Traditional strategies used by pastoralists to cope with la nina induced drought in Kajiado, Kenya

Pastoralists traditionally relied on herd mobility to cope with drought. In the pastoral areas of Kajiado, Kenya this strategy is now threatened by increased individual land ownership as compared to communal access. Drought frequency as related to El-Nino and Southern Oscillation (ENSO) is predicated to increase with climate change. The aim of the study was investigate the use of herd mobility strategy in the ENSO related 1999/2000 la Nina induced drought under different land tenure types and varying household cattle wealth. The study found that despite changes in land tenure, herd mobility was used as a coping strategy. Households rich in livestock applied the herd mobility strategy more than the poorer ones by moving a larger proportion of their herds. Poorer households applied the strategy of keeping drought resistant animals more than richer ones by having a higher proportion of goats and sheep than cattle. Institutional land units of Kiboko Range Research Station and Chyulu National Reserve which had higher herbaceous biomass were the most favored refuge areas for livestock during the drought. In conclusion poorer families are likely to be impacted more from increased incidents of ENSO droughts due inability to use the herd mobility option.Key words: La-Nina, climate change, drought, pastoralist, herd mobility, land use type

Resilience of soils and vegetation subjected to different grazing intensities in a semi-arid rangeland of Kenya

The resilience of rangeland soils and vegetation to different levels of grazing is still poorly understood. A study was conducted to determine the recovery of a rangeland grazed at different intensities and allowed a two-year rest period. The following treatments were applied to 0.5 hectare plots: 0, 4, 8 and 16 heifers per hectare, hereafter referred to as CL, X, 2X and 4X respectively. At the end of the grazing period, the highest stocked treatments (2X and 4X) had lower herbage biomass, higher soil bulk density, lower soil moisture and lower herbaceous cover than the lower stocked treatments (CL and X). Drought in the rest period caused an increase in bulk density and decline in soil moisture in all the treatments. Even after the two-year rest period, the more heavily grazed treatments had higher bulk density and lower heavily grazed treatments had higher bulk density and lower soil moisture than the more lightly grazed treatments. Similarly, the herbaceous biomass in the 2X and 4X treatments did not recover after the two-year rest period and was lower (P<0.05) than the CL and X treatments. At the end of the recovery period a trend of declining herbaceous cover with stocking density was still evident. The relative cover of forbs in the 4X treatments increased more than in the other treatments, while the cover of perennial grasses did not recover in the 4X treatments after the rest period. Thus, stocking above 2X produced negative soil and vegetation responses which did not recover during the two-year rest period. This study also indicated that drought can cause vegetation and soil responses similar to those of overgrazing