Doctoral Dissertation Research: Livelihoods and Environmental Risk: Urban Agriculture in Kibera Slum of Nairobi

在肯尼亚首都内罗毕，超过一半的人口居住在不断增加的贫民窟里，粮食不安全和环境污染日益成为人们关注的问题。鉴于贫民窟居民人数不断增加，需要找到解决城市贫困问题的新途径。一种方法是通过城市农业，使人们能够为当地生计做出积极贡献。2008年初，在选举后的暴力事件之后，一个非政府组织向基贝拉贫民窟的居民介绍了一种名为麻袋园艺的新型城市农业。数以万计的居民现在从事麻袋园艺，但由于贫民窟缺乏卫生设施，这些城市农业工作者可能会通过受污染的土壤和水接触到环境毒素。这个博士论文研究项目将研究袋装园艺作为一项可能有助于提高人们吃饭或赚取收入的活动与他们所面临的潜在健康风险之间的权衡。博士生将关注以下问题：(1)参与麻袋园艺如何改善内罗毕基贝拉贫民窟园丁的生计？(2)参与袋装园艺会在多大程度上给人们带来环境风险？关键信息提供者访谈、对30个家庭成员的深度访谈以及对基贝拉200个家庭的调查将提供关于麻袋园艺如何促进人们生计各方面的数据。将分析来自家庭花园的土壤、植物组织和灌溉水样本是否受重金属污染。这些数据将与访谈和调查数据相结合，回答与人们暴露于环境风险的程度有关的问题。项目结果将提供定量和定性措施，衡量城市麻袋园艺固有的权衡，一方面涉及家庭生计战略和粮食安全，另一方面涉及环境风险。由于城市农业日益被视为改善世界各地城市粮食安全的可行选择，本项目将提供有关改善粮食安全的潜在利益和与贫民窟居民城市园艺有关的环境风险的实用信息。除了为学术文献作出贡献外，这项研究的资料对当地社区成员、非政府组织和有兴趣致力于在基贝拉或其他贫民窟地区增加粮食安全和健康问题的决策者也很有用。作为博士论文研究改进奖，该奖项还将提供支持，使有前途的学生建立一个强大的独立研究生涯。

In the growing slums of Nairobi, home to more than one-half the population of Kenya's capital city, food insecurity and environmental contamination are an increasing concern. Given the growing number of slum residents, new ways need to be identified to address urban poverty. One approach is through urban agriculture, which allows people to positively contribute towards their local livelihoods. In early 2008, following post-election violence, a non-governmental organization introduced a new form of urban agriculture called sack gardening to residents in the Kibera slums. Tens of thousands of resident now engage in sack gardening, but these urban agriculturalists are potentially exposed to environmental toxins via contaminated soil and water due to the lack of sanitation in the slums. This doctoral dissertation research project will examine the tradeoff between sack gardening as an activity that may help to improve people's ability to eat or earn an income and the potential health risks to which they are exposed. The doctoral student will focus on the following questions: (1) How does participation in sack gardening serve to improve the livelihoods of gardeners in the Kibera slums of Nairobi? (2) To what extent does participation in sack gardening expose people to environmental risks? Key informant interviews, in-depth interviews with members of thirty households, and surveys of 200 households in Kibera will provide data regarding the ways in which sack gardening contributes to various aspects of the livelihoods of people. Soil, plant tissue, and irrigation water samples from household gardens will be analyzed for heavy metal contamination. These data will be combined with interview and survey data to answer questions related to the extent that people are exposed to environmental risks.Project results will provide quantitative and qualitative measures of the tradeoffs inherent in urban sack gardening regarding household livelihood strategies and food security on the one hand and exposure to environmental risks on the other. Because urban agriculture increasingly is promoted as a viable option to improve urban food security around the world, this project will provide practical information on the potential benefits to improved food security and environmental risks related to urban gardening for slum dwellers. In addition to contributing to the academic literature, information from this research will be useful for local community members, non-governmental organizations, and policy makers interested in working on issues of increasing food security and health in Kibera or other slum areas. As a Doctoral Dissertation Research Improvement award, this award also will provide support to enable a promising student to establish a strong independent research career.