting for small game in the forest provides much- 
needed protein. A once thriving cashew nut industry is 
now in serious decline. Social services in the form of 
schools and clinics arc meagre and severely under 
resourced. Traditional cultural attitudes and practices 
do not favour women with respect to access to education, 
other resources and free time. 
In such a situation, there is understandably little 
concern in the local communities over the conservation 
of Arabuko-Sokoke Forest. Instead, the forest is seen 
as the source of many of their problems. In 1991, 96% 
of the farmers were unhappy with the forest and 54% 
wanted it completely cleared for settlement The 
following quotes give a good impression of community 
feelings at that time: “This is Government's forest, you 
cannot get inside, if you are caught there with even a 
grass twig you are arrested’’; “You receive a thorough 
beating even when goals are found browsing at the edge 
of the forest"; “It is not useful to me but to the 
Government because it benefits from it"; “Elephants 
have made us poor here” ; “We don’t plant here because 
