Abstract:Water conflicts have huge impacts on livelihoods and without proper redress, have capacity to stall economic development of a community. This paper therefore explicates the impacts of unresolved water related conflicts in Ewaso Ng’iro North River sub-basin in Kenya and their persistence despite past major institutional and policy reforms in the water sector. Repetitive unresolved water conflicts curtail the prosperity of the communities on river basins. Study objective was to assess continued unresolved confl… Show more
“…The sub-catchment receives an average annual rainfall of 400mm, is a water-stressed region, and while there are few perennial streams, the River Loisukut, formerly known as the Sinyai River, flows around 93 kilometers and is the sub-catchment's main source of water (Lesrima, 2019).…”
The study examines access to water, use and management of water resources and conflicts in the Loisukut sub-catchment in Laikipia North Sub-Country. Additionally, the study provides information on grassroots initiatives that seek to improve and ensure equitable management of water resources by establishing connections with significant stakeholders. The study is supported by information acquired through the distribution of a questionnaire to various stakeholders, water users' groups, and communities. The study's conclusions indicate a relationship between water availability, consumption, and management that has a significant impact on water conflicts. The discrepancies in access to water are due to ineffective water management initiatives. The study recommends watershed conservation and diversifying pastoralists' economic opportunities will have positive effects on the environment, economy and society.
“…The sub-catchment receives an average annual rainfall of 400mm, is a water-stressed region, and while there are few perennial streams, the River Loisukut, formerly known as the Sinyai River, flows around 93 kilometers and is the sub-catchment's main source of water (Lesrima, 2019).…”
The study examines access to water, use and management of water resources and conflicts in the Loisukut sub-catchment in Laikipia North Sub-Country. Additionally, the study provides information on grassroots initiatives that seek to improve and ensure equitable management of water resources by establishing connections with significant stakeholders. The study is supported by information acquired through the distribution of a questionnaire to various stakeholders, water users' groups, and communities. The study's conclusions indicate a relationship between water availability, consumption, and management that has a significant impact on water conflicts. The discrepancies in access to water are due to ineffective water management initiatives. The study recommends watershed conservation and diversifying pastoralists' economic opportunities will have positive effects on the environment, economy and society.
“…These challenges can relate to a lack of collective action due to the individualistic nature of the communities they represent. In addition to the lack of collective actions by the communities, studies have shown that climate change, 190 rapid changes in land-use systems, and societal changes such as population increase, constantly challenge the ability of WRUAs to modify rules for water allocation (Dell'Angelo et al, 2014;Lesrima, 2019;Aarts, 2012).…”
Section: Case Study Areamentioning
confidence: 99%
“…This is because they face pressure from other pastoralists who immigrate from far 425 downstream in search of water and pasture while their upward emigration faces inflexible resistance from the agricultural communities in the upslopes. This can explain the manifestation of fatal seasonal conflicts observed between upstream and downstream communities in the Upper Ewaso Ng'iro catchment (Lesrima, 2019;Kiteme, 2020). Within the game environment, higher profits were realized towards the final rounds when the boardgame system was relatively stable.…”
Abstract. Water-related conflicts in river catchments occur due to both internal and external pressures that affect catchment water availability. Lack of shared understanding by catchment stakeholders increase the complexity of human-water issues at the river catchment scale. Among a range of participatory approaches, the development and use of serious games gained prominence as a tool to stimulate discussion and reflection among stakeholders about sustainable resource use and collective action. This study designed and implemented the ENGAGE game (Exploring New Gaming Approach to Guide and Enlighten), that mimics the dynamics observed during the dry season in the upper Ewaso Ng’iro catchment, North West of Mount Kenya. The purpose of this study was to explore the potential role of serious gaming in subsequent steps of strengthening stakeholder engagement (agenda setting, shared understanding, commitment to collective action, and means of implementation) toward addressing complex human-water-related challenges at the catchment scale. We assessed the type of decisions made during gameplay, the communication dynamics, active participation, and the implication of decisions made on water availability. The results of three game sessions show that the ENGAGE game raised awareness and provided a recognizable hydro-logic background to conflicts while guiding community discussions toward implementable decisions. The results revealed increasing active participation, knowledge gain, and use of plural pronouns, and decreasing individual interests and conflicts among game participants. This study presents important implications for creating a collective basis for water management and can inform human-water policies and modification of the process behind water allocation rules in a river catchment.
“…WRUA manage specific water sheds with the main role of monitoring water use and curbing misuse. Despite this, a large amount of water is extracted for irrigation in the up and midstream region, leaving little or no water for downstream communities, often leading to water-related conflicts (Kiteme, 2020;Lesrima et al, 2021).…”
Section: Application Of Kilimo Na Maji: Results From Two Games Sessionsmentioning
confidence: 99%
“…Downstream communities were perceived to be neutral on most of the crops, including those with a high-water requirement. This was an unexpected result, since there is documented evidence of persistent water-related conflicts between pastoralists in the downstream and crop farmers in the upstream, originating from what downstream communities consider as excessive irrigation in the upstream region Kiteme, 2020;Lesrima et al, 2021;Mutiga et al, 2010). This could mean that although farmers were aware of the downstream communities' preferences, this awareness yielded to the need to please other reference groups.…”
Section: Farmers' Perceived Preferences Of Reference Groupsmentioning
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