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

在内罗毕日益扩大的贫民窟中，粮食不安全和环境污染日益令人关切。 鉴于贫民窟居民人数不断增加，需要找到新的办法来解决城市贫困问题。 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新的城市农业形式，称为袋式园艺。 成千上万的居民现在从事麻袋园艺，但由于贫民窟缺乏卫生设施，这些城市农学家可能通过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麻袋园艺作为一种活动，可能有助于提高人们的吃饭或赚取收入的能力和潜在的健康风险，他们暴露之间的权衡。 博士生将集中在以下问题：（1）如何参与袋园艺服务，以改善内罗毕的基贝拉贫民窟的园丁的生计？ (2)参与麻袋园艺在多大程度上使人们面临环境风险？ 通过对主要信息提供者的访谈、对30户家庭成员的深入访谈以及对基贝拉200户家庭的调查，将提供关于袋式园艺如何促进人们生计各个方面的数据。 土壤，植物组织和灌溉水样品从家庭花园将分析重金属污染。 这些数据将与访谈和调查数据相结合，以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，衡量城市袋式园艺在家庭生计战略和粮食安全以及暴露于环境风险方面的内在权衡。 由于城市农业日益被作为改善世界各地城市粮食安全的一个可行选择加以推广，本项目将提供实用信息，说明改善粮食安全的潜在惠益以及与贫民窟居民的城市园艺有关的环境风险。 除了为学术文献作出贡献外，这项研究的信息还将有助于当地社区成员、非政府组织和有兴趣在基贝拉或其他贫民窟地区处理增加粮食安全和健康问题的决策者。 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的研究生涯。

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.