Private Story
Lamu
Domestic restrictions do not apply to projects abroad suggesting China is exporting their surplus of coal-related equipment and technology to countries desperate for industry, undermining a global push to phase out coal. Over the last year, China has invested in coal-power projects in thirteen countries, six of which are in Africa. In terms of the global coal market, these projects once completed would add 672,124 megawatts to the global coal plant fleet – a significant increase of 33% and lock in a cycle of coal dependency for decades to come, according to Urgewald, a German-based environmental rights NGO.
One such project, in Coastal Kenya’s Lamu Archipelago, reveals an emerging coal market and an island community on the precipice of change.
Approaching Lamu Island, 200 miles north of Mombasa, the 14th-century Swahili fishing village of Lamu arises, a shimmering time capsule of coral limestone, flanked by traditional dhows carved from mangrove wood and crowned by the minarets of Lamu’s 23 mosques. Cars have yet to replace the donkeys that weave through Lamu’s narrow streets. Considered the cradle for Swahili Islamic culture, the UNESCO Heritage site retains much of its multicultural origins, a rich tapestry of African, Arabic and Indian traditions. For tourists and locals, the Lamu archipelago preserves its sense of paradise because its unique biodiversity has, for the most part, been left untouched. That, however, is changing.
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