🌿 Why Veganism Matters
A Choice for Life, Land, and the Future of East Africa
At the East African Vegan Society, we believe veganism is not just a diet — it is a path of justice, compassion, and regeneration.
We stand firmly with the Umoja Greenlands Plant-Based Orientation, which recognizes the suffering, destruction, and inequality caused by animal agriculture — and dares to imagine a better way.
🔹 1. For Compassion: Ending Exploitation of All Beings
Animals are not tools. They are sentient lives — capable of feeling fear, pain, love, and joy.
In factory farms, animals are caged, mutilated, and slaughtered by the billions.
Even on small farms, animals live and die to serve human wants — not needs.
In many East African traditions, animals are loved — but loving them should not mean using them.
🌱 Veganism is the refusal to turn love into domination.
It is choosing to protect life, not profit from it.
🔹 2. For Land and Water: Regenerating Our Earth
Animal agriculture is the largest single driver of habitat destruction, land degradation, and water depletion worldwide.
Over 70% of all agricultural land is used to raise animals or grow food for animals (FAO).
Livestock farming occupies 77% of global farmland, yet produces only 18% of the world’s calories (Our World in Data).
In East Africa, land is scarce — yet more and more forests and savannahs are cleared for grazing or fodder crops.
🐄 One cow can drink 50–100 liters of water per day.
That same water could grow hundreds of kilos of food directly for people.
🔹 3. For Climate: Fighting the Leading Driver of Collapse
Animal agriculture is a major driver of climate breakdown:
It produces 14.5–18% of all global greenhouse gas emissions — more than all the world’s cars, planes, and ships combined (FAO, UNEP).
Methane from cows and manure is 80x more powerful than CO₂ over 20 years.
Deforestation for animal feed and pasture accelerates global heating.
🌍 If we do not transition away from industrial animal farming, we cannot stop climate change.
Veganism is climate action rooted in daily choices.
🔹 4. For Food Security: Feeding People, Not Livestock
It takes 10–15 kg of grain to produce just 1 kg of beef.
Most soy and maize grown in Africa are used for animals — not humans.
A plant-based food system can feed many more people using far less land.
In a continent where hunger is still common, feeding plants to animals instead of people is unjust.
🌾 Veganism is the fastest way to ensure food for all.
🔹 5. For Health: Preventing Disease and Suffering
Animal products are linked to:
Heart disease, hypertension, and diabetes
Zoonotic diseases like swine flu, bird flu, and COVID-19
Antibiotic resistance (80% of all antibiotics are used on animals)
A whole-foods plant-based diet can help prevent and reverse many chronic illnesses — without harming anyone.
🔹 6. For Culture and Integrity: Returning to Compassionate Roots
Veganism is not foreign to Africa. Many traditional dishes — beans, cassava, chapati, groundnuts, millet, kale — are naturally vegan.
What is foreign is:
Factory farming
Colonially imposed livestock models
Meat as a marker of status
Returning to a plant-based way of life is not rejection — it’s a return to our roots of simplicity, sharing, and care.
🔹 7. For a Better Future: Regeneration Begins Now
Imagine communities feeding themselves without harming animals.
Imagine forests returning, water tables rising, and families thriving on local crops.
Imagine children growing up knowing animals are not food — but friends.
This is the future we are planting together.