Edward Karoph Wabwoto
Justice Edward Karoph Wabwoto is a Kenyan judge of the Environment and Land Court, presiding over the Nakuru station after earlier terms in Machakos and Nairobi. Appointed in June 2021, he brought more than fifteen years of environmental-law practice, including eight as senior legal officer at the National Environment Management Authority. He holds an LL.B. from Moi University, a postgraduate diploma from the Kenya School of Law, and a certificate in legislative drafting from the Institute of Advanced Legal Studies.
On the bench he has issued precedent-setting rulings that compel counties to restore riparian land, require climate-risk disclosure in environmental-impact assessments, and award communities damages for illegal quarrying. In 2024 he became rapporteur of the Judiciary’s Green Bench Book committee, tasked with aligning jurisprudence with the Paris Agreement.
Wabwoto remains active in policy. He co-drafted Kenya’s Climate Change Act 2016 and now advises the Environment ministry on carbon-market rules. He has led Kenya’s legal team at UNFCCC sessions since 2019, most recently co-chairing loss-and-damage talks at COP 29 in Baku, Azerbaijan.
Named to Business Daily’s Top 40 Under 40 Men in 2022, he mentors young lawyers through the Public Interest Environmental Law Clinic and lectures part-time at Strathmore Law School in Nairobi.