Conflict Over Land and Potential Effects on Global Climate Change

Floodplains have turned out the most attractive investments, unfortunately threatening habitats with great biodiversity and also the barriers against silting. Many internal watershed bodies have suffered eutrophication from highly enriched rainwater from agricultural lands, causing algal blooms, death of fish and clogging the waterways when used for transportation. The alternative has been the conversion of the marshes into paddies.

The denuded sub-humid and semi-arid ecologically fragile lands have thus become the new frontiers as migration has forced man and beast to seek new homes. As it were, these marginal lands are the barriers against desertification, and their resilience is critical for the stability of the productive land.

The Transition Zones in Kenya

Much of the central parts of Kenya’s Northern Frontier covering nearly half of the country (approximately 300K square kilometres) are mainly semi-arid to sub-humid, the ideal zone for checking against desertification when under sustainable management. Large tracts have been left as trust land, being home for wildlife. Private developers with means of supporting wildlife to promote tourism alongside the government’s efforts in conservation have also been allocated tracts of the scrubland.

Pastoralism is a way of life for some marginal ethnic communities who keep large herds of hardy animals (camels, donkeys, zebu, goats) as a means of safety in numbers and determinant of wealth and status. Owing to little awareness of the land’s carrying capacity, the eventual loss is high when disasters (drought, diseases, banditry) strike. The transhumance lifestyle has also been checked as private developers have fenced off land allocated for conservation and tourism.

Migration to trading centres in search of basic necessities has gradually led to settlements, attracting more businesses. Trading centres have become towns that have exerted pressure on these fragile ecosystems and more encroachment into land not already allocated. Conflicts flare up, first between game and man, and then between man and man. And the cycle is repeated as individuals claim parcels of land that they develop. Over time, marginal lands have become wasteland.

Desertification, although a localised biophysical process, has global severe dimensions and contributes significantly to the global climate change. Recent estimates by the Food and Agricultural Organisation put desertification advancing southwards at an average of three kilometres annually. This not only affects food security but also water availability and use.

Understanding the carbon footprint at crop level might be as important as tackling fuel and energy crises. Therefore, policy shifts are urgently needed to address the issues affecting land stewardship.