Adaptive Capacity to Mitigate Climate Variability and Food Insecurity of Rural Communities Along River Tana Basin, Kenya

Abstract

Climate variability is one of the leading natural threats and a root cause of food insecurity in the developing world, more so in Africa. It is a major impediment to the accomplishment of the global Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), Vision 2030 and Big Four agenda in the Kenyan context. The rise in occurrence and brutality of extreme events resulting from variability of climate including prolonged flooding and drought has become more pronounced in the relatively drier areas. This chapter presents a synthesis about rural communities in Garissa and Tana River Counties, Kenya. The key environmental conditions that face the rural communities in the two counties are prolonged drought and recurrent flooding events. The two conditions have resulted in various challenges facing the communities in these regions through low agricultural production (food and pastures), poor infrastructure, human displacement, and the resultant extreme poverty, overall food insecurity, and tough livelihoods. The problems have been exacerbated by lack of capacity by most of the community members to cushion themselves against these impacts. However, as the conditions continue to manifest themselves, the community members have also identified adaptive mechanisms that are best suited in the region including planting drought-resistant crop varieties, diversifying their livelihoods, embrace sustainable land use, and made efforts to plant trees. We, therefore, conclude that integrated information sharing including early warning alongside affordable and appropriate technologies and crop insurance could be an entry point in cushioning the local communities in the arid and semiarid lands (ASALs) against the extreme weather conditions experienced in the region.

Food Insecurity: Is Leagility a Potential Remedy?

“…This difference between adaptive capacity and resistance capacity is very important when considering food security at household through to global levels and is worthy of further research. Whilst adaptive capacity is considered within the literature in terms of food security, for example, in Kenya [ 116 , 117 ] and Ethiopia [ 118 ], among others, resistance capacity has not been widely studied. The work of Folke et al [ 119 ] suggested that food security resilience needs to be considered in terms of adaptive capacity, resistance capacity, i.e., surviving shocks whilst retaining existing structures and functionality, and transformative capacity to transition to new models of operation.…”

Socioeconomic determinants of modern climate change adaptation of small-scale vegetable farmers in Bohlabela District, Mpumalanga Province

“…Without human insights, data and the hard sciences will not be able to address the challenges of the future since adaptation is an inherently human endeavor (Shah, 2020). In addition, adaptation is determined by socioeconomic context and location (Bhatta et al, 2015) and as such, small-scale farmers' understanding of climate change is necessary for effective adaptation strategies (Karienye and Macharia, 2021). Without understanding, coping strategies and social safety nets are put under increased strain (Thornton et al, 2014).…”

Spatial–Temporal Influence of Sand Dams on Chemical and Microbial Properties of Water from Scooping Holes in Degraded Semi-Arid Regions

“…The impact of inadequate and poor water quality is mainly hard felt in the arid and semi-arid areas, which are on the rise due to deforestation, land degradation and the impact of climate change [6]. More often, these areas face torrential rains, massive flooding, sand mining and harvesting, leading to poor quality water, while other times prolonged droughts cause inadequate water supply [7][8][9].…”