Benard Ogembo is a freelance investigative journalist and trained media professional based in Kenya. He is a two-time grantee with GRID-Arendal to support his reporting on the Global Plastic Treaty negotiations, and has been reporting on plastic pollution and solutions for years. Environmental justice is at the heart of Benard’s reporting across East Africa on plastic policy and governance, and international treaties, and corporate influence. His stories highlight marginalized frontline and waste picker communities and indigenous peoples, and how they are affected both by the waste as well as by potential solutions such as downscaling plastic production.
Benard started off as a young campaigner for safer waste disposal at one of the most notorious dumpsites in his city of Nakuru in Kenya. He participated in a campaign to regulate plastic bags nationwide, which led to an ambitious, nationwide ban that has been widely discussed in the plastic policy space.
