Participatory Forest Management is a framework that has widely been adopted in management of forests because it includes community and other stakeholders in forest management. The Forest Act (2005) provided way in which PFM would be implemented in Kenya to provide a solution to the problems facing the forestry sector. It provided an opportunity for the community to participate in the management of the forest through co-management of the forest with KFS using Community Forest Associations who together with other stakeholders come up with a Participatory Forest Management Plans for forests that inter alia establishes the CFA’s roles, responsibilities and their user rights in the forest reserve. In the initial stages of implementation of Participatory Forest Management in Kenya it was noted that CFA’s face various challenges in their attempts to improve the socio economic status of the forest-adjacent communities which if not addressed, may defeat the purpose of PFM and revert the state of forests to a situation where there is open access to forests and deforestation. This project was aimed at assessing how PFM has been implemented in Kinangop, Nyandarua County, the steps they have taken to improve the socio-economic status of the community and the challenges they are facing in improving livelihoods. The findings from questionnaires, interviews, observation and literature review show that a CFA was established with a specific purpose and objectives. However most of the objectives are yet to be met due to various challenges such as lack of funds. The report is finally concluded with several recommendations that can be adopted by the CFA and other stakeholders to address the challenges they face in socio-economic empowerment of communities.

The Mau Forests Complex (MFC) is considered the most important of the five main watershed areas in Kenya because of its economic, social and environmental contribution to the country. The forest is under increasing threat from irregular and ill‐planned settlements, encroachments and illegal forest resource exploitation. In recent years, the Government of Kenya (GoK) has taken significant steps towards addressing the threat of rapid ecological degradation of its forest resources. A new forest policy and law were adopted in 2005. The forest law has placed significant emphasis on co‐management of forest resources with local communities and the private sector and lays the foundation for the strict control of logging and human settlements. Another major step in addressing this issue was to commence restoration activities of the forests with focus set on Mau Forest. The Mau Narok forest is a part of the Mau Forest Complex where such restoration activities have taken place. The past restoration efforts at the Mau Narok Forest have not been successful evidenced by the massive dying of newly planted trees leading to duplication of reforestation efforts. There is no research study that documents the challenges and the opportunities of restoring the Mau Narok Forest. The purpose of the study was to investigate the challenges and opportunities of restoring the forest as the way to improve seedling survival rate. This study was based in Mau Narok Division, and attempted to assess the factors that retard the restoration efforts and also came up with the opportunities that had not been seized. The study was able to unmask most of the challenges and opportunities. Among the challenges, included insufficient funds to undertake the restoration activities fully that specifically involve planting, tendering and protection exercises. In the opportunities, the local community has a great potential to participate fully in the conserving and restoring the Mau Narok Forest.

Biogas technology in Kenya dates back to the 1957.Efforts to promote the technology in most potential areas had not been effective in the country until May 2007 when the plan for implementation of national biogas energy programme started with the formation of the Kenya Biogas Task Force. Despite the potential and demand the adoption level has been low and on a decreasing rate. The study sought to assess the level of people‘s awareness and attitude towards biogas technology, to explore the root causes of low technology adoption in relation to the efforts so far executed in biogas promotion, to assess the efficacy of biogas technology in comparison to other sources of household energy and sought to explain the roles and challenges stakeholders face in their effort to promote biogas technology in Kisii county. Multi-Stage sampling procedure involving purposive selection of resource persons who have been reached by biogas programmes with the purpose of capturing the experiences of biogas users and potential adopters. The study was conducted in the peri-urban of five town centers in Kisii County namely:Kisii,Sunek,Mosocho,Marani and Kiogoro.The study adopted both qualitative and quantitative approaches in data collection and analysis. A conceptual framework based on the adoption theories guided the analysis of factors influencing biogas adoption. Study findings show that 85.71% of the population was aware of the technology and only 114 units of t in 2007 and 167 units as by 2013 December. Biogas technology adoption has continued to decrease. The decrease has been associated with reduction and subsequent withdrawal of subsidies for biogas plant constructions. Based on the results of factors influencing biogas technology adoption in the area, starting from the most influential to the least are: high installation costs of plants, multiple use of household fuels, level of income and education ,promotion of the technology, and from the experience of biogas users, biogas was very efficient when well maintained and very clean, no health implications were reported though they complained of inadequate combustion efficiency to provide more energy for cooking and inadequate or rather lack of facilities and appliances such as stoves and lamps. There was minimal coordination between stakeholders and lack of a central coordinating body. The study further identified that the government institutions have not fully engaged in promoting biogas technology in the area and instead the responsibility has been left to NGOs without effectual intervention on other factors including information dissemination, access to credits motivation and coordination. Based on the study, the researcher recommends that first the ministry of energy should harmonize the policy on energy and environment so as to uphold biogas technology as an alternative clean green energy, secondly there is need for a central biogas coordinating body at the national and regional level to coordinate and monitor stakeholder roles as well as financial management and also introduce technologies that are cheap such as the plastic tubular design through enhanced research.

Kenya is a growing economy and it is in the list of third world countries what is commonly referred to as developing countries. As a result of this its poor-rich gap keeps on growing as a result of the high stone quarrying and its impacts on the environment by able investors and as research indicates 4 out of every 5 Kenyans live in rural areas and this may clearly imply that most of the rural folk live in high poverty levels. To sought out this problem of high poverty levels research has clearly shown that making improvements in the quarrying of minerals such as stones has contribute significantly to achieving global development priorities, particularly the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) of halving poverty and hunger reduced by 2015. A significant body of research shows that development of a viable stone quarrying sector is vital for both economic growth and poverty reduction (World Bank, 2004; DFID, 2004a). Rural stone quarrying is thus one of the key items in the achievement of development in most counties in Kenya in this case Nyambera in Kisii County because of the fact that rural areas carry a large percentage of the Kenyan population. Most people engage stone quarrying because of low finance involved in the activity. Initially financial service providers assumed that it was not viable to invest in stone quarrying areas this is because of constraints such as the weakness of rural finance markets as well as their dependence on agriculture to earn a living this is according to various scholars such as (Zeller and Sharma, 1998; Buchenau, 2003) who believe that positive effect of rural finance on growth, poverty and livelihoods is limited by the weakness of rural financial markets. Stone quarrying has also been hindered by physical access that is the distance between the consumers and the service providers among other constraints. However, with time the constraints have been overcome with the pursuit of the millennium development goals. Many developing countries Kenya inclusive have aligned themselves towards alleviating over-exploitation of minerals like stone quarrying. Through the help of the Kenyan government there was a creation of the agent quarrying legislation that has changed the picture of rural stone quarrying dramatically. It has enabled community in nyambera to create a wide network of agents who carry out various services such as stone agents, brokers and so many other services addressing the problem of physical access on stone quarrying. The commercial stone quarrying industry also has not been left behind in making this goal a reality. It will use all the necessary data collection techniques such as questionnaires, interview and observations as well as the descriptive research design to make this research a success. The tools used for the study will be tested including the questionnaires and the interview schedule for purposes of ascertaining whether it is fit for the fieldwork. The research will be carried out in Nyambera in Kisii County to ascertain the effect of stone quarrying in the environment.

Artisanal mining has been for many years disregarded, where large scale mining that involves large scale extraction of minerals such us valuable metals, oil and gas has been documented and given much concentration. Small scale mining however has had a significant role to play in the developing countries, where it takes opportunity of the abundant available labor while only requiring limited amounts of less than abundant capital. Nevertheless, this sector of the economy surrounded by much enthusiasm has a lot of problems, which has plagued it; poor health and safety, wasted mineral resources, and environmental degradation (Noronha, 1998). This sector is not affected by other pollutant problems like those experienced by the mining industry involved in metals and minerals, because the process of extraction is merely physical, and more recently involves the use of some machinery to ease the process. However, this does not mean that stone quarrying does not have its fair share of numerous environmental effects, which are actually serious. Ndarugu is among the areas in the country where such quarries exist, and they pose a blatant disregard for the environment. The research project aims at looking at these environmental effects, coming up with mitigation measures and recommendations to tackle these issues. The major effects were examined first by looking at relevant literature, and finally collecting data on the ground and providing a comprehensive analysis. Data was analyzed and represented statistically through use of graphs and photographs collected in the field. The findings show that the quarrying activities are a great source of negative environment impacts. The issue is greatly accelerated by the fact that the quarries are abandoned after use and no elaborate rehabilitation plan is available, and furthermore the sector is highly unregulated with no proper legislations and policies.

The recent irregular trends in weather patterns have brought about challenges and opportunities in key sectors of the economy especially in developing countries. Agriculture and tourism are just but examples of these sectors that have been widely impacted by climate variability. Countries as Kenya where agriculture and tourism are the leading earners of the economy has seen a downhill scale in the recent years and climate variability is one of the factors that can held responsible. This challenge is not only posing a threat to the economy of a nation but on food security as well. The study was carried out in a small village in Cherangani Constituency-Trans-NzoiaEast Sub County called Chisare. It aimed at assessing the impacts of climate variability to small scale arable farmers in Trans-Nzoia; evaluating the adaptation strategies to climate variability by small scale arable farmers in Trans-Nzoia; assessing the existing farming methods among small scale arable farmers in Trans-Nzoiaand developing a climate variability adaptation action plan. Both secondary and primary sources of data were used in collecting data. A sample of 25 small scale arable farmers and 4 institutional interviews were used in data collection. Additional primary data was collected through observation and photography. Data analysis was conducted both qualitatively and quantitatively to derive various attributes according to the research objectives. Result from the data analysis show that although efforts are being made by small scale arable farmers who largely depend on weather patterns for growth of their crops, the agriculture sector is generally facing challenges from the recent drastic change in weather patterns threatening food security in the country because Trans-Nzoia if one of the food basket counties in Kenya and therefore it needs urgent actions to avert the situation. The study proposes a climate variability adaptation action plan which can be used to promote the capacities of farmers to adapt to this current situations.

The COVID-19 pandemic has created the largest disruption of education systems in human history, affecting nearly 1.6 billion learners in more than 200 countries. Closures of schools, institutions and other learning spaces have impacted more than 94% of the world’s student population. This has brought far-reaching changes in all aspects of our lives. Social distancing and restrictive movement policies have significantly disturbed traditional educational practices. Reopening of schools after relaxation of restriction is another challenge with many new standard operating procedures put in place. Within a short span of the COVID-19 pandemic, I have researched that the works on teaching and learning in different ways. Several schools, colleges and universities have discontinued face-to-face teachings. There is a fear of losing 2020 academic year or even more in the coming future. The need of the hour is to innovate and implement alternative educational system and assessment strategies. The COVID-19 pandemic has provided us with an opportunity to pave the way for introducing digital learning. This essay aims to provide a comprehensive discussion on the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on online teaching and learning of various papers and indicate the way forward. These are some the findings that I gathered from the field the study show that the circumstances created by COVID-19 have caused a great deal of concern among students, parents and teachers about assessment, distance learning inadequacy, and student overload., Opportunities to advance the quality of education, the support of teachers, parents, and families, coupled with practical suggestions for parties involved in the field of education are also included.