Easing the pressure 01 October 2011 | News story The Dadaab
refugee camp in north-eastern Kenya, the biggest in the world,
is vastly overstretched due to an influx of people fleeing
conflict in the wider Eastern Africa region. The local
environment is equally feeling the strain. Settling huge numbers
of refugees for a prolonged period of time has a profound
negative impact on the environment. Problems include
deforestation, land degradation and pollution of water
resources. There is also intense competition between refugees
and host communities over natural resources. Most refugee camps
in Eastern Africa are situated in dryland ecosystems and, given
the complex social challenges of refugee settings, new
approaches are needed to restore and manage these severely
degraded areas. Since 2007 IUCN has worked with the United
Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR) and with both refugee and host
communities to develop way of reducing environmental impacts and
restoring degraded areas in both open and closed camps. Through
a