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Sharing Kenya’s wealth with the custodians of Lake Bogoria

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The Endorois people live beside Kenya’s Lake Bogoria, a few hundred kilometres north of the capital Nairobi.

Lake Bogoria is a sacred place for Endorois people who live beside it.
Lake Bogoria is a sacred place for Endorois people who live beside it. Martin Trauth/CC/Wikimedia
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Their traditional way of life means that for generations they have been custodians of Lake Bogoria, which is a soda lake whose water contains lots of salts and has a rich ecosystem.

This means the lake produces microorganisms that can be used in industry.

In 1992, a researcher from a British University harvested these microorganisms from the Lake and later in 1995 sold them to US and Dutch companies that were later sued by the Kenya Wildlife Service for not sharing financial benefits with Kenya.

The case hasn’t been resolved yet. It is against this background that a project seeking to ensure equitable benefit sharing with local communities started in 2014

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