Land acquisition and dwindling water resources

Coordinator: Dr. M.M.E.M. Rutten
Consortium partners: Rutten (UL-ASC, NL); Odipo (Moi University, Kenya); Davies (IUCN/World Initiative for Sustainable Pastoralism (WISP), Kenya); Barmentlo (Cordaid, NL)

Project goal:

Reconciling claims and conflicts over land and water in Kenya and other dry African lands.

Introduction:

In semi-arid Africa, conflicts about water resources and pastures are on the rise. The reasons for this include the fast and continuing population growth in many countries, climate change, and new economic activities. Water sources and viable pastures are diminishing because of upstream cultivation and land acquisition, both by foreign and local investors. Horticultural companies, pastoralists, small farmers and others are increasingly competing over the same resources. This project has been set up to meet the urgent need to find solutions to these non-sustainable effects of economic activities and to preserve the natural environment, both now and in the future.

Project description:

We will begin by examining several key aspects of these issues: the increased diversification of household economies, sudden changes in resource availability, and the presence of (effective) institutions to regulate land and water usage. Our programme includes collaboration with local (land) networks and with organisations representing farmers and pastoralists. The research will focus on four river basins in Kenya: Lake Turkana, Ewaso Ny’iro North, the Tana river and the Athi catchment area. It will also offer us an opportunity to revisit the accomplishments of previous Dutch-sponsored integrated development programmes and recent public-private partnerships. The project findings will support the Millennium Development Goal on environmental sustainability, enable us to anticipate likely conditions in 2030, and have relevance for resource-based conflicts elsewhere in Africa.
understanding and solving resource-based conflicts in the wider Horn of Africa.