A national risk assessment by Kenya’s Ministry of Interior has warned that 18 counties are at risk of being affected by El Niño from October. For many Kenyans, this may sound like a weather forecast. For thousands of families across the country, it sounds like a warning they have heard before, and one that still haunts them. The question is: what is the human cost? 

A growing number of cases before Kenya’s courts show that state institutions created to protect our environment and wildlife are enabling their destruction as amendments to critical safeguard laws are introduced. Unless this is changes, the judiciary may be the last line of defence against state-led environmental destruction.

The violent disruption of a public procession and arrest of nine environmentalists, including a former Chief Justice, on 8 June elevated the proposed development in Nairobi National Park to international public attention. As the matter heads to court later this month, what is at stake, and what would a win–win outcome look like?