Disempowerment - whether defined in terms of a lack of self-confidence , apathy, fear, or an inability to take charge of one's own life - is perhaps the most unrecognised problem in Africa today.

There are opportunities even in the most difficult moments.

I am working to make sure we don't only protect the environment, we also improve governance.

It is wonderful when you don't have the fear, and a lot of the time I don't ... I focus on what needs to be done instead.

But when you have bad governance, of course, these resources are destroyed: The forests are deforested, there is illegal logging, there is soil erosion. I got pulled deeper and deeper and saw how these issues become linked to governance, to corruption, to dictatorship.

It's a matter of life and death for this country. The Kenyan forests are facing extinction and it is a man-made problem.

Sometimes we become bound by other people's thoughts because we are not sure about ourselves.