Plant species and their importance to housing in the Turkana community, Kenya

Ejore, Everlyne; Ongugo, Roxventa; Kemboi, Jackline; Ojunga, Samson Okoth; Mwenja, Patrick; Owino, Jesse Omondi

doi:10.5897/jhf2020.0634

J. Hortic. For.

2020

DOI: 10.5897/jhf2020.0634

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Plant species and their importance to housing in the Turkana community, Kenya

Everlyne Ejore¹,

Roxventa Ongugo²,

Jackline Kemboi³

et al.

Abstract: There are many native species that are important to local communities globally. There have been studies on the importance of these plant species for many uses by local communities. Though, there is scanty information on these species' recognition by researchers. Despite the harsh climatic conditions in Turkana (semi-arid to arid), the community has over the years developed strategies for conservation of some sections of important woodland and riparian zones that provide multiple goods and services for the peop… Show more

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Cited by 3 publications

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Predicted changes in distribution and richness of wild edible plants under climate change scenarios in northwestern Kenya

Oluoch,

Borgemeister,

de Deus Vidal Junior

et al. 2024

Reg Environ Change

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Wild edible plants (WEPs) can provide diverse and nutrient-rich food sources that contribute to the health and well-being of communities worldwide. In northwestern Kenya, WEPs are vital dietary components for nomadic pastoral communities with limited access to diverse cultivated food crops. However, the increasing impact of climate change poses a threat to these valuable food resources, and their sustainable utilization remains precarious. Here, we assessed the potentially suitable habitats and richness of 23 selected WEPs in the region using a species distribution modeling (SDM) approach. We used species occurrence points from global databases, a national herbarium, and field surveys and made predictions spanning two future time intervals, 2041–2070 and 2071–2100, across three shared socioeconomic pathways (126, 370, and 585) using bioclimatic variables from five global circulation models. We also included soil and topographic variables in our models. We calibrated maximum entropy models using individually tuned parameters. Our future predictions showed a predominant decline in habitat suitability for half the studied WEPs. The richness of the selected WEPs are predicted to remain rather stable under projected future climates concentrating in southern parts of Turkana County. Conservation and management measures need to consider the changing availability of these valuable resources in order to underpin the dietary diversification of local communities.

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Predicted changes in distribution and richness of wild edible plants under climate change scenarios in northwestern Kenya

Oluoch,

Borgemeister,

de Deus Vidal Junior

et al. 2024

Reg Environ Change

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

Indigenous communities’ perceptions reveal threats and management options of wild edible plants in semiarid lands of northwestern Kenya

Oluoch

Whitney

Termote

et al. 2023

J Ethnobiology Ethnomedicine

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Background Understanding how local communities perceive threats and management options of wild edible plants (WEPs) is essential in developing their conservation strategies and action plans. Due to their multiple use values, including nutrition, medicinal, construction, and cultural as well as biotic and abiotic pressures, WEPs are exposed to overexploitation, especially within arid and semiarid lands, and hence the need to manage and conserve them. We demonstrate how an understanding of indigenous communities’ perceptions could be achieved through an integrated participatory approach involving focus group discussions (FGDs) and field plot surveys. Methods We conducted three FGDs between October 2020 and April 2021 within three community units in northwestern Kenya with different socioeconomic and environmental characteristics. We subsequently surveyed 240 field plots of size 1 ha each to assess threats facing WEPs within a 5 km buffer radius in every study community. We compared ranks of threats and management options across community units. Results Rankings of threats and management options differed across the three study communities. We obtained strong positive linear relationships between field and FGD rankings of threats facing WEPs. Climate change, overstocking, overharvesting, and invasive species were the highest-ranked threats. Mitigation of climate change, local knowledge preservation, selection, propagation, processing, and marketing of WEPs ranked high among possible management options irrespective of the socioeconomic and environmental characteristics of the community unit. Conclusions Our approach emphasizes the relevance of leveraging indigenous communities’ perceptions and conducting field plot surveys to assess threats and management options for WEPs. Evaluating the effectiveness and cost–benefit implications of implementing the highly ranked management options could help determine potentially suitable habitats of the WEPs for conservation and management purposes, especially for priority WEPs.

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Desert Locust (Schistocerca gregaria) Invasion Risk and Vegetation Damage in a Key Upsurge Area

Mongare

Abdel‐Rahman

Mudereri

et al. 2023

Earth

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In the recent past, the Horn of Africa witnessed an upsurge in the desert locust (Schistocerca gregaria) invasion. This has raised major concerns over the massive food insecurity, socioeconomic impacts, and livelihood losses caused by these recurring invasions. This study determined the potential vegetation damage due to desert locusts (DLs) and predicted the suitable habitat at high risk of invasion by the DLs using current and future climate change scenarios in Kenya. The normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) for the period 2018–2020 was computed using multi-date Sentinel-2 imagery in the Google Earth Engine platform. This was performed to assess the vegetation changes that occurred between May and July of the year 2020 when northern Kenya was the hotspot of the DL upsurge. The maximum entropy (MaxEnt) algorithm was used together with 646 DL occurrence records and six bioclimatic variables to predict DL habitat suitability. The current (2020) and two future climatic scenarios for the shared socioeconomic pathways SSP2-4.5 and SSP5-8.5 from the model for interdisciplinary research on climate (MIROC6) were utilized to predict the future potential distribution of DLs for the year 2030 (average for 2021–2040). Using Turkana County as a case, the NDVI analysis indicated the highest vegetation damage between May and July 2020. The MaxEnt model produced an area under the curve (AUC) value of 0.87 and a true skill statistic (TSS) of 0.61, while temperature seasonality (Bio4), mean diurnal range (Bio2), and precipitation of the warmest quarter (Bio18) were the most important bioclimatic variables in predicting the DL invasion suitability. Further analysis demonstrated that currently 27% of the total area in Turkana County is highly suitable for DL invasion, and the habitat coverage is predicted to potentially decrease to 20% in the future using the worst-case climate change scenario (SSP5-8.5). These results have demonstrated the potential of remotely sensed data to pinpoint the magnitude and location of vegetation damage caused by the DLs and the potential future risk of invasion in the region due to the available favorable vegetational and climatic conditions. This study provides a scalable approach as well as baseline information useful for surveillance, development of control programs, and monitoring of DL invasions at local and regional scales.

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Plant species and their importance to housing in the Turkana community, Kenya

Cited by 3 publications

References 12 publications

Predicted changes in distribution and richness of wild edible plants under climate change scenarios in northwestern Kenya

Predicted changes in distribution and richness of wild edible plants under climate change scenarios in northwestern Kenya

Indigenous communities’ perceptions reveal threats and management options of wild edible plants in semiarid lands of northwestern Kenya

Desert Locust (Schistocerca gregaria) Invasion Risk and Vegetation Damage in a Key Upsurge Area

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