Browsing by Author "Mamo, Boru Mamo"

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    Impacts of climate change, household vulnerability and adaptation strategies among the Gabbra pastoralists in Marsabit County, Kenya
    (Kenyatta University, 2025-03) Mamo, Boru Mamo
    The livelihoods of pastoralist communities in Kenya are largely climate sensitive due to their dependence on natural resources. Ecological and socioeconomic conditions of rangeland areas occupied by pastoral communities most probably contribute to an increase in their vulnerability due to the impacts brought about by climate change. Few studies have looked into this particular aspect in relation to the northern rangelands. This study was carried out in Marsabit County of Kenya with overall objective of assessing Gabbra pastoralists' perceptions, impacts, vulnerability, and adaptation strategies against climate change. Specifically, the study sought to:- assess the extent of climate change by analyzing trends in temperature and precipitation; evaluate the local community perceptionandimpactsof thechangingclimate;identify theadaptation strategiesadopted by Gabbracommunity; anddeterminethe vulnerabilityof Gabbracommunity households to climate change. The study adopted a mixed research design. Mann–Kendall test and Theil-Sen’s slope estimator to analyze monthly, seasonal and annual temperature and precipitationtrendsfor MarsabitCountyfrom1990to2022.Datawasalsocollectedfrom 398 randomly selected pastoralists from the Gabbra community using household interviews, observations, and discussions including a Likert-scale to assess Gabbra pastoralists perceptions on climate change, impacts and adaptations they undertake. The study also assessed the livelihood vulnerability of Gabbra pastoralists who depend on livestock, crops and natural resources for their livelihood. The degree of livelihood vulnerability between the different sub-counties, livelihood vulnerability index was used. Results revealed decreasing, but non-significant, trends in the monthly, seasonal and annual precipitation. When the monthly, seasonal and annual data for maximum and minimum temperature was evaluated, the results revealed an upward and statistically significant (p≤0.05) trend. The results further showed that Gabbra pastoralists have been perceiving climate through disruptions of their normal socio-economic activities and lifestyles, largely occasioned by climatic parameters, especially rainfall. Climate impacts were largely attributed to rainfall and temperature variations. Gabbra pastoralists have adaptation strategies that largely focus on livestock, crop and soil management. Composite method results, showed high vulnerability to climate change among the Gabbra. Similar results were obtained using livelihood vulnerability indexintergovernmental panel on climate change indicating that the community has low adaptive capacity, while highly sensitive and exposed to the shocks of climate change. MultivariateProbitregressionmodelshowedthatgender,age,education,monthlyincome, household size, membership to social group, increasing temperature, unpredictable rainfall patterns, increased drought frequency, assistance from government, assistance from relatives, access to extension services, access to credit services, water availability, pasture availability, and own large herd of livestock as statistically significant (p≤0.05) determinants in choosing adaptation strategies in the face of climate change. The study concludes that rainfall has been progressively decreasing while temperatures have gradually risen from 1990 to 2022. Gabbra pastoralists have perceived climate change through climatic variations experienced and consequential disruptions of socioeconomic activities and livelihoods. The community has adopted various strategies to address impacts of climate change that involve aspects of livestock, crop and soil management. Further, they were found to be highly vulnerable to climate change. The study recommends development of nature-based interventions such as ecosystems restoration, management of biodiversity, water and soils, which deliberately incorporates indigenous knowledge. Climate adaptation strategies that minimize households’ degree of sensitivity and enhance their adaptive capacity should be promoted. In adaptation there is a need to seekincreasedadoptionofclimate-smarttechnologiesforusebytheGabbracommunity
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    Promotion of Environmental Education Through Environmental Committees: a Case of Korr Location, Marsabit County, Kenya.
    (2014-03-06) Mamo, Boru Mamo; Koech, Michael K.; Koske, James K.A.
    This study was carried out in Korr Location of Marsabit County in Northern Kenya from April, 2009 to December, 2010. Marsabit County is a land of diverse ecological, biogeographical and cultural importance but is currently faced with myriad ecological challenges ranging from land degradation, desertification, increased demands for fuelwood, pasture/fodder for the livestock and scarce water resources, all of which impact on the local environment. Moreover, recent literature indicates that there has been little understanding of the human impact connected with resource degradation in Korr Location of Marsabit County. To address these challenges, environmental actors in Marsabit County established Environmental Committee to educate local communities on the importance of environmental conservation. Korr Location was initially one of the highly degraded locations of Marsabit County. A decade after the formation and activities of these committees in Korr location, there was a marked transformation of Korr location in terms of environmental rehabilitation of the area. This study was carried out to find out if these transformations were attributable to the committees or other factors at the community level and also whether the concept of the environmental committee can be replicated in other arid and semi arid areas as a potentially best practice for adoption. Therefore, the first objective of the study was to explore the influence of the household environmental awareness on the biophysical environmental rehabilitation of Korr location, as influenced by the locally established Environmental Management Committees (EMC). The second objective was to establish the relationship between the type of domestic energy used by the households and the degree of biophysical environmental rehabilitation, and the third objective was to determine the influence of household participation in afforestation activities on the degree of biophysical environmental rehabilitation. In carrying out this study, a descriptive survey research design was adapted. This was carried out using a structured questionnaire that was administered to a sample of 193 randomly selected households. Four (4) focused group discussions and 10 key informants'interviews were conducted to provide information to support the survey results and their findings documented. Quantitative data from the field was entered into an appropriate computer programme, the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) to aid in data analysis. Appropriate descriptive statistics of measures of central tendency, variability and correlations were also generated using the spss package while the Chi-square test (X2) and correlation were employed to test the three hypotheses. The results of the study established a significant relationships between adoption of energy saving stoves (0.034), household involvement in afforestation activities «0.05) and the status of environmental rehabilitation «0.05). Positive correlations were also established between environmental awareness and the EMC efforts with the status of environmental rehabilitation (0.093). Major finding was that the creation of environmental awareness is essential especially at the grassroots' levels for a sound environmental management. Tree-planting activities (79.6%,) coupled with active community participation in environmental matters is seen as a means to stop environmental degradation and improve the livelihood of the 'local communities. Based on these findings, the study recommends that the EMC structure be recognised under the EMCA, 1999 and strengthened through policy and legislative framework to develop local capacity to fully participate in environmental management initiatives.