Indigenous Peoples' Climate Change Assessment
Fact Sheet Kajiado, Narok and Nakuru Districts, Kenya
Mainyoito Pastoralists Integrated Development Organization is a community based Non-Governmental Organization that works for the human rights and sustainable development of the Maasai people in Kajiado, Narok and Nakuru Districts in Kenya.
The Maasai reside in the Arid and Semi Arid Lands (ASALs) that constitute about 80% of the Kenyan landmass. Traditionally they are nomadic cattle herders with grazing lands spanning from central Kenya into Tanzania. Their socio-cultural and economic lifestyles have ensured the survival of the fauna and flora in their territory, which form the foundation of the tourism industry, Kenya’s most important foreign exchange earner.
The Maasai way of the life is characterized by highly developed skills especially on climate and ecology. Mobility is a survival technique that ensured ecological sustainability, livestock health and optimum production. The key components of pastoralism are animal husbandry, ecosystem management and wildlife conservation. For millennia they have coexisted with wildlife and the ecology without attempting to destroy them. However, in a very short time, the activities and pressures of industrialization and “development” are sounding the death knell of the Maasai way of life. In Africa, the reality is that pastoralists and their way of life continue to be treated as backwards, or primitive. Their cultures and resources have continued to be exploited for commercial purposes with little or no benefits going to the communities, even as climate wreaks havoc on their herds and stocks. Threats come from commercial agricultural expansion, insensitive tourism practices, ongoing deforestation and continued loss of Maasai traditional lands to other economic enterprises. In recent years climate change, and inappropriate development practices have brought drought and famine to the Maasai.
With the loss of fodder and water sources thanks to climate change, pastoralists are being forced to move to towns-a good example of this is the Maasai of Kajiado who migrate into Nairobi in search of fodder and water much to the chagrin of city dwellers and the city fathers who consider them to be a “nuisance.” Yet these are indicators that the situation in their lands is growing dire with each passing day due to multifaceted challenges that need urgent intervention.
With this Ecosystem Assessment, the Maasai of Kajiado, Narok and Nakuru Districts will develop long-term strategies, based on traditional knowledge, to adapt to and mitigate the effects of climate change, and seek to:
- Maintain the subsistence needs of their families.
- Build resilience of their ecosystems drawing upon their IK systems and cultural practices.
- Empower Maasai communities to implement their rights to conserve and protect forest resources, natural and cultural heritage and regulate their uses for sustainable livelihoods.
- Gather local ground-sourced knowledge on the impacts of climate change on the Maasai and their livelihoods.