Kenya
Page updated: February 19, 2011
Adaptation to protect natural systems and rural livelihoods
The rangelands of northern Kenya are a vast, semi-arid landscape that supports vibrant predator-prey cycles and the full suite of African plains animals, including lions, leopards, cheetahs, elephants, cape buffalos, endangered black and white rhinoceroses, Grevy's zebras, wild dogs and hartebeests.
The rangelands are also home to approximately 60,000 people of various ethnic origins, living in pastoralists communities that traditionally have depended almost exclusively on livestock for their livelihoods.
However, a combination of inefficient market systems, unpredictable weather patterns and cultural traditions often leads to poor rangeland management and excessively large herds. This causes environmental degradation from overgrazing and reduces wildlife numbers. It also subjects the pastoralists to significant economic risk, particularly in times of drought. With population growth - and the increasing impacts of climate change - there is a delicate balance between the grazing levels required for the domestic livestock herds and wildlife populations.
Climate change impacts such as prolonged droughts followed by flash floods are already felt throughout northern Kenya. Inconsistent rainfall leads to environmental degradation and reduced pasture. This in turn results in massive die-offs of both cattle and wildlife - and nationwide humanitarian disasters. Addressing these issues at a local level is critical to any form of sustainable development in the region.
Working with long-established partners, including 15 local communal conservancies, The Nature Conservancy is helping to secure private and international funding for an adaptation program that provides economic incentives to local communities to better manage their herds and their lands. The Conservancy is also applying its expertise to help the conservancies use climate change projections to plan and design climate-sensitive grazing management programs. Two strategies in particular will be piloted as ecosystem-based adaptation solutions:
- Improving grazing management approaches by coordinating efforts across multiple conservancies and creating "grass banks" - areas set aside for dry season wildlife and livestock grazing.
- Establishing an improved livestock-to-markets program that provide more sustainable and equitable income for communities. To participate communities must use better grazing management practices and also take steps to improve local governance, financial management and socio-economic conditions.
Having reliable markets and competitive prices for their livestock will enable pastoralists to avoid drought-induced boom-and-bust cycles and associated high economic loss. They will also be able to invest in other assets - such as conservation tourism and community stores - rather than following the traditional path of always reinvesting in livestock. This will improve the overall financial health of local communities, help them become less reliant on a single income source and give them resources to increase their resilience to drought and other climate change impacts
This is one of the first ecosystem-based adaptation projects to focus on grasslands. Pastoralist communities in similar situations are found in other parts of Kenya and Tanzania, as well as Namibia. Demonstration of success in this project will encourage the expansion of ecosystem-based adaptation efforts in those areas as well.
More information
For Many Species, No Escape as Temperature Rises. (2011, January 21) New York Times
