IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/ibn/jsd123/v15y2024i2p54.html

Impacts of Climate Change and Hydropower Development on the Community Livelihoods in Sondu Miriu River Basin, Kenya

Author

Listed:
  • Willis Owino Ochieng
  • Christopher Oludhe
  • Simeon Dulo
  • Lydia Olaka

Abstract

Hydropower is sustainable and environmentally friendly source of energy worldwide. Driven by streamflow, it is vulnerable to climate change and land use change. The hydropower production from the two-existing run-of-river hydropower projects on the Sondu Miriu river are vulnerable to rainfall variability and requires proper understanding of the climate change trends and policies to support sustainable hydropower development and put in place strategies for building resilience for the local communities. The main objective of this paper was to examine the impacts of both the climate change and the hydropower development projects on the livelihoods of the community living within the Sondu Miriu River basin. Participatory methodologies involving administration of questionnaires at household level and focus group discussions with the local leaders and actors were applied to determine the impacts of climate change and the hydropower development on the community livelihoods within the basin. The socioeconomic status of the basin indicates that majority of the households (>59%) are poor and earn below 8 US dollars per day. The employment rate is extremely low with only 22% in formal employment. About 49% of the households still use wood fuel and charcoal as energy sources which is a threat to catchment conservation. Strengthening community resilience to climate change impacts is one of the benefits to be derived from the hydropower projects by supporting appropriate adaptation strategies within the existing policy framework.

Suggested Citation

  • Willis Owino Ochieng & Christopher Oludhe & Simeon Dulo & Lydia Olaka, 2024. "Impacts of Climate Change and Hydropower Development on the Community Livelihoods in Sondu Miriu River Basin, Kenya," Journal of Sustainable Development, Canadian Center of Science and Education, vol. 15(2), pages 1-54, July.
    • Handle: RePEc:ibn:jsd123:v:15:y:2024:i:2:p:54
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://ccsenet.org/journal/index.php/jsd/article/download/0/0/46722/49925
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://ccsenet.org/journal/index.php/jsd/article/view/0/46722
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Jane Ebinger & Walter Vergara, 2011. "Climate Impacts on Energy Systems : Key Issues for Energy Sector Adaptation," World Bank Publications - Books, The World Bank Group, number 2271, April.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Nathalie Spittler & Ganna Gladkykh & Arnaud Diemer & Brynhildur Davidsdottir, 2019. "Understanding the Current Energy Paradigm and Energy System Models for More Sustainable Energy System Development," Post-Print hal-02127724, HAL.
    2. AfDB AfDB, . "AfDB Annual Report 2015," Annual Report, African Development Bank, number 2346.
    3. Jérôme Boutang & Etienne Feutren & Brunilde Bachelet & Cédric Lacomme, 2020. "Climate Change Adaptation: Operational Taxonomy and Metrics," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(18), pages 1-28, September.
    4. Marinella Davide & Enrica De Cian & Alexis Bernigaud, 2019. "Building a Framework to Understand the Energy Needs of Adaptation," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(15), pages 1-32, July.
    5. Lucia de Strasser, "undated". "Calling for Nexus Thinking in Africa’s Energy Planning," ESP: Energy Scenarios and Policy 263161, Fondazione Eni Enrico Mattei (FEEM).
    6. Byman H. Hamududu & Hambulo Ngoma, 2020. "Impacts of climate change on water resources availability in Zambia: implications for irrigation development," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 22(4), pages 2817-2838, April.
    7. Doohyun Kyung & Youngho Choi & Sangseom Jeong & Junhwan Lee, 2015. "Improved Performance of Electrical Transmission Tower Structure Using Connected Foundation in Soft Ground," Energies, MDPI, vol. 8(6), pages 1-20, May.
    8. Wang, Bing & Ke, Ruo-Yu & Yuan, Xiao-Chen & Wei, Yi-Ming, 2014. "China׳s regional assessment of renewable energy vulnerability to climate change," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 40(C), pages 185-195.
    9. Daniel José Bernier-Oviedo & Alexandra Eugenia Duarte & Óscar J. Sánchez, 2025. "Evaluation and Design of Supply Chains for Bioenergy Production," Energies, MDPI, vol. 18(8), pages 1-50, April.
    10. Eslahi, Mohammadehsan & Mazza, Paolo, 2023. "Can weather variables and electricity demand predict carbon emissions allowances prices? Evidence from the first three phases of the EU ETS," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 214(C).
    11. Sahil Ali & Nihit Goyal & Shweta Srinivasan, 2014. "Sustainable Access For All: Building Sustainability into Universal Energy Access," Southern Voice Occasional Paper 11, Southern Voice.
    12. Jennifer Cronin & Gabrial Anandarajah & Olivier Dessens, 2018. "Climate change impacts on the energy system: a review of trends and gaps," Climatic Change, Springer, vol. 151(2), pages 79-93, November.
    13. Cole, Matthew A. & Elliott, Robert J.R. & Strobl, Eric, 2014. "Climate Change, Hydro-Dependency, and the African Dam Boom," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 60(C), pages 84-98.
    14. Bonjean Stanton, Muriel C. & Dessai, Suraje & Paavola, Jouni, 2016. "A systematic review of the impacts of climate variability and change on electricity systems in Europe," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 109(C), pages 1148-1159.
    15. Wang, Bing & Liang, Xiao-Jie & Zhang, Hao & Wang, Lu & Wei, Yi-Ming, 2014. "Vulnerability of hydropower generation to climate change in China: Results based on Grey forecasting model," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 65(C), pages 701-707.
    16. Ouyang, Haiqin & Huang, Xiaoyong & Yu, Bo, 2025. "Risk spillover effects of climate uncertainty on commodity markets: From the dual perspective of physical risk and transition risk," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 105(C).
    17. Mohammadehsan Eslahi & Paolo Mazza, 2023. "Can weather variables and electricity demand predict carbon emissions allowances prices? Evidence from the first three phases of the EU ETS," Post-Print hal-04282454, HAL.
    18. Chang, Jianxia & Wang, Xiaoyu & Li, Yunyun & Wang, Yimin & Zhang, Hongxue, 2018. "Hydropower plant operation rules optimization response to climate change," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 160(C), pages 886-897.
    19. Fanny Groundstroem & Sirkku Juhola, 2019. "A framework for identifying cross-border impacts of climate change on the energy sector," Environment Systems and Decisions, Springer, vol. 39(1), pages 3-15, March.
    20. Akinyemi, Opeyemi & Ogundipe, Adeyemi & Alege, Philip, 2012. "Energy Supply and Climate Change in Nigeria," MPRA Paper 55820, University Library of Munich, Germany.

    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • R00 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - General - - - General
    • Z0 - Other Special Topics - - General

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:ibn:jsd123:v:15:y:2024:i:2:p:54. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Canadian Center of Science and Education (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/cepflch.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.