Herding in Africa, Ancient Practice Being Wiped Away
International Desk
November 07, 2009
In one of the worst seasons yet, Mahat Hassan carries one of his weak calves on a donkey cart to a watering point at a remote hamlet in Kenya's Northeastern Province. The sweltering heat here is testimony to the biting season that has ravaged most of the Muslim dominated region.
Painful History
"We are now at the peak of another drought," said Hassan to IslamOnline.net (IOL).
"The animals are dying once again. This time water is our biggest worry because most of the wells in the village have completely dried up and the remaining ones are on the verge of doing so." The other drought Hassan is referring to took place back in 2006; it killed 80% of his cattle and left him with only 50 cows for this season. About 15 years ago, Hassan was an affluent pastoralist with 500 heads of cattle, 300 goats, and 200 camels.
"This was when rains were abundant, our animals were very productive, and we were never worried like we are now," he recalls. Over the past two decades, he witnessed a series of droughts that have threatened his pastoral survival, these droughts forced many herders to cross into neighboring Ethiopia and parts of Somalia. But because of climate change, the lifestyle of his predominantly pastoral community that has existed for centuries is now at risk. The weather patterns have become unpredictable with recurrent droughts, as well as occasional flash floods that wipe out any livestock that survive the drought. The environment in his locality is warming more than it used to, putting the Somali community in the front line of global climate change. Hassan´s family is surviving on the edge. Pastures are dwindling by the day and temperatures soaring close to 40°C. The strain on the few water sources, mainly boreholes, has been enormous and the threat of conflict over them looms more than ever before. "Some years back we used to know when it will rain, because we knew the seasons like the back of our hands," Hassan said. "These years, harsh seasons are common for us; the rains are no longer predictable."
The Impact
Hassan is not alone, similar situations are facing thousands of Muslim herders in this region of the East African county. The Kenyan government has started an ambitious emergency program that allows pastoralists to sell their weakest animals to the Kenya Meat Commission for slaughter. The government will spend about 700 million Kenya shillings (about US$1 Million) on the program. In countries like Kenya, Ethiopia, Somalia and Djibouti, nomadic families are groaning under the weight of the paralyzing effects of climate change. It is becoming much harder to tend livestock as the threat of losing one's entire stock becomes inevitable due to the changing weather patterns. Residents are sounding alarm bells as the threat becomes grave. "Every year our land is dry and animals are reducing in number, some people have already lost confidence in herding, opting instead to settle as refugees in urban centers and relying on relief food," said villager Ahmed Idris to IOL. Mr. Abdikadir Sheikh, an official in the Kenya National Environmental Management Authority (NEMA) told IOL that, "In the last two decades there has been no respite from dry spells, in almost every year we have witnessed cyclic dry seasons, scorching temperatures and erratic rains."
In the Horn of Africa region, millions of families are desperate for food and water. Several seasons of failed rains is slowly turning into a major catastrophe. In Kenya an estimated 100,000 livestock have been lost to the current season. "People have been bracing for long hot seasons with record heat and scarce water. At the moment we are facing the worst water crisis ever," said Mr. Mohamed Mursal to IOL, an aid worker with Oxfam International, one of the organizations pressing for a fair deal. Although the continent contributes little to the greenhouse gas emissions blamed for warming, it has been hit hardest by its outcome of droughts, floods, heat waves and rising sea levels.
The effect of climate change in the continent (which is home to 15 out of the 20 most vulnerable countries in the world), translates into an impending humanitarian crisis for 75 to 250 million people by 2020.
Fighting For a Fair Deal
African leaders are fronting for a common ground to address the effects of warming, including a united stand in the Copenhagen climate talks later this year. About 192 countries will participate in the upcoming United Nations climate change conference in Copenhagen. Pressure groups and campaigners are calling for a bold campaign to include developing countries most affected by global warming in the decision making process. The Conference of African Heads of State and Government on Climate Change (CAHOSCC) are to spearhead negotiations. Earlier this year, Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi called on affluent countries to compensate Africa for climate change. Africa demanded between US$67 billion and 200 billion annually in compensation. "It is time for Africa to aggressively engage with climate change negotiations to ensure its interests are met in the designing of global responses," said African Union Commission chairman Jean Ping in a recent meeting to formulate a common stand. But the livelihood of millions of Africans hangs in the balance, as the herders worst hit by the droughts are wary that the Copenhagen talks will be unsuccessful. "We have not realized the fruits of [the] Kyoto protocol. What we are seeing is mere paper work," said Kaltuma Maalim, a co-ordinator at the District Livestock Marketing Council in Wajir. "There is not much anticipation for us who are affected by the change in climate," she told IOL. "Poor people's lives are being devastated by climate change and 2009 is a major opportunity for us to significantly influence their future," said Barbara Stocking, a campaigner with Oxfam International, to IOL. For now a decision by world leaders to strike a deal to stop global warming could probably be the last chance for the continuity of herding animals, an ancient practice that is now slowly being wiped out.
Painful History
"We are now at the peak of another drought," said Hassan to IslamOnline.net (IOL).
"The animals are dying once again. This time water is our biggest worry because most of the wells in the village have completely dried up and the remaining ones are on the verge of doing so." The other drought Hassan is referring to took place back in 2006; it killed 80% of his cattle and left him with only 50 cows for this season. About 15 years ago, Hassan was an affluent pastoralist with 500 heads of cattle, 300 goats, and 200 camels.
"This was when rains were abundant, our animals were very productive, and we were never worried like we are now," he recalls. Over the past two decades, he witnessed a series of droughts that have threatened his pastoral survival, these droughts forced many herders to cross into neighboring Ethiopia and parts of Somalia. But because of climate change, the lifestyle of his predominantly pastoral community that has existed for centuries is now at risk. The weather patterns have become unpredictable with recurrent droughts, as well as occasional flash floods that wipe out any livestock that survive the drought. The environment in his locality is warming more than it used to, putting the Somali community in the front line of global climate change. Hassan´s family is surviving on the edge. Pastures are dwindling by the day and temperatures soaring close to 40°C. The strain on the few water sources, mainly boreholes, has been enormous and the threat of conflict over them looms more than ever before. "Some years back we used to know when it will rain, because we knew the seasons like the back of our hands," Hassan said. "These years, harsh seasons are common for us; the rains are no longer predictable."
The Impact
Hassan is not alone, similar situations are facing thousands of Muslim herders in this region of the East African county. The Kenyan government has started an ambitious emergency program that allows pastoralists to sell their weakest animals to the Kenya Meat Commission for slaughter. The government will spend about 700 million Kenya shillings (about US$1 Million) on the program. In countries like Kenya, Ethiopia, Somalia and Djibouti, nomadic families are groaning under the weight of the paralyzing effects of climate change. It is becoming much harder to tend livestock as the threat of losing one's entire stock becomes inevitable due to the changing weather patterns. Residents are sounding alarm bells as the threat becomes grave. "Every year our land is dry and animals are reducing in number, some people have already lost confidence in herding, opting instead to settle as refugees in urban centers and relying on relief food," said villager Ahmed Idris to IOL. Mr. Abdikadir Sheikh, an official in the Kenya National Environmental Management Authority (NEMA) told IOL that, "In the last two decades there has been no respite from dry spells, in almost every year we have witnessed cyclic dry seasons, scorching temperatures and erratic rains."
In the Horn of Africa region, millions of families are desperate for food and water. Several seasons of failed rains is slowly turning into a major catastrophe. In Kenya an estimated 100,000 livestock have been lost to the current season. "People have been bracing for long hot seasons with record heat and scarce water. At the moment we are facing the worst water crisis ever," said Mr. Mohamed Mursal to IOL, an aid worker with Oxfam International, one of the organizations pressing for a fair deal. Although the continent contributes little to the greenhouse gas emissions blamed for warming, it has been hit hardest by its outcome of droughts, floods, heat waves and rising sea levels.
The effect of climate change in the continent (which is home to 15 out of the 20 most vulnerable countries in the world), translates into an impending humanitarian crisis for 75 to 250 million people by 2020.
Fighting For a Fair Deal
African leaders are fronting for a common ground to address the effects of warming, including a united stand in the Copenhagen climate talks later this year. About 192 countries will participate in the upcoming United Nations climate change conference in Copenhagen. Pressure groups and campaigners are calling for a bold campaign to include developing countries most affected by global warming in the decision making process. The Conference of African Heads of State and Government on Climate Change (CAHOSCC) are to spearhead negotiations. Earlier this year, Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi called on affluent countries to compensate Africa for climate change. Africa demanded between US$67 billion and 200 billion annually in compensation. "It is time for Africa to aggressively engage with climate change negotiations to ensure its interests are met in the designing of global responses," said African Union Commission chairman Jean Ping in a recent meeting to formulate a common stand. But the livelihood of millions of Africans hangs in the balance, as the herders worst hit by the droughts are wary that the Copenhagen talks will be unsuccessful. "We have not realized the fruits of [the] Kyoto protocol. What we are seeing is mere paper work," said Kaltuma Maalim, a co-ordinator at the District Livestock Marketing Council in Wajir. "There is not much anticipation for us who are affected by the change in climate," she told IOL. "Poor people's lives are being devastated by climate change and 2009 is a major opportunity for us to significantly influence their future," said Barbara Stocking, a campaigner with Oxfam International, to IOL. For now a decision by world leaders to strike a deal to stop global warming could probably be the last chance for the continuity of herding animals, an ancient practice that is now slowly being wiped out.