In the wee hours of the 4th of August 2023, a group of community members, planning organizations, the media and allies started a 6-day walk from Gafarsa in Isiolo County to Archer’s post in Samburu county, a 155kilometers distance as we collectively advocated for the Restoration and Conservation of the Ewaso Ng’iro River.

Ewaso Ng’iro Basin is the second largest basin in kenya after tana, it cuts across ten counties and more than 10million people depend on it. It is inextricably intertwined with the culture and heritage of the communities and thus unifies and divides them in the basin in equal measure. These communities have managed to conserve and sustainably use the resources within the basin using Indigenous traditional knowledge over the years, but in this period of increasing human population, large-scale agricultural activities, infrastructure development, and climate change, the river dries up, gets polluted, and is contested.

Climate change has led to an increase in the frequency and intensity of natural disasters, natural resource scarcity, and environmental degradation. Water users, including communities, livestock and wildlife, the public sector, and corporate entities, both upstream, midstream, and downstream, often lack a shared understanding of the threats facing the river system and fail to effectively collaborate around integrated water resources management. This has led to conflicts and an escalation of the threats facing river systems.

Before our departure, we planted trees at Gafarsa Mixed Secondary School and flagged off the 11th edition of the most prestigious annual event “THE CAMEL CARAVAN” with blessings from elders of the Borana community of Isiolo County. On the first day, we walked 20 km to Mbarambate where we camped at the shores of the Ewaso Ng’iro River engaging community members in discussions and sensitizing them on the importance of the protection of their shared natural resources. We also addressed the challenges facing the Ewaso Ng’iro River causing the drastic water flow reduction and we together forged ways of restoring the ecosystem; the communities from all the corners camped cooked and ate together as a symbol of peace and unity. These activities were carried out at every stopping point during the walk.

On the 2nd day, we walked a distance of 34kms to Malkadaka where we set camp at Malkadaka primary school and engaged community members and later showed them a video of the previous Camel Caravans to show the decline of the river over the years.This will make communities understand the urgency of the protection ,restoration and conservation of the river that is their main source of water.

On the 3rd day we walked a distance of 23kms from Malkadaka to Gotu where we camped at Camp Simpirre – a culture and indigenous knowledge documentation and publishing center. Dr Hussein Isack the founder took us through the developed information knowledge banks from where current and future generations can retrieve their ancestral indigenous knowledge that will help them go back in their communities’ historical timeline and recreate their diminished languages and cultural practices documented and archived in print and electronic formats. We later held community engagements and watched documentaries.

On the 4th day we left Gotu for camp funan a distance of 5okms which we had to be carried by vehicles through Shaba Game Reserve to avoid any conflict with wildlife. We camped in the wild to enjoy the serenity and experienced the fulfillment in interaction with nature to remind us the importance of conserving our resources.

On the 5th day we walked 20kms to KWS Complex in Archers post where we had cultural music and dance from indigenous local communities’ musicians ahead of the World indigenous people’s day to be held the following day. The dances and music were to remind us of our diversity which should be a source of our pride and strength as indigenous people. Messages of peace and conservation were shared as a reminder of how we have always lived in harmony with nature and one another.

On 9th August 2023 which was the 6th day of the Camel Caravan walk, we marked the World Indigenous People’s Day. All communities who benefit from the Ewaso Ng’iro River gathered at Archers Post to discuss ways in which they can collectively work together to save the already dying river, which will also help in solving the ongoing conflicts over natural resources. The presence of government officials and or state agencies in the celebration provided an interactive session whereby they were challenged to be our eyes at top-level meetings and conferences and advocate for equal sharing of shared resources like the Ewaso Ng’iro River and also push for policies that help the indigenous communities.

Water is our most important resource and all life on Earth depends on it. Despite its importance, water is becoming far more scarce, as regional sources disappear or are depleted. At the moment, forty percent of the world’s people are being affected by water scarcity and, if not addressed, some 700 million could be displaced by 2030 in search of water.

As a subproject of the Inclusive Conservation Initiative (ICI), a Global Environment Facility (GEF)-funded initiative co-implemented by Conservation International and IUCN, at IMPACT we recognize that to build resilience against climate change and to serve a growing population, an integrated and inclusive approach must be taken to managing this finite resource. This World Water Day, celebrated under the theme” Accelerating change to solve the water and sanitation crisis”, we reflect on water scarcity here in Kenya and on the importance of the Ewaso Ng’iro River in tackling this issue and in supporting our livelihoods.

Water is a finite resource and should be used sustainably by the present for the future generation. We Indigenous pastoralists understand this and have been great stewards of water sources, the most important one being the Ewaso Ng’iro River, which supports our way of life.

The Ewaso Ng’iro River stretches from the North-Western slopes of Mount Kenya and the Aberdares ranges, through the Laikipia plateaus to the arid and semi-arid lands of Northern Kenya, covering about 10 counties, and flowing for about 445 miles (716 km) before emptying into the Lorian Swamp, rejuvenating River Juba and draining into the Indian Ocean.

The river basin supports more than 3.6 million people in our territory, 70% of which are Indigenous pastoralists, and is a source of revenue for our agro-pastoral and pastoral communities.

For our communities, the river basin and its tower are a critical resource in addressing water scarcity issues and supporting the economic growth of the Northern drylands. They supply us with fresh water, conserve biodiversity and ecosystems, regulate local climate, and support our livelihoods.

The river also has sentimental value to us in Northern Kenya. In our Indigenous worldview, the river is intertwined with our culture and heritage. Historically, we have managed and protected the river using our Indigenous traditional knowledge through various cultural practices, communal sharing, and sustainable use of the resources within the basin.

We refer to water as ‘Enkare o lowuaru’ (wild animal water), to signify that water is found in the wild and belongs to all, including plants and wildlife, and thus we believe that nobody should own it and that instead everyone should share whatever is available for the benefit of all.

The Ewaso Ng’iro River is used by farming communities upstream, agro-pastoralists midstream, and pastoralists downstream, and by wild animals and plants alike. It is of paramount importance for our pastoralist way of life, from providing domestic and livestock drinking to supporting our cultural practices, such as the Maa rites of passage. When we perform these rites, we draw water from the river, mix it with milk, and splash it onto those involved to drive away evil eyes, cleanse, or as a unifying factor for our community.

The Ewaso Ng’iro River ecosystem is also home to significant sacred sites and ceremonial plants that have important meanings for our pastoralist communities living along it. Among them is the Reteti (Ficus wakefieldii), a sacred plant which grows at the banks of the Ewaso Ng’iro river and its tributaries. Our Maa community makes sacrifices under this plant and we consider it to be so sacred that even the plants that surround it can’t be cut because in our culture harming a tree is believed to bring curse on oneself. Another sacred plant for us is the Loperia/lpeeri (Cyperus papyrus), which is used by women during their traditional convergence meeting and ritualprayers that we call olamal loo nkituak in Maa language (in Samburu it is known as Ntorosi). The plant is carried and attached to special gourds, and the women in our community use it to splash milk into the Ewaso Ng’iro River as they pray. Water is sacred and is used in several rituals and ceremonies for blessings.

Over the years, our communities have used Indigenous traditional and ecological knowledge, which includes traditional seasonal calendars, well-managed settlement plans, and grazing systems with distinct wet and dry season areas, to manage the Ewaso Ngiro Ecosystem as a shared resource.

During periods of acute droughts, our communities had to utilize tree leaves for fodder. Since in our Indigenous cultur we believe that trees are alive, we are not allowed to cut live trees, so our communities gathered the fodder by pruning and cutting the tree’s branches, and they ensured that a branch was left on every tree to breathe and continue living.

Thanks to these traditional practices, we have ensured the protection of the basin and managed to support the livelihood of our communities. The dying of the Ewaso Ng’iro river, however, is threatening the existence of the sacred tree species growing around the basin, the co-existence between communities and wildlife, and our livelihoods and cultural practices.

To tackle these challenges, we will be working through the Inclusive Conservation Initiative (ICI) to promote the revitalization of the basin’s ecosystem by encouraging our communities to fully embrace and bring back our traditional best practices and by strengthening the existing traditional systems and structures that govern them

By Silole Malih, Ramson Karmushu, and William Naimado (IMPACT Kenya)

On the eve of 5th November 2022, 25 members of Nashipa Ramat gathered in a joyous mood at the much anticipated Village Savings and Loaning Association share out at their usual group meeting point. The women have been contributing on a weekly basis despite the ravaging

drought situation witnessed in Laikipia North Sub-County. Their contributions have been generated from selling of indigenous chicken, beads, charcoal and manure.

IMPACT takes satisfaction in having taught Nashipa Ramat women group on the VSLA concept and how to create bi-laws for their groups, group dynamics and governance, record keeping and share out calculations. From the training the women agreed to have a weekly contribution of ksh.100 per person, social fund of ksh.50 per person which was meant to cater for any unforeseen emergencies that may arise such as child birth and rites of passage amongst others.

The women shared out ksh. 140,625 which they had saved for a period of a year, the member with highest shares took home ksh. 15,200 whereas the member with the lowest shares took home ksh.1, 240.

Due to the ongoing drought situation at the moment, the members decided to use the social fund contributed to purchase for food items, since most of the members had raised the concern of lack of food at their homes due to low livestock prices at the market and high cost of living .Each group member took home 3kgs of maize flour, 2 kgs of Rice and 1 liter of cooking oil.

The women were encouraged by this share out to continue saving , since this new culture of saving has really touched and transformed their lives to the point of earning respect from their husbands an the community at large.

Last year IMPACT in collaboration with other development partners convened the first ever Community Land Summit which brought together the voices of communities from 24 counties with undissolved communal lands as identified by the Ministry of Lands and Physical Planning, it brought together government actors and other stakeholders to discuss on the community land registration processes five years after the enactment of the CLA 2016.

The 24 Counties with communal lands reviewed the CLA 2016 through evidence and experiences,this went along way ensuring that amendments are informed by experiences of the piloted communities and the bottle necks on the implementation of the CLA2016. The summit created a platform that strengthened the existing CLA2016 champions and sustained the land reforms agenda. Communities presented their petitions to the duty bearers on the glaring gaps in the Community Land Act, 2016 .After the summit different stakeholders took up their responsibilities and we have since seen a rise in the number of community lands with title deeds.

It was out of this summit that CLOAK (Community Land Owners Alliance of Kenya) was born; an umbrella that advocates for recognition, respect, and protection of community land rights and promotes sound and sustainable community land management and conservation practices that respect cultural values and beliefs while guaranteeing equitable sharing of benefits among its community members.

Through CLOAK community land management committees, women champions, and vocal community leaders come together to address the common overarching challenges affecting the pastoralist communities in Kenya. It also influences policy decisions at the national level, advocates for pastoralist-friendly policies at the county level, engages and negotiates with private ranches for grazing during drought seasons, advocates for registration of community lands, monitors compulsory land acquisition processes, and operations of the extractive industries.

It was during the first Community Land Summit that it was decided it will be a premiere global annual land event that brings together all stakeholders to advocate and champion for communities to amplify their voices, and bring together all stakeholders to share experiences, and take practical actions that ensure the rights of communities and indigenous people are protected.

The 2nd edition of the Community Land Summit is coming up in a week and this time its cutting across Africa. Co-convened by IMPACT Kenya and PARAN Alliance in collaboration with other partners ,the event dubbed “The East African Indigenous Peoples’ Land Summit 2022” will be held under the theme: Amplifying Collective Voices of Indigenous Peoples through Inclusive Dialogues and Learning to Enhance Land Rights for Livelihoods and Conservation in East Africa. The Summit will build on the success of the first Community Land Summit in Kenya held in December 2021 in Nanyuki Town, Kenya.

The event is set to bring together Indigenous People; pastoralist and hunter-gatherer communities from Eastern Africa (Tanzania, Kenya, Uganda, Ethiopia, DRC, Rwanda, and Burundi) to share and learn from each other on current issues affecting them, directly engage policy makers from governments, regional and sub-regional governmental organizations including AU and RECs, CSOs, the private sector other actors; and together forge the way forward towards addressing those challenges. Over 200 IPs community delegates from East Africa, high-level representatives from the Africa Union, Regional economic communities, National and county Governments, Development actors, Civil Society Organizations (CSOs), the Private sector, researchers and academia are scheduled to attend. The summit will adopt inclusive and consultative dialogues, cultural exchanges, discussions, plenary and other innovative approaches to ensure the effective engagement of all participants.

IMPACT together with the ICCA Consortium co-organized a pre-congress for Indigenous Peoples and local communities from 16th -17th July, ahead of the IUCN Africa Protected Areas Congress in Kigali,Rwanda. More than 150 people participated in this important preparatory workshop which aimed to: shine a spotlight on how Indigenous Peoples and local communities are conserving a significant proportion of the world’s biodiversity and nature through their self-determined cultures, ways of life and governance systems; to discuss experiences, challenges, opportunities, and recommendations for appropriate recognition and support for the communities’ self-determined priorities for their collective lands, waters, and territories; to discuss strategies for advancing the movements for conservation justice and collective land, territorial, and tenure and resource rights in the context of nature conservation including the proposed 30×30 target; and to support Indigenous and community representatives to prepare for participation in the main IUCN Congress.

The IPLCs came up with a declaration (see attached below) which was presented at the main African Protected Areas Congress.

 

The Camel Caravan walk came to an end on Thursday the 23rd of June with so many experiences and lessons, the 5-day walk included camping in communities at night which was fun. As an outdoor accommodation, socializing was part of it with entertainment and

sharing of experiences by people from different areas, engaging them fully about the issue of the common shared resources. Those from upstream and downstream got a chance to share valuable insights while socializing, this would eventually help stimulate responsible management of resources in a sustainable way.

There were adequate hired tents, however, some challenges were faced during camping concerning the status of the tents. The tents were not in very good condition with several old ones that are torn or broken, some were however good. That resulted in some very cold nights and flooded tents when it rained, people eventually ended up sleeping in classrooms at Olmaisor primary school whose administration was kind enough to come to our aid upon request.

It was an honor to be hosted by the school and given a place to sleep, despite being on a weekday with pupils expected early in the morning, it was a good sign of a great hospitable community and recognition of the noble work the Camel Caravan walk is doing, together with the teachers and pupils we took the initiative of planting trees at the school before we left the following morning.

Part 1…..

The African protected Areas Congress preparatory meeting was organized and held in Nairobi by IMPACT Kenya and other African Indigenous organizations, with the aim to discuss and set ground on the 30*30 conservation target on Indigenous peoples’ pathways to inclusive and just conservation, securing tenure rights towards biodiversity and traditional knowledge, and financial resource mobilization and management in regards to the 1.7billion Glasgow pledge in preparation to the upcoming APAC in Kigali, Rwanda.

Our CEO Mali Ole Kaunga urged the participants of the need to work collectively as one and frame well how to advance their grievances at the APAC in Rwanda.” Its time to stop complaining and take action as conservationists, we need to challenge government policies that do not recognize Indigenous people. The government should formulate pastoral friendly policies and agendas that recognize the voices of indigenous peoples’ He said

Jennifer Corpus of Nia Tero during her presentation on the 30*30 conservation target and the 1.7billion Glasgow pledge reminds us of the need for the FPIC tool for the recognition of Indigenous people’s territories and contributions. She further encourages us to consider other options as the protected areas belong to the governments, like the conserved areas which bring good biodiversity outcomes governed using Indigenous Peoples elements

During this workshop, a delegate speaking of the current eviction situation in Tanzania quoted ‘our hearts are bleeding, many Maasai’s are out in hiding and this makes it the right time to say no to violations of Indigenous peoples’.

High-value biodiversities are located in Indigenous people’s lands, conservation should include the space of Indigenous peoples in regard to land injustices,and therefore conservation practices that do not have the rights of the people should be revised.

Speaking to Citizen tv on behalf of the Indigenous Peoples our CEO Mali Ole Kaunga says we stand in solidarity with the people of Loliondo Tanzania and urged their government to stop the act of detaining, killing and evicting Indigenous Peoples.

https://youtu.be/r3GFvQ8nQxk

The Ewaso Ngiro river unifies and divides communities in the basin in equal measure. In this period of increasing human population, large-scale agricultural activities, infrastructure development, and climate change, the river dries up and gets polluted.Water users, including communities, livestock &wildlife, the public sector, and corporate entities, both upstream middle and downstream, often lack a shared understanding of the threats facing the river system and fail to effectively collaborate around integrated water resources management,this leads to conflicts and an escalation of the threats facing the river system.

In another context, climate change has led to an increase in the frequency and intensity of natural disasters, natural resource scarcity, and environmental degradation, which in many contexts has contributed to the exacerbation of conflict in the Ewaso ecosystem. These has resulted to inter-communal and pastoral violence over natural resources, including access to land, water and minerals. Changes in weather patterns have affected women’s lives more as they walk further in search of water and fuelwood, It has also affected their capacity to earn income and feed their families. For pastoralists, climate change has brought drastic changes to their everyday life, including long and sometimes treacherous journeys in search of water and greener pastures.

The Drastic water flow reduction in the Ewaso Nyiro River is a sign of disaster to both animals and communities, the prolonged drought and desertification in the area is the downfall of the socio-economic aspect of the pastoral communities living along the river. Decreased plant cover, soil erosion, adverse heat, and minimum water flows are some of the problems currently facing the Ewaso Nyiro River.

The upstream communities play a big role in the upper stream of the river and Lake Olbolossat which is the headwaters of River Ewaso Ng’iro and therefore, during the Camel Caravan this year we are reversing the flow by walking upstream involving farmers’ communities, conservancies, water resource users’ associations, and private farms to make them understand the impact of their activities upstream to the pastoralist in the mid and lower stream.

At the end of the Camel Caravan,we expect communities to have a deepened, broadened, and increased knowledge on the importance of Ewaso Ng’iro River to the pastoral communities downstream, and increased capacity for environmental conservation.In the long run other pressing issues will also be resolved and some results seen as mentioned below:

• Improved well usage of the river, which will consequently prevent the river from the verge of drying up.

• Increased number of stakeholders with interest in saving the Ewaso Ng’iro River

• Through the media, there will be an increased popularization of the need to conserve wetlands in Kenya.

• VI.Increased commitment by the government to allocate time and resources to the saving of the river.

• High interest by other donors to support this noble initiative.

• A good communications strategy between upstream and downstream river users.

• Increased protection of the catchment areas and minimized encroachment.

• Improved water management and the general conservation of the environment

Ol’Bolosat is a Maasai word that means a “Marshy area”, Lake Ol’Bolosat is the only natural lake in central Kenya located in Nyandarua County on the northwestern side of the Aberdare ranges. The lake forms the headwaters for the Ewaso Ng’iro River, which supports the livelihoods of communities, livestock and wildlife in the dry Laikipia, Samburu, Isiolo and Garissa Counties. The fresh and saltwater lake is a habitat for Tilapia, Catfish, hippopotamus and over 300 bird species (both residents and migrants) which have disappeared over the years. The Ewaso Nyiro River has supported the thriving wildlife tourism in Buffalo Springs, Shaba National Reserve and Lorian swamp in Wajir, where the river goes underground to re-emerge in Somalia where it joins the Jubba River.

The lake affects the lives of people along the Ewaso Ng’iro basin, the downstream (Ewaso Ng’iro) has been drying faster towards the upper side. Death is coming and it’s coming from downstream upstream, conflicts over natural resources have increased downstream causing many deaths, one of these resources that is very crucial to both humans and wildlife is water. Their main source of water is Lake Ol’Bolosat whose death is the death of the millions of people in Northern Kenya.

On our quest to find out the cause of the drying Ewaso ng’iro river, we visited Lake Ol’Bolosat where we met one elder who is a resident of an area (Ol Joro Orok) next to the lake and this is what he had to say “this lake has been declining over a period of time, the severe drought has had it completely dry. Community encroachment with activities like farming has also played a big role in the death of this lake, the northern side of the lake has become a very thin and muddy strip”

Residents have encroached the land around the Lake and put up homes, they look at the lake as the only source of water because they do not harvest water. Most of them are agro-business people growing horticultural plants, they obstruct water by using gravity pipes and portable pumps especially during dry seasons to divert water directly from the lake for irrigation. These obstructions upstream from the lake that feeds into the Ewaso ng’iro river have caused a permanent loss to it, in that some parts of the river have no water passing from upstream at all.

The people upstream are killing the Lake and people who depend on it at the expense of unsustainable irrigation systems.

Violent conflicts have become a common thing in Northern Kenya in the recent past, characterized with loss of lives and livelihoods.This informed the need to bring together decision-makers from six counties of Northern Kenya to deliberate together with community representatives on the roadmap towards sustainable peace.

We held peace concert events as build up activities towards the Peace Summit in Leparua, Isiolo County and in Naibor,Laikipia county to discuss the increased conflicts that escalates during migration due to the scarcity of resources in the areas ,we advocated for communities to share the available resources and to resolve their differences in a non-violence manner. We used musicians from different communities who came together and composed songs that promote peace and cultural diversity .

The Peace Summit was attended by many communities from Northern Kenya among them being the Turkana, Pokot,Samburu,Maasai and Borana, who came together with Government officials to discuss conflict drivers and what can be done to reduce conflicts in Northern Kenya.

Some of the main conflict drivers mentioned by several if not all communities were scarcity of resources especially due to the severe drought,Illiteracy,tribalism and the influx of guns in the area.”Women suffer a great deal by carrying the weight of losing their children on a daily basis due to this conflicts and they should be on the forefront of promoting peace.” said MP Sarah Korere of Laikipia North

Some of the resolutions made which are to be implemented by the government and CSOs are the disarmament off all communities,affirmative action for education,policies for job creation,security infrastructures to be put in place and initiating projects like borehole drilling and the mega dam. IMPACT has been working tirelessly by doing peace building through supporting inter-community dialogues and training peace ambassadors ,the morans and community leaders in our efforts to promote peace.

In His speech the County Commissioner of Laikipia County Mr Joseph Kanyiri encouraged communities to work hard to retain the peace that they enjoyed before and abide by the law,he further urged the government and CSOs to support grazing committees and help in managing the available resources to avoid conflicts.

IMPACT together with the County Governments and other CSOs will be working together on the resolutions given by the community delegates in the struggle to promote a peaceful co-existence among all communities of northern Kenya. As communities play their role in being ambassadors of peace and adapting to alternative livelihoods that are viable to avoid conflicts .