Vulnerability to climate change and conflict, its impact on livelihoods and the enjoyment of human rights : case study: pastoral communities in Northern Kenya (Turkana, Pokot and Samburu Districts)

The relationship between climate change and conflict is a complex one. Violent conflicts\ninvolving pastoralists have become widespread and increasingly severe in the North Rift and\nNorth Eastern regions of Kenya. This study examines the factors contributing to such\nconflicts, and discusses issues and priorities for conflict prevention and peace building. The\npastoralists in the three districts under study are largely nomadic. They live primarily in arid\nor semi-arid areas and depend on livestock (cattle, sheep, goats and camels) for their\nlivelihood. They rely on access to pasture and water, for the survival of their livestock. Such\nresources are scarce and under increasing pressure. Conflicts involving pastoralists associated\nwith resource competition, cattle rustling and wide availability of small arms are widespread\nand of increasing concern. This Study thus provides a useful case to examine in depth factors\ncontributing to conflict, issues and priorities for conflict prevention. This study also looks at\nhow the livelihoods of pastoralists in Samburu, Pokot and Turkana is vulnerable to climate\nchange and conflict and ways in which these systems adapt to these conditions. The last part\nof this work looks briefly at how climate change and conflicts affect human security.\nConflicts interfere with human rights like the right to life, the rights to adequate housing, the\nright to health and the right to food. It discusses briefly how these rights are directly affected\nwhen a society is hit by climatic changes like droughts or floods. The study uses interviews,\nsemi-structured and focus group interviews to gather data from local communities,\ngovernment officials and experts. It also uses secondary data from published and unpublished\nsources and systematically analyzes this material using qualitative analysis. The result shows\nthat climate change is evident in the three districts in Northern Kenya. There’s evidence of\ndecreasing precipitation and increasing temperatures. Drought and unpredictable rainfall have\nimpacted greatly on the people’s livelihoods and this has resulted to migration,\noverpopulation and resource conflicts. The vulnerability of pastoralism to climate change and\nconflict is further worsened by the fact that this way of life is greatly marginalized. They\nreceive no support from the government and this just worsens the situation. Some of the\ncoping strategies that have been applied are mobility, trading, crop farming is slowly being\nintroduced, and drought resistant livestock like camels and goats are slowly being kept. This\npaper suggests ways to reduce vulnerability thus ensuring that people’s rights are not violated.