Changes to water management and declining pastoral resilience in Marsabit County, northern Kenya: The example of Gabra wells

Abstract

In this article, we provide a review of research on the existing and abandoned wells in Marsabit County, Northern Kenya, and associated Indigenous Knowledge concerning water governance, institutions of leadership, and how these have contributed to sustaining a resilient pastoral economy in these harsh landscapes. The article discusses the socio‐ecological systems that have been maintained by pastoralists for generations, linking their sustainability to leadership structures and institutional memory, with a particular focus on the Gabra. It further highlights internal and external interventions by governmental and nongovernmental organizations that are expected to improve the livelihoods of the Gabra and other pastoralists inhabiting the area, but have sometimes had a negative effect on the traditional strategies of water governance and socio‐ecological systems, undermining the long‐term viability of the pastoral economy in Marsabit. This article is categorized under: Human Water > Water Governance Human Water > Value of Water Human Water > Rights to Water

An Isotope Mass Balance Analysis of Evaporative Loss From Lake Turkana, Kenya Using δ18O and δD of Natural Waters

“…Droughts have occurred periodically for at least the last several million years, occasionally restricting availability of surface water including the Turkwel (Cohen et al., 2022). Present‐day pastoralists dig both deep and shallow wells, access to which may be managed through longstanding cultural traditions (M’Mbogori et al., 2022). Shallow ground sources are more likely to be recharged during floods, but deep reservoirs that may sustain communities in times of drought contain ancient water that is not replenished on annual, decadal, or century timescales (Thomas et al., 2019).…”