Extractive Industries for Sustainable Development in Kenya

Background

The April 2013 announcement of oil discovery and other minerals has propelled Kenya as a new player in the global market for hydrocarbon and valued minerals. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) projects that oil production in Kenya is expected to start in six to seven years from now, giving the country time to prepare to manage its endowment to the achieve its development goals as stipulated in the 2030 Vision. In addition to oil, Kenya is also rich in gas, rare earth metals, coal, iron ore, gold, limestone, gypsum, soda ash, gemstones, manganese ore, fluorspar, diatomite, titanium, zircon, chromite, niobium and silica sand. Most recently, Cortec Mining Kenya Limited has announced that Mrima Hills in Kwale County has one of the largest rare earth mineral deposits in the world with a potential in-ground value of up to USD 62.4bn.

As Kenya undergoes political, economic and social transition underpinned by a progressive Constitution, it has great opportunity to learn from mistakes of others, harnessing the benefits and avoiding the resource curse and negative impacts of extractive industries. The Government of Kenya recognises this priority and has included responsible governance of the extractive sector as a key priority in Kenya’s Vision 2030 and the Mid Term Plan II (MTP2), to which UNDP Kenya is closely aligned. Kenya’s improving political and democratic trajectory offers it a better opportunity than many primary resource-endowed countries to manage its newly discovered resources. However, it will require concerted actions at all levels of society as well as the support of the international community.

Project objectives

UNDP is working with the Government of Kenya to build national capacity to monitor and enforce environmental standards, conduct or commission environmental and social impact assessments of extractive industries at the national and county level. This project seeks to supports the development of the mining and petroleum sectors through capacity development, policy dialogue and knowledge sharing. It proposes to reduce environmental impacts from artisanal gold mining using mercury as an amalgamator; introducing alternative gold recovery and processing technologies and practices that dramatically reduce or even eliminate mercury use. UNDP will expand and build on the past history of collaboration with the two key Government agencies responsible for setting and enforcing environmental laws and regulations; namely, the Ministry of Environment, Water and Natural Resources, and the National Environment Management Authority (NEMA). 

The ultimate goal of this project is that extractive sectors of Kenya are governed in more participatory, equitable and sustainable ways to ensure that they contribute to peace and sustainable human development. This will be achieved through the following outputs:

  1. Participatory decision-making fora established to institutionalize representation of communities in decisions on extractive industries and to safeguard their rights and mitigate against growing tensions between communities and investors.
  2. Public institutions, the private sector and civil society have systems to ensure transparent, accountable and inclusive management of revenues from extractive industries.
  3. Legal, policy frameworks and institutional capacity is in place to effectively support sustainable management of the extractive sector.

Impact

START DATE

January 2014

END DATE

December 2019

STATUS

Completed

PROJECT OFFICE

Kenya

IMPLEMENTING PARTNER

Min. of Petroleum and Mining

DONORS

DEPARTMENT FOR INT'L DEVELOPMENT (DFID)

UNITED NATIONS DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMME

TOTAL CONTRIBUTIONS

$2,192,572

DELIVERY IN PREVIOUS YEARS

2014$548,434

2015$337,431

2016$377,087

2017$460,711

2018$140,698

2019$6,179

2020$1,156

Full Project information