Oil extraction and public attitudes: A conjoint experiment in Turkana, Kenya

Oil extraction and the changing dynamics of pastoral conflicts: a conjoint experiment in Turkana, Kenya

“…In this conjoint experiment, the positive and negative consequences of oil extraction that are randomly presented to the respondents draw from existing studies introduced in the previous section. For a more detailed explanation of the experimental design, see the companion article (Kim & Mkutu 2021). Various consequences are grouped into seven attributes, namely, job creation ; local public goods provision by oil companies in the form of corporate social responsibility or infrastructure building; new economic and business opportunities ; limited access to resources essential for pastoralism ; consequences of environmental degradation ; social changes due to a rapid influx of population from outside Turkana; and types of conflicts that have occurred since oil extraction began .…”

“…Second, if the change in the pastoralist population hypothesis is at work, priming for the increases in job opportunities throughout Turkana ( Job_Turkana ) and also near oil sites in Turkana ( Job_Local ) would decrease the respondents’ perceived risks of conflict between Turkana and Pokot because the respondents would expect many pastoralists, particularly the young male population, to now be employed in the oil sector, and thus fewer pastoralists would be available to engage in pastoral conflicts. Third, the focus group discussions (See Kim & Mkutu 2021) conducted prior to implementing the survey revealed that the people of Turkana often feel a sense of inequality given that job creation in Turkana disproportionately benefits those who are outsiders or immigrants who moved to Turkana for job opportunities when oil extraction began (Kim & Mkutu 2021). However, Turkana people's resentful feelings toward new immigrants are not likely to intensify the existing tension and pastoral conflicts between Turkana and Pokot.…”

“…If the change in the pastoralist population hypothesis is at work, the respondents, when primed about social changes, would expect the risks of pastoral conflicts to decrease given that fewer people and young males would be involved in pastoralism and pastoral conflicts. By contrast, given that the Turkana people's perception of inequality is strengthened by a sudden influx of new immigrants to Turkana searching for new job and business opportunities (Kim & Mkutu 2021), priming about social changes due to sudden population inflows can potentially affect perceptions of conflict risks through the inequality hypothesis. However, since the resentment is not likely to target the Pokot or neighbouring ethnic groups, the inequality mechanism is not likely to explain the respondents’ perceived risks of pastoral conflicts.…”

“…One of the negative consequences of oil extraction is environmental degradation, which can lead to damage to biodiversity, increased air and water pollution, and negative impacts on human and animal health from polluted water and resources (Mkutu et al 2019; Kim & Mkutu 2021). Some of these consequences directly impose pressures on already scarce resources that are essential for pastoralism, such as water, pasture, vegetation, cattle and livestock, and such constraints can increase tensions between pastoral communities by intensifying the competition over these resources.…”