Pastoralists say it with (their camel’s) feet. Flows in the Ewaso Ngiro River are in decline and, increasingly frequently and for increasing lengths of time, the river runs dry completely as water is abstracted upstream for irrigation. On the other hand, as forests in the upper catchment have been cut down or degraded and the wetlands that used to store run-off converted to irrigation, flood peaks have become more pronounced with bridges that have resisted for decades being swept away and tourism infrastructure along its banks damaged. This has created problems for the vulnerable communities and wildlife downstream as the ecosystem services that the river provides, dry-season grazing, the recharge of wells, etc. are affected. The plans to build a mega-dam to turn Isiolo town into the Las Vegas of Northern Kenya will make all of this much worse and the downstream people have decided that their plight should be heard so they packed up their camels and trekked upstream along the river to state their case. In this wonderful documentary by Khamis Ramadhan, who also made KENWEB’s Tana Delta movie, you can see how they reacted. youtu.be/I1N5Qv1cIqY
Posted on: Sun, 28 Sep 2014 13:27:12 +0000
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