MST-Department of Environmental Studies and Community Development

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Browsing MST-Department of Environmental Studies and Community Development by Subject "Adaptive Capacity"

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    Adaptive Capacity of Pastoralists to Climate Variability in Ngaremara, Isiolo County, Kenya
    (Kenyatta University, 2022) Nkonge, Lisper Gakii; Felix Ming’ate; Joseph Kurauka
    Pastoralism is practiced for subsistence, commercial and cultural purposes. It’s a sustainable way of utilizing ASALs and contributes to 4% of Kenya’s GDP. Climate variability, population explosion, and poverty have lowered the adaptive capacity to climate variability of Ngaremara pastoralists in Isiolo County. Therefore, this study was carried out to examine the adaptive capacity of pastoralists to climate variability in Ngaremara, Isiolo county. The study’s main objective was to evaluate the ability to adapt socially, physically, and economically to climate variability among the Ngaremara pastoralists in Isiolo County. The specific objectives were establishing the existing indigenous adaptive strategies, presenting the climatic trends for the past ten years in Isiolo County, to establish climate variations occurring over shorter timeframes as opposed to climate change that persists for more than decades, and determining adaptive capacity's internal and external hindrances. The study also aimed to deduce the strategies that enhance the willingness of the Ngaremara pastoralists to adapt to new climate variability adaptive strategies. The study used a cross-sectional research design. Systematic, simple, and purposive sampling methods were used to sample the population. Direct observation method, household interviews, key informant interviews, and focus group discussions were used to collect primary and secondary data using interview schedule and questionnaires. Qualitative data from household interviews, key informant interviews, and focus group discussions were analyzed according to the study’s objectives and collected using the KMacho App. The KMacho APP was used because it allows researchers to collect geographical location-specific information to monitor incidences, integrates data in the cloud database, and saves on time and cost. Quantitative data collected from household interviews and secondary sources were collected using the KMacho App and analyzed further using Statistical Package for the Social Sciences SPSS v.22 and Microsoft Excel. Data was imported from KMacho App and automatically grouped into titles, labels, and names using SPSS summarized into categories and tabulated to calculate the frequency of specific themes. Data presentation is in the form of tables, figures, and graphs. The expected output was that low socioeconomic development among Ngaremara pastoralists in Isiolo County increased vulnerability to climate variability. The study proves that there is reduced adaptive capacity and their traditional methods to cope with climate variability are futile. Their living standards are deficient because their livelihood sources solely rely on pastoralism, which has been affected by climate variability. Moreover, fluctuating rainfall of between 250mm and 400mm and an annual average temperature of 290C have exposed pastoralists to drought, floods, famine, and pastoral conflicts. Still, they are willing to adopt new coping strategies for climate variability. The impact of the study will enable informed decision-making by external agencies such as policy makers, NGOs, Isiolo County Government, and the community to improve the adaptive capacity to climate variability by developing coping strategies, creating information avenues such as Early Warning Signs, and enhance development by introducing various projects to diversify livelihoods. Future research should look into dimensions of food insecurity in Ngaremara and the effects of climate variability on human health.