Country of Origin:
Kenya
WLS Award:
2003-2004
About:
Graduate Program: MSc Applied Ecology and Conservation, University of East Anglia, UK
Background & Goals: David Kimani Kuria has worked with Kenyan Nobel Prize winner Wangari Maathai. He aimed for a senior conservation career in Birdlife International, exerting influence to protect natural resources and improve the socio-economic conditions of rural populations.
Post-Degree Projects: Following his studies, David Kimani Kuria returned to his community to work on environmental issues. Because of his work, he was chosen to represent his community at an international conference on community participation in eco-agriculture. Additionally, Kuria designed a survey, for which he obtained partial support from the United Nations Enviroment Programme, to measure community institutions and participation in natural resource issues around the Aberdare forest.
Kuria is the Overall Coordinator of Kijabe Environment Volunteers (KENVO), a non profit making community-based organization that strives to conserve natural habitats in the Kikuyu Escarpment and their biological diversity, by working with local communities and partners to implement conversation projects.
In 2009, Kuria participated in the African Climate Change Fellowship Program (ACCFP) which offers experiential learning, education, research and training opportunities to African professionals, researchers and graduate students that will build their capabilities for advancing and applying knowledge for climate change adaptation in Africa. His final project can be read here: “Project Kereita 2009: Understanding local communities’ knowledge and their adaptation mechanisms to climate change.”
