RACE AGAINST EXTINCTION: THE PLIGHT OF INDIGENOUS WOMEN AND HRDS IN KENYA’S EMBOBUT FOREST

The Sengwer are a minority and marginalized hunter-gatherer indigenous community that occupies West Pokot, Trans-Nzoia, and Elgeyo Marakwet Counties. They consist of 21 clans each headed by an elder. According to the 2009 Kenya Population and Housing Census, there were 33,187 Sengwer living both inside and outside the Embobut forest which covers about 12,000 hectares and is part of the Cherangany Hills Forest (one of Kenya’s five major water-catchment areas). Over the years, the Kenyan government has attempted to forcefully evict the Sengwer from Embobut under the guise of forest conservation. These forceful evictions contribute to serious human rights violations in addition to the infringement of the Sengwer’s sustainable utilization of forest resources. The evictions further deprive them of their livelihood, identity, cultural survival, and forest life.