Page 10 - FMR64_Trafficking and smuggling & Climate crisis and local communities_2020_web

FMR 64
10 Climate crisis and local communities
www.fmreview.org/issue64 June 2020

own perspective and side-stepping the pitfalls have already had promising success in
of unilaterally applied external solutions. Tindouf and the Liberated Territories.
It is also significant, from the perspective
of aid provision, how one chooses to define This article was prepared with assistance from
Sahrawi refugees Taleb Brahim and Sidahmed
the parameters of the problem. A limited Jouly.
approach to environmental challenges in
Tindouf might focus on irregular rainfall Matthew Porges msp5@st-andrews.ac.uk
patterns, or the accumulation of plastic in the PhD student, Department of Social Anthropology,
diets (and products) of camp-raised livestock. University of St Andrews @matthew_porges
Broadening the perspective, however, to the 1. Porges M (2019) ‘Western Sahara and Morocco: Complexities
involvement of the refugees in, for instance, of Resistance and Analysis’, in de Vries L, Englebert P and
the nomadic economy of the Liberated Schomerus M (Eds) Secessionism in African Politics: Aspiration,
Grievance, Performance, Disenchantment. London: Palgrave
Territories means that drought and loss of 2. See Angeloni G and Carr J (2018) ‘Animal and human health in
pastureland must be included in the analysis. the Sahrawi refugee camps’, Forced Migration Review 58
A comprehensive environmental strategy will www.fmreview.org/economies/angeloni-carr
have to incorporate the full range of these 3. Horst C (2006) Transnational Nomads: How Somalis cope with
entanglements. No single environmental refugee life in the Dadaab camps of Kenya. New York: Berghahn
policy can tackle such disparate challenges, 4. Brahim T, Social Good Summit, New York City, 22 September
2019 bit.ly/twitter-Brahim-22092019
but individual refugee-centred strategies

Climate-induced involuntary migration: nomadic-
pastoralists’ search for elusive pastures in Kenya

Ekai Nabenyo
As the impacts of climate change grow more severe, Turkana nomadic-pastoralists are
increasingly being forced to move, rather than choosing to move. Their voices must be
heard at the local and international level, and their knowledge and insights must inform
policymaking.
I hail from Turkana, a nomadic-pastoralist changes – by moving into neighbouring
community that numbers approximately countries where they may either collaborate
one million and occupies the most arid or clash with their new neighbours.
parts of northwestern Kenya. Our region, Largely due to a feeling of being neglected
Turkana County, stretches to the Ethiopian, by government, there is a general reluctance
South Sudanese and Ugandan borders. by the Turkana and indeed all other
We keep cattle, donkeys, camels, goats pastoralists to follow immigration policies.
and sheep, and engage in transhumance, On its side, the government evidently does
moving livestock from place to place in not consider the challenges faced by the
search of water and greener pastures. Turkana as a priority, yet the conditions of
Turkana County is also known for this region demand innovative approaches.
its fragile state of security, with repeated Governments need to wake up to reality,
internal and cross-border attacks and and to be alert to weather patterns and the
counter-attacks from other pastoralist likelihood of pastoralists having to move with
communities in the region. While the world their livestock. The Turkana experience has
now considers climate change as a new highlighted how reactive the government is,
driver of internal displacement, pastoralist rather than proactive, even when information
communities have long had their own about a planned ‘distress migration’ of
ways of tackling the impacts of climate the pastoralists is available beforehand.