Prolonged drought and governance challenges in Turkana County, Kenya – Access to water and livelihood changes

IF 4.7 2区环境科学与生态学 Q2 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES

Environmental Development Pub Date : 2025-02-27 DOI:10.1016/j.envdev.2025.101193

Shilpa Muliyil Asokan , Raphael Mulaha Kweyu , Mary Makokha Kalibbala , Joy Apiyo Obando

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引用次数: 0

Abstract

The traditional livelihood practice of pastoralism is under threat in Turkana County in Kenya. The past decades have seen a shift in livelihood practices from pastoralism to other livelihood practices in the arid and semi-arid lands; including small-scale crop farming, small-scale businesses, charcoal burning and selling of firewood. Through the case study areas in three villages – Emeiyana, Nalemsekon and Ayanae Akunoit – in Lokichar, Turkana County, this paper analyses the role of long periods of drought and the existing state of political and socio-economic marginalization in driving livelihood changes among vulnerable pastoral communities. The study results indicate that access to water especially during periods of prolonged drought such as the recent 2020–2022 drought, is a crucial factor driving livelihood changes. The historical marginalization of the communities is found to further aggravate the situation resulting in food insecurity.

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来源期刊

Environmental Development Social Sciences-Geography, Planning and Development

CiteScore

8.40

自引率

1.90%

发文量

审稿时长

74 days

期刊介绍： Environmental Development provides a future oriented, pro-active, authoritative source of information and learning for researchers, postgraduate students, policymakers, and managers, and bridges the gap between fundamental research and the application in management and policy practices. It stimulates the exchange and coupling of traditional scientific knowledge on the environment, with the experiential knowledge among decision makers and other stakeholders and also connects natural sciences and social and behavioral sciences. Environmental Development includes and promotes scientific work from the non-western world, and also strengthens the collaboration between the developed and developing world. Further it links environmental research to broader issues of economic and social-cultural developments, and is intended to shorten the delays between research and publication, while ensuring thorough peer review. Environmental Development also creates a forum for transnational communication, discussion and global action. Environmental Development is open to a broad range of disciplines and authors. The journal welcomes, in particular, contributions from a younger generation of researchers, and papers expanding the frontiers of environmental sciences, pointing at new directions and innovative answers. All submissions to Environmental Development are reviewed using the general criteria of quality, originality, precision, importance of topic and insights, clarity of exposition, which are in keeping with the journal''s aims and scope.