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Kang-Chun Cheng

Kang-Chun Cheng

Kang-Chun Cheng “KC” is an environmental photojournalist based in Nairobi, Kenya. She reports on land-use conflicts, the impact of climate change and technology on Indigenous communities, and the environmental and geopolitical dimensions of China-Africa relationships.

Latest from Kang-Chun Cheng

Sudanese Refugees Find New Beginnings in Kenya

Sudanese Refugees Find New Beginnings in Kenya

War has raged in Sudan for more than a year with no end in sight. While millions are internally displaced and millions more have crossed the country’s borders in search of security, some have found safety in Kenya, where they are establishing new lives despite fears for their homeland.

Kang-Chun Cheng
Kenya’s Traditional Healers Work To Preserve the Rainforest

Kenya’s Traditional Healers Work To Preserve the Rainforest

Forest-dwelling communities in Kenya are facing environmental degradation as economic hardships force people to cut down trees to eke out subsistence livelihoods. But some in the underserved Luhya communities of Kakamega County are now turning to traditional medicine for remedies, regenerating their preservation of the forest.

Kang-Chun Cheng
Heartland America Struggles for Hope Amid the Opioid Epidemic

Heartland America Struggles for Hope Amid the Opioid Epidemic

Along with many other small towns across America, Sedalia, Missouri, has been battling substance abuse on a vast scale, with opioid overdoses a leading cause of death. Yet as the country gears up for the 2024 presidential election, the crisis seems to have fallen by the wayside.

Kang-Chun Cheng
Northern Kenya’s Unending Battle With Banditry and Cattle Rustling

Northern Kenya’s Unending Battle With Banditry and Cattle Rustling

Lomelo in Turkana County in northwestern Kenya has been bearing the brunt of cattle rustling and armed banditry attacks between the Turkana community and neighboring Pokot for decades. Over time, cattle raiding has devolved into attacks on civilians and has turned the locality into a battlefield. There is no solution in sight to halt the insecurity.

Kang-Chun Cheng
The Sardines at the Heart of the Sahrawi Conflict

The Sardines at the Heart of the Sahrawi Conflict

The EU has prevaricated over its stance on Western Sahara since initiating fisheries and trade cooperation with Morocco in 1988. Despite presiding over questions of EU-Morocco trade legality in its Court of Justice, the EU has not necessarily been abiding by its rulings.

Kang-Chun Cheng
A New Wave of Rock Climbing Is Developing in India

A New Wave of Rock Climbing Is Developing in India

A cradle of temple architecture in southern India, Badami, frequented by religious sojourners for centuries, has been a foreign climbers’ haunt since the 1990s. However, a second wave of rock climbing activity is now developing — this time led by local climbers.

Kang-Chun Cheng
Norway’s Iconic Reindeer Face Challenges Beyond Climate Change

Norway’s Iconic Reindeer Face Challenges Beyond Climate Change

Climate change poses the greatest risk to reindeer, but in the short run it’s the effects of forestry, mining, wind power and other land users that reduce the quality and access to pastures. Tightening governmental regulations can further restrict such life-giving movement, affecting the reindeer and their Sami herders.

Kang-Chun Cheng
Sri Lanka’s Fishers Face a Tangled Future

Sri Lanka’s Fishers Face a Tangled Future

The perilous combination of climate change, pollution and overfishing means that the catches themselves have been dwindling as well. There are fewer commercially viable species like snappers, tuna and prawns in the more shallow waters adjacent to the coast — places that have sustained thriving communities for centuries.

Kang-Chun Cheng
East Africa’s Worst Drought in 40 Years Is Threatening Countries’ Future

East Africa’s Worst Drought in 40 Years Is Threatening Countries’ Future

An estimated 1.4 million livestock have died because of drought in Kenya in the final months of 2021, which has taken a toll on herder communities. But these climate change challenges have perhaps come with a silver lining: Class sizes have increased, especially among girls.

Kang-Chun Cheng,
Lylla Younes