Responses to address the land and natural resource conflict have been changing in scope and depth over the years. The main actors in peace building include government, Civil Society Organizations (CSOs), Faith-Based Organizations (FBOs), political leaders, traditional leaders, artists, and individual men and women among others.

The government has initiated several reforms and established several institutions and platforms,this is in addition to mainstream security apparatus like the police and the army. These institutions are the National Steering Committee (NSC) on peace building and conflict management, District Peace Committees (DPC), National Crime Research Centre (NCRC), National Conflict Early Warning and Early Response System (NCEWERS), Kenya National Focal Point on Small Arms and Light Weapons (KNFP), and Independent Policing Oversight Authority (IPOA). These institutions have been implementing their mandates with varying degrees of success. It is also paramount to note the ADR/AJS used in dispute resolution in the context of land and natural resource are used by community leaders. The months leading up to, and after, elections have been the most violent periods in Kenya’s post-independence history, with thousands killed and hundreds of thousands displaced in election cycles. , Conflict trends are likely to heightened especially now that the region is also experiencing serious drought and negative impacts of climate change on their livelihoods and natural environment causing limited access to water and pasture for livestock.

With this background, and realizing that conflicts are affecting and threatening the future of pastoralist communities from the six counties, IMPACT in consultation with the county governments convened the peace summit in Nanyuki, Kenya to provide an opportunity for communities and leaders to agree on strategies that contribute to reduction of conflicts in the target counties of Laikipia, Samburu, Isiolo, Baringo, Marsabit and Turkana.