Its 21 days to the start of this New Year 2008 – I am afraid I was busy with other things, regardless – HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!
I want to begin by saying it finally started raining after a long spell of dryness. Coming from the southern part of this continent – I am rather confused by the bi-modal rainfall in this part of Africa. They have the short rains and long rains. To be honest in the last year I have been here – the local people have equally been confused about the state of rainfall too. As I understand the two seasons have somehow merged. Well in simple terms – there is no clear distinction between the two seasons. By virtual of being close to the equator – the two rainy seasons in Kenya should be quite distinct. Last year parts of this country and Uganda flooded immensely leaving several people homeless. This rather erratic shift and change in rainfall patterns is as a result of climate change.
Interestingly not many people seem to be talking about how this will alter our way of life here in Africa. I would not want to say this subject should be left to the environmentalists alone. Climate change is already affecting different sectors of our existence notably agricultural, energy, water, development, health – to mention but a few. The water sector that I am more involved in has already been incredibly affected. Last year in November I gave a keynote paper at a conference in South Africa on Climate Change Adaptation with a case study from Lake Bogoria – a rift valley lake in Kenya.
I must say this one of the most amazing places I have seen in Africa. A saline lake – this site is a protected area under a convention called Ramsar (http://www.ramsar.org/) – to which countries like Kenya are members and commit to protect wetlands for the benefit of both people and nature. Below is a picture of the lake as soon from the northern view.
Lake Bogoria
Like other non-freshwater lakes within the rift valley – Lake Bogoria is dependent on freshwater inflow from the main River Waseges in order to have a good balance within its ecosystem to sustain the algae that the flamingoes depend on.
River Waseges flowing towards Lake Bogoria
Similarly the local communities upstream of this lake are also very dependent of this river for both domestic and agricultural purposes. One thing I should mention is that this river flows almost predominantly through a semi-arid area. This implies that during the peak of the dry season the flows in this river are pretty low. Low to the extent that sometimes the river stops flowing continuously into the lake for several weeks. The result of this has been dry riverbeds (see below) – which of course all things being equal no one would wish for this.
Dry river bed – tributary to River Waseges
In the upstream reaches intensive small scale irrigated agriculture (see below) is practiced and most if not all of these farmers depend on the River Waseges for irrigation.
Small scale irrigated agriculture in the upper Lake Bogoria catchment
In Eastern Africa reliance of communities on land for agriculture, rivers and other natural resources is very high. However, these resources are climate-sensitive and are likely to be affected severely. Under these circumstances of a changing environment – climate change brings yet another complexity.
Where do you draw the line? How much water should be left for the environment and how much should be used for agriculture and domestic purposes? What options are available to best manage the water resources so that we could adapt to the changes that are inevitable?
I will address these rather pertinent questions in detail in the next coming days particularly on how we have managed to try and strike a balance within this catchment area through engagement of local communities.
In the mean time – people and the environment need the rivers to keep flowing – because without this lifeline our very existence ceases to be what we know it.
“We never know the worth of water till the well is dry.” (~Thomas Fuller, Gnomologia, 1732)
Flowing stream
