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News > Kenya

Kenya's Pastoralist Women Unbowed Despite Climate Crisis

  • Pastoralist woman searching for water at a well in Kenya.

    Pastoralist woman searching for water at a well in Kenya. | Photo: Twitter/ @Lepariyo

Published 9 March 2023
Opinion

Their contribution will be key to helping the country confront pressing challenges like climate-induced hunger crisis and economic downturn, said President Ruto.

Nuria Gollo, a livestock keeper and gender rights advocate from the vast northern Kenyan county of Marsabit that neighbors Ethiopia, said that losing nearly all her cows and goats to the raging drought in her backyard has been traumatizing.

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The 50-year-old mother of five said that the worst drought to hit a large swathe of northern Kenya in four decades has upended the livelihoods of herders and subsistence farmers, pushing them to the brink of starvation and financial ruin.

Speaking at an event to mark International Women's Day in Nairobi, Gollo admitted that an acute dry spell linked to climate change has taken a heavier toll on the female pastoralists who have been robbed of their prized possessions, and reduced to a life of penury.

"The drought is getting worse in northern Kenya. Our cows and goats are dying. Even camels that are renowned for their resilience to extreme heat are also succumbing," Gollo said.

She was among a group of women and girls from Kenya's arid lands that are currently ravaged by drought who attended an event to mark International Women's Day convened by Plan International, a development and humanitarian organization.

Gollo painted a picture of a dire humanitarian crisis that is unfolding in the drought-affected counties, with women and girls bearing the brunt of hunger, malnutrition, water stress, and displacement.

She described the devastation that the climate crisis has brought to the nomadic communities in Marsabit, Kenya's largest county, saying that women, despite being the victims, have also taken the mantle to confront the phenomenon.

As nomadic women and girls face a bleak future due to climate change, a good number of them have also risen to the occasion to offer solutions by leveraging indigenous knowledge to help boost the resilience of grassroots communities and their ecosystems.

Gollo said the tenacity and resilience of pastoralist women in the face of the climate crisis has manifested itself prominently as they initiate projects like reforestation, and conservation of watersheds to boost the adaptive capacity of households.

She added that women and girls in Kenya's northern frontier districts have been on the frontline of climate response, motivated by the desire to bequeath a green, hopeful and prosperous future for their children.

Kenya marked International Women's Day with pomp and pageantry, as senior officials acknowledged the critical role of the female gender in the realization of the sustainability agenda, peace and stability.

President William Ruto reiterated his administration's commitment to achieving gender parity in all spheres of public service, to ensure Kenya becomes a prosperous and inclusive society.

He noted that women's contribution will be key to helping the country confront pressing challenges like climate-induced hunger crisis and economic downturn that threatens long-term stability.

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