From Eviction to Empowerment: How beekeeping helps Ogiek youth reclaim their agency and land rights in Kenya

by Nyang’ori Ohenjo and Amina Yusuf Maalim, Centre for Minority Rights Development (CEMIRIDE)

Kibet Kipsang is a youth activist and beekeeper. He comes from an indigenous community of forest-dwellers from Kenya known as the Ogiek. Under the pretext of environmental destruction, his community was forcefully evicted from their ancestral lands in Eldama Ravine by the Kenyan authorities. They lost their homes, their lands, and their livelihoods. Despite these losses, however, their indigenous beekeeping knowledge and technologies remained. Today, Kibet and other youth depend on beekeeping to sustain themselves and their families.

While its economic contribution is vital, for Kibet, beekeeping is more than just a livelihood; it is also a vehicle for youth mobilisation and advocacy. In 2023, he was featured in a Voices of Change video developed by the CGIAR Initiative on Climate Resilience (ClimBeR) in collaboration with CEMIRIDE, which leads indigenous peoples’ advocacy in Kenya. The Voices of Change series includes the personal stories of seven indigenous community members narrating how climate change affects their lives and the homegrown solutions they use to combat its impacts.

Read the full story of change here.