GBM Blog

Fantastic news from the Wangari Maathai Institute for Peace and Environmental Studies (WMI)! The Senate of the University of Nairobi has approved the first syllabus for the ‘Environmental Governance and Management’ degree programme, which means that the institute can now formally commence teaching!

The WMI is currently running the ‘Stabilizing Kenya by Solving Forest Related Conflicts’ (STAKE) project, which has recently chosen four PhD students from a competitive selection process. The PhD students will help the STAKE project realise its aim of “stabilising Kenya by solving forest related conflicts” through investigations into the underlying causes of forest related conflicts around the Mau Forest Complex, and the role of the Forest Act 2005 in changing patterns of conflict.

WMI was established by Professor Wangari Maathai in 2010 as a project under the University of Nairobi and GBM. The University of Nairobi gifted WMI a 50-acre site adjacent to its Kabeki campus. Professor Maathai envisaged that the institute would be a place of experiential learning, communication and interaction bringing together university students, researchers, policy makers, the private sector, community leaders and groups. The institute’s aim is to transfer knowledge to cultivate better environmental stewardship and management of resources, and to facilitate regional and international partnerships.

The approval of the syllabus by the University of Nairobi is an important milestone for the Institute. WMI can now commence teaching and looks forward to welcoming the first students onto the course!

The WMI Board together with Professor Wangari Maathai