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East Africa's Pastoralist Emergency: is climate change the straw that breaks the camel's back?

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  • PJ Blackwell

Abstract

The global warming trend of climate change is having severe adverse effects on the livelihoods of the Turkana pastoralists of northwestern Kenya. Care has to be taken in making assertions about the impact of climate change. The biggest effects may come not from lower average rainfall but from a widening of the standard deviation as weather extremes become more frequent. In a region already prone to drought, disease and conflict, climate change, access to modern weapons and new viral livestock diseases are now overwhelming pastoralists' coping capacity and deepening the region's roughly 30-year dependency on famine relief. This article examines the livelihood strategies of the Turkana and several poverty reduction programmes currently established, while addressing the reality that traditional pastoralism may no longer be a viable livelihood option, given the effects of climate change, disease and the ensuing conflict over diminishing resources. The findings conclude that the future for traditional Turkana pastoralists is dismal because they continue to depend on an environment that may no longer support them. Humanitarians are recommended to shift their focus to advocate and invest in alternative livelihood strategies that generate economic independence and help the Turkana adapt to their changing environment.

Suggested Citation

  • PJ Blackwell, 2010. "East Africa's Pastoralist Emergency: is climate change the straw that breaks the camel's back?," Third World Quarterly, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 31(8), pages 1321-1338.
    • Handle: RePEc:taf:ctwqxx:v:31:y:2010:i:8:p:1321-1338
    DOI: 10.1080/01436597.2010.541085
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    Cited by:

    1. Misginaw Arficho & Andreas Thiel, 2020. "Does Land-Use Policy Moderate Impacts of Climate Anomalies on LULC Change in Dry-Lands? An Empirical Enquiry into Drivers and Moderators of LULC Change in Southern Ethiopia," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(15), pages 1-22, August.
    2. Wallace, Robert G. & Bergmann, Luke & Kock, Richard & Gilbert, Marius & Hogerwerf, Lenny & Wallace, Rodrick & Holmberg, Mollie, 2015. "The dawn of Structural One Health: A new science tracking disease emergence along circuits of capital," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 129(C), pages 68-77.

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