A REGION IN CONFLICT
TENSION OVER LAND RIGHTS
In the past 50 years, the world’s wildlife population has declined by nearly 70%.
This holds true even in Kenya, a country which has spent unparalleled energy protecting some of the most magnificent wildlife still around today. The stories of modern conservation and Kenya are inextricably linked, and there is a multibillion dollar tourism industry riding on that reality. With over 1 million plant and animal species expected to be driven to extinction over the coming decades, it’s hard to argue with the need to protect and conserve our planet’s remaining wild spaces.
Yet despite the ever growing need to conserve, the western world often overlooks the strain that typical conservation work puts on local communities and indigenous peoples. Many have traditionally co-existed with wildlife for millennia without needing laws and fences to mitigate their impact. Nonetheless, they find themselves on the front lines of climate change, bearing a lion’s share of the burden.
CONFLICT AND CONSERVATION
This strain comes into stark relief in the region of Laikipia. In the midst of one of the most barren, overgrazed landscapes in Kenya, lies a verdant 100,000-acre oasis.
Originally cordoned-off by colonists, the Laikipia Nature Conservancy is run by an Italian family and dedicated to protecting native plants and animals. Scorching droughts that traditionally happened every decade are now increasing in frequency and intensity, amplifying the contrast between the fertile fenced-in lands of the Conservancy and the surrounding areas of the Pastoralists — the semi-nomadic, indigenous communities who derive their wealth, livelihoods and identity from their livestock herds.
Tied to the land, the Pastoralists graze cattle, sheep and goats, following the pasture as it fluctuates across the seasons.
The efforts of the Conservancy to protect the land and wildlife are in direct opposition with the needs of pastoral communities living along its border. And this chronic disempowerment of the indigenous community begets conflict. The surrounding pastoral communities are struggling to get by with almost no access to natural resources or political power in their own homeland. As drought increases and more grazing pastures are closed off in the name of conservation and development, and the region contends with the on-going legacy of post-colonialism, tensions are boiling over into violence.
A CLIMATE CRISIS ON ALL FRONTS
Climate change in Kenya is increasingly impacting the lives of Kenya’s citizens. In the film, a news anchor reports that Africa contributes just 4 percent of global carbon emissions, despite being the continent that will suffer the most from climate change. Some ways in which climate change affects Africa include:
• More frequent and intense hurricanes, wildfires, and droughts
• Food and water insecurity due to extreme drought
• Crop devastation and livestock starvation, which adversely affect those with agricultural livelihoods
• Forced migration in search of resources
• Poor health and low access to preventative measures
• Loss of cultural identity due to forced lifestyle changes
• Price inflation of resources such as food, livestock, and other survival necessities.