BY MAINA WARURU
The United Nations (UN) is calling on governments in the horn of Africa to take urgent measures to help pastoralists cope with negative impacts of climate change.

The international body is asking governments to among others facilitate cross border movement of herders in pursuit of pastures and water, and take action to prevent conflict among pastoralists groups whose mobility is increasing as climate change continues to impact of their lifestyles.

In a statement released last week by UN agencies operating under the auspices of “Security In Mobility”(SIM) the UN expressed concerns that unpredictable and extreme weather was increasing mobility of pastoralists communities increasing incidents of conflict and insecurity.

The grouping said that migration patterns among the Maasai, Turkana, Somali and Karamoja were changing rapidly with mobility increasing as communities moved across international borders in a bid to save their stocks from deaths caused by inadequate pastures-a consequence of drought.

The herders in the region were thus moving in and out of Uganda, Kenya Ethiopia Sudan and Somalia and the challenge was upon regional authorities to in place measures that ensured that movement did not result in conflicts.
“Many pastoralists are no longer safe during their migration and stay in foreign countries and there is no formal framework to guarantee their security” said Mark Bowden UN’s humanitarian coordinator for Somalia.

The UN officials said that pastoralists needed top continue crossing international and administrative borders to survive extreme effects of climate change and asked governments to collaborate in ensuring the movement did not breed insecurity.

Vulnerability among the livestock keepers in the horn was increasing with climate change and a collaborative approach among governments was needed to ensure scarce resources benefited all, without necessarily causing conflict.

The horn of Africa has in the past 2 years suffered severe drought causing losses of millions of livestock owned by the regions’ pastoralists. It has also put some 3 million people at risk of starvation as per 2009 estimates.

Frequent and severe drought associated with changing climate trend has been fuelling conflict over diminishing water and pasture resources leading to hundreds of deaths throughout the region.

Worst hit is the northern Kenya region where wholesale slaughter of villages has been witnessed in the past 4 years by communities quarrelling over grazing rights and water points.

Similar fighting has become common place in northern Kenya triangle along the Sudan-Kenya-Uganda-Ethiopia border where Turakana (Kenya), Toposa(Sudan ), Karamoja(Uganda) and Merille(Ethiopia) communities have carried deadly raids on each other leaving in their wake death and devastation all in the name of livestock their main source of livelihood.
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