Susan Chomba, a member of the African Academy of Sciences (AAS) and an environmental campaigner who regularly wins awards around the world, is the woman Afrik21 wants you to meet on International Women's Rights Day.
She is one of those women with more than one string to her bow, whose voice is heard far beyond her own country. Susan Chomba from Kenya is Director of Vital Landscapes for Africa at the World Resources Institute (WRI). Her day-to-day work involves “reversing biodiversity loss and strengthening the resilience of agricultural and food systems through the use of clean energy for agricultural productivity and conservation”, according to the WRI.
The environmental organisation, whose headquarters are in Washington DC in the United States of America, entrusted her with this mission four years ago because of her activism to protect nature and reduce poverty, which mainly affects women, who account for 48% of agricultural jobs in developing countries, according to the United Nations, which even speaks of a feminisation of poverty.
Susan Chomba experienced all this growing up in Kirinyaga county, where deforestation caused by agriculture, on which most of the population depends, and exacerbated by global warming, has led to the loss of 1,100 hectares of land in recent years (World Rain Forests figures). It is this situation that motivates her to promote agro-ecology and land restoration, which she sees as inextricably linked.
A career in the service of sustainability
“We need to be able to feed people with sufficient, safe and nutritious food without damaging biodiversity and the climate. Up to 37% of the food produced in sub-Saharan Africa is lost, with consequences such as expansion into fragile ecosystems, accelerated deforestation and species extinction”, Susan Chobam denounced in a scientific article published in 2022.
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But if the 30-year-old made her way to the WRI just after leading a reforestation programme in eight countries (Rwanda, Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia, Niger, Ghana, Mali and Senegal), it was also thanks to her impressive academic record. Susan Chomba is currently one of the few African women to hold a doctorate in Forestry Governance from the University of Copenhagen (Denmark). This makes her a role model for many young people, particularly in East Africa, which she has honoured by appearing in the 2023 ranking of the world’s 100 inspiring women.
Benoit-Ivan Wansi
