Climate change, a thorn in flesh of the Kenyan economy
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E-mail Xinhua, April 22, 2013
Intensifying climatic variation and shifts associated with global warming have forced Kenya's government agencies to review their policies to include communities, as the change in nature has serious implications for people and the economy of the country.
Kenya's tourism sector contributes 12 percent of Kenya's Gross Domestic Product (GDP) since 80 percent of tourism depends on wildlife.
But like other key economic sectors in the country, as depicted by variations in weather patterns, unpredictable levels of water in lakes and rivers, frequent and prolonged drought and floods, courtesy of unpredictable climate change, all is not well in the industry.
These occurrences have adverse impacts on the Kenyan economy and livelihoods of the population which largely depends on natural resources such as water, land, plants and animals.
"Extended droughts affect the pattern and distribution of wildlife as they move in search of pasture as predators too, also move in search of prey. In the course of these movements predators attack livestock leading to human wildlife conflicts," Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) Spokesman Paul Mbugua told Xinhua in an interview.
He noted that wildlife and tourism sectors, which support a large proportion of the GDP, are particularly vulnerable to the impacts of climate change.
The climate shifts have in recent years forced KWS to take drastic action to preserve the stunning scenery and wildlife that have drawn millions of tourists to the East African country, bringing vital revenue and providing thousands of jobs.
"Where we have more rains, flooding sometimes occur and displaces plains animals. Vegetation changes also occur sometimes, giving room to invasive species of plants that are not useful to the animals that use the range," he added.
Mbugua observed that the unpredictable weather patterns indicate that it is not possible to predict the movements of wildlife hence the difficulty of putting in measures to minimize human wildlife conflicts.
In an effort to help save the worsening situation, KWS has put in place some climate change mitigation measures, including mechanical removal of invasive species which had invaded some parks thereby reducing available pasture.
In Lake Nakuru, for example, invasive species plant which has invaded the park thereby reducing available pasture is being removed mechanically.
The removal of Solanum incarnum has a net effect of increasing areas available for wildlife to forage thus keeping wildlife in the park.
According to Mbugua, tourists benefit from this as they derive more satisfaction as wildlife is readily available for them to see.
In other parks such as Amboseli, Tsavo East, Tsavo West and Aberdares effort are being made to reclaim degraded areas by replanting them with the natural vegetation.
Provision of water in and outside the parks is also being done to check the distribution of both wildlife and livestock in the ecosystem.
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