Research & reports

Peer-reviewed research and reports on community urban agriculture, food education, composting, welfare and more.

2 results

• Analysis of Pressure Drivers within an Urban River Riparian Reserve: A Case of Nairobi River in Kenya

  2025

  Mahacla Odongo, Caleb Mireri, Peter Mwangi · Environmental Technology and Science Journal · Kenya (Nairobi)

  The Nairobi River riparian reserve in Kenya has undergone immense land use and land cover changes over the past 20 years due to urban development. A survey of 650 respondents revealed that urban agricultural activities dominated the upper segment at 69%, commercial ventures constituted 79% of the middle segment, and residential usage comprised 89% in the lower segment. These activities caused significant degradation from crop cultivation of river slopes, pollution infiltration, and loss of biodiversity, indicating a severe depletion of the riparian space's functions.

  Environmental trade-offsBiodiversityPolicy
  Read source →DOI: 10.4314/etsj.v16i1.8

• Determinants of sustainability in urban and peri-urban agriculture

  2009

  Andreas Buerkert, Eva Schlecht, Martina Předotová, Rodrigue V.C. Diogo, Katja Kehlenbeck, Jens Gebauer · eScholarship (California Digital Library) · Sub-Saharan Africa

  This study analyzed urban and peri-urban agriculture (UPA) systems in major Sub-Saharan African cities, measuring carbon, nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium fluxes and conducting biodiversity studies. In Niamey, low-input gardens showed annual gaseous carbon emissions of 20-25 t ha-1, predominantly CO2, and high-input gardens irrigated with wastewater had annual CO2-C emissions of 27 t ha-1, with N2O as a major nitrogen loss contributor. Animal manure stored in the open was subject to large carbon and nitrogen losses, indicating environmental tradeoffs. However, UPA gardens in Niamey maintained a large variety of fruit and vegetable species, with richness increasing with garden and household size and commercialization.

  Environmental trade-offsOrganic cycleBiodiversityClimate changePeri-urban agricultureEconomics
  Read source →