Environmental Engineering Reference
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that change property regimes of resources such as that enforced by 'new legislation'.''
Unfortunately Oba (2011) does not further clarify this contention.
We acknowledge that abundance can also trigger conflicts. However, in our view
abundance conflicts are not so much between the direct users of these resources, but
more likely between players from different backgrounds - e.g., an outsider elite versus
a local community whereby certain resources are captured in the hope of huge future
profits. One such example is the practice of grabbing land in anticipation of the arrival
of international players in agriculture or mining activities. Other issues seem to be at
stake that explain the findings of Witsenburg and Roba (2007). First, there are some
methodological problems that need to be addressed. These include their definition of
drought years, and the use of rainfall/drought years as a unilateral proxy for resource
scarcity, while disregarding geographical and temporal variety of the annual totals.
For example, using rainfall data for the area of conflict exclusively does not grasp the
situation the intruding party might have experienced in their area of origin. In other
words, the cause of the conflict, resource scarcity, was possibly across the border in
Ethiopia and not in northern Kenya. To grasp the full picture of motives and mobility
patterns, more information is needed for each of the clashes as presented by Oba
(2011). Similar methodological uncertainties exist with respect to the use of population
data for an area that hardly has any reliable data, at least not up until the 1960s.
Moreover, without a clear picture of who was fighting and killing who and for what
reason, especially if the attackers originated from other districts or countries for which
no data of resource availability is provided, we are left in a mathematical exercise
that foremost seems to tell us that in periods of abundance of grass and water in a
particular area conflicts are higher. Yet abundance of grass and water are synonymous
with
scarcity of cattle
, the ultimate missing link between natural resources and food
availability for human beings.
The overview presented by Witsenburg and Roba (2007) does not clarify whether
the raids and killings were committed over ownership and usufruct of grazing or water
resources, or whether they are an attempt to capture animals to restock one's own herd.
As the authors themselves indicate in reference to some of the pastoralists interviewed,
it does not make sense to raid livestock in times of stress as the animals are too weak
to trek over long distances and the risk of animals dying as a result of continuous
drought or lack of resources in the raiders' home area is too high. Witsenburg and
Roba's (2007) observation that average and wet years after a dry year do not show
an increase in violence makes one wonder if that is good enough to claim that the wet
years are
not
years for restocking. Taking total annual rainfall is far too rudimentary.
It would instead be better to look at the occurrence of cattle raids in rainfall periods
following a serious drought. Finally, conflicts are mainly reported as interethnic fights,
yet it is known that several African (pastoralist) communities are split along (sub)clan
and section (geographical) lines. These groups fight over resources at times as well.
Often these internal conflicts are a mixture of resource capture and political leadership
twists. Did the archival material allow for recognition of the latter type of conflicts
and were these subsequently left out of the equation as being not resource linked?
9
9
Conflicts, even if they start as 'genuine' resource conflicts might develop a political angle in
the course of the conflict when leaders misuse the opportunity to settle scores for a variety
of reasons, including political ones. The August/September 2012 upheaval in the Tana delta in
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