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NWP Global Registry of Apprentice Ecologists - Dandora, Nairobi, Kenya

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Dandora, Nairobi, Kenya
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Linus14075



Registered: November 2007
City/Town/Province: Nairobi
Posts: 7
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The Dandora Municipal Dumpsite, the only dump site in Nairobi is located 8 km away from Nairobi's central Business District.


Adjacent to Korogocho slum, it is the fourth largest slum in Nairobi with a population of about 120,000 inhabitants. The dumpsite has been in place for over thirty years, a direct contravention of international environmental laws which require that dumpsites be closed down after 10 to 15 years of use. The over thirty acres of solid waste are encroaching into the resident houses in Dandara. The area is now home to about one million people.


All garbage from Nairobi's industries, hotels, restaurants, airport, and residential areas is dumped here. The Dandaora dumpsite has a number of co-operatives of youth and women which have come up to sort and recycle some of the waste.


The United Nation Environmental Programme (UNEP) report released in October 2007 found out that industrial wastes such as fall offs, used chemicals, raw materials, expired products and sub - standard goods are off loaded at the dumpsites. The report titled 'Environmental Pollution and Impacts on Public Health, The impact of the Dandora Dumping sites in Nairobi, Kenya' further reveals that fungicides and herbicides and hospital waste are dumped at the site.


Soil samples analyzed from locations adjacent and within the dump sites shows high levels of heavy metals emanating from the sites, in particular Lead, Mercury, Cadmium, Copper and Chromium. In 1998, the Japanese International Co-operation Agency (JICA) observed that the site poses a serious air pollution problem, which affects the health of human beings and scavenger animals. This along with delays in waste collection generates a foul smelling liquid called leachate, which is considered as a high water polluter.


To overcome the situation, I mobilized and organized a clean up of Dandora dumpsite. Various schools, colleges, churches and business communities within Dandora constituency turned up for the clean up of dumpsite and marched to the office of minister of Environment to urge and to air the health problems, which the residents of Dandora are facing. About 200 community based organizations and thirty five community groups worked together during the project and more than a thousand people participated under the banner 'Climate Change Take Action' in conjunction with member of Eco- Club Action of Eastleigh High School and National Environmental Management Agency in Kenya(NEMA) set up campaign in 2008 for the relocation of the dumpsite.
· Date: September 5, 2008 · Views: 10248 · File size: 13.2kb, 69.0kb · : 1008 x 672 ·
Hours Volunteered: 5
Volunteers: 2000
Authors Age & Age Range of Volunteers: 16 to 45
Area Restored for Native Wildlife (hectares): 300
Trash Removed/Recycled from Environment (kg): 10000
Native Trees Planted: 1000
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