Rapid Assessment of Natural Resources Degradation in Areas Impacted by the Refugee Influx in Kakuma Camp, Kenya

As of February 2018, the total number of registered refugees and asylum-seekers in Kenya is 483,597. Most are hosted in the refugee camps of Dadaab and Kakuma, located in the drylands in the east and north of the country, respectively. These camps were established in the early 1990s following instability in neighboring countries. Kakuma camp in Turkana County hosts more than 180,000 refugees, of whom 57 percent are South Sudanese and 18 percent are Somali. The remaining are of various nationalities (Burundian, Congolese, Eritrean, Ethiopian, Rwandese and Ugandan). Woodfuel is the dominant source of energy for cooking and heating in homes and institutions in Kenya, and accounts for 69 percent of the country’s total primary energy consumption. The high dependence on woodfuel at national level is paralleled within the refugee camps. The World Bank commissioned the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) to undertake a rapid assessment of natural resources degradation around Kakuma camp in northern Kenya, with a focus on forest resources, and to identify possible interventions to mitigate pressure on the environment and support energy access for both the refugee and host communities. This Technical Report summarizes the main findings and recommendations of the assessment. These are expected to guide World Bank support to the Government of Uganda (GoU), including the Development Response to Displacement Impacts Project (DRDIP) and an IDA disbursement window for refugee-affected countries, as well as provide information of wider strategic value to other agencies concerned with the impacts of refugees on natural resources in Kenya.