Abstract
Due to climate change, northern Kenya is experiencing intense droughts at shorter intervals with intermittent high precipitation and flooding. This has a major impact on livelihoods of the pastoral community, whose ways of life revolve around the availability of pasture and water for their livestock. Our study set out to determine the Samburu people’s perception of climate change and how they cope with its effects. Such information is important in developing evidence-based policies on adaptation strategies for African dry-lands. Our study undertook a survey of knowledge, attitudes and life histories among the Samburu communities using semi-structured questionnaires and focus group discussions. Respondents indicated that climate change leads to soil erosion, local extinction of some faunal species, water and pasture scarcity, and intensification of conflicts over resources. This has negatively impacted on their livelihoods due to food shortage, human and livestock diseases, social and family instability, and general insecurity.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Action Aid (2005) Module I: framework and approach; action aid adaptation toolkit: integrating adaptation to climate change into secure livelihoods; Action Aid
Dietz KT, Geest VD (2004) A survey on risk and vulnerability in drylands with a focus on the sahel. In: The impacts of climate change in drylands with a focus on West Africa
IPCC (2007) Climate change impacts, adaptation and vulnerability, contribution of working group ii to the forth assessment report of the intergovernmental panel on climate change. Cambridge University Press, UK
Jennings S and McGrath (2009) What happened to the seasons. Oxfam GB Research, UK
Rosenzweig C, Casassa G, Karoly DJ, Imeson A, Liu C, Menzel A, Rawlins S, Root TL, Seguin B, Tryjanowski P (2007) Assessment of observed changes and responses in natural and managed systems. Climate change 2007: impacts, adaptation and vulnerability. Contribution of working group ii to the fourth assessment report of the intergovernmental panel on climate change Cambridge university press, Cambridge, UK, pp 79–131
UNEP (2005) African environment outlook past, present and future perspectives. Impacts of the state of the environment. UNEP, Nairobi
WHO (2003) Climate change and human health–risks and responses; summary. WHO, Geneva
Zhou GN, Minakawa N, Githeko AK, Yan G (2004) Association between climate variability and malaria epidemic in east african highlands. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 101:2375–2380
Acknowledgments
The authors are grateful to the Earth watch Institute for funding the fieldwork. We also acknowledge the contributions of the Samburu community. We are thankful to Mr Nduhiu Gitahi and Alfred Mainga of the department of Public Health Pharmacology and Toxicology, University of Nairobi, for their contributions to this research.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2011 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Boruru, E.O., Ontita, E., Ogara, W.O., Oguge, N.O. (2011). Climate Change and the Emergence of Helter-Skelter Livelihoods Among the Pastoralists of Samburu East District, Kenya. In: Leal Filho, W. (eds) Experiences of Climate Change Adaptation in Africa. Climate Change Management. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-22315-0_6
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-22315-0_6
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg
Print ISBN: 978-3-642-22314-3
Online ISBN: 978-3-642-22315-0
eBook Packages: Business and EconomicsEconomics and Finance (R0)