With drought striking Kenya every two years, survival becomes an ever more violent occupation, writes JODY CLARKEin Moyale
QAMPA RE Liban (61), kicks the red soil, hurling up a cloud of dust with the rubber plimsoll on his right foot.
“No rain,” he says, leaning on an Ulle (stick) and grinding some meera leaves through his teeth.
“I’ve lost 47 cows over the past 10 years. Now I only have three left. There just isn’t enough pasture. There is no rain left in Moyale.” In the past decade, five droughts have plagued northern Kenya. Cattle have died, intercommunal violence over scarce resources has increased, and tribes have begun sending scouts over the border into Ethiopia to find alternative grazing areas.
Experts say it is hard to tell whether this series of dry spells is part of a trend. “But it is clear there has been an above-average frequency of them,” says Andrew Mude, an economist with the International Livestock Research Institute in Nairobi. Normally, the short rainy season goes from October to December. But this year, just two days of rain have fallen on Moyale.
“We got very used to getting droughts every eight to 10 years,” says Anne O’Mahony, country director with Concern. “Then they went down to five, but now it is almost every second year. It’s giving people no chance to recover.” For example, cattle herds have shrunk dramatically in size, making it more difficult for pastoralists to restock even when the rains do fall. In Bori village, 60km west of Moyale, the village elders count off how many cattle have died and how many are left.
Diida Galgalo (58), has lost 28 cows, and now has only three left. Gufu Qampicha (65), has also lost 28. Now he has five.
“When we had enough cows, there was milk in my house for me, my children and visitors,” says Galagalo. “ If we have no cows or goats, we will die and we don’t have the capital to start our own businesses. Even if we did, we wouldn’t know how to do it.” The world’s environment ministers gathered this week in Cancun, Mexico, to discuss ways of helping poorer countries such as Kenya adapt to climate change. Some $30 billion in adaptation and mitigation funds were promised at last year’s climate change conference in Copenhagen, but few countries have committed to giving money, says Phil Bloomer, Oxfam’s campaigns and policy director.
“Those that have, are basically funnelling it through development finance, which means there is no extra money to tackle the long- term effects of climate change. They’re simply using their development budgets and relabelling them.” NGOs such as Concern are helping pastoralists in northern Kenya to adapt, by teaching them how to grow and cook vegetables.
But as O’Mahony admits: “It is almost like sticking your finger in the dam – it’s only going to hold it back so long. Year-on-year relief programmes are not the solution. We need a long-term solution that looks at using the resources that they do have in the area.” However, “governments only get mobilised when people start dying on CNN,” says Peter Smerdon of the United Nations World Food Programme in Kenya.
“Sometimes you wonder what governments are interested in doing when they bring in food from outside rather than investing in local farming to get more out of the local infrastructure,” says Dr Hans Herren of the Swiss-based group Biovision. “I sometimes wonder are they worried about competition from finished products because we showed that it was possible to develop local businesses such as bee-keeping in northern Kenya.
“Honey brought in higher incomes, which led to a drop in fertility rates and put less pressure on families to support children. But donors don’t want to invest in value-adding in those areas.” If that remains the case, villagers such as those in Bori will struggle to come up with solutions. Recently the tribes from the north east clashed with Liban’s own – the Borana – fighting over pasture, leading to the deaths of several people.
A recent disarmament campaign has removed weapons from the different tribes. But there is no guarantee it will be upheld. “There is a saying here,” says Liban. “When you see food and are hungry, you will not fear to die.”