Geoscience Reference
In-Depth Information
These limitations became painfully apparent after the ALRMP closed in 2010.
The severity of the drought across the Horn of Africa in 2011 and the poor response
by all agencies strengthened the government's intent to establish permanent mecha-
nisms that would institutionalise the drought management system. This commit-
ment was given public expression in the 'Ending Drought Emergencies' (EDE)
country strategy presented at the summit of heads of state and government on the
Horn of Africa crisis held in Nairobi in September 2011.
Kenya's EDE strategy signals two important changes in the government's
approach to drought management. The fi rst is the need for permanent mechanisms,
such as the NDMA and the proposed National Drought Contingency Fund (NDCF).
The second is the recognition that repeated drought emergencies are in large part the
product of inequalities in access to public resources. Pastoralism has received little
of the investment enjoyed by other production systems in Kenya, such as priority
allocation of infrastructure funding, favourable fi scal packages and publicly subsi-
dised inputs. Rather, the arid lands have for many years been inappropriately subsi-
dised with food aid and other emergency assistance. Agencies have concentrated on
comparatively small projects in the absence of an appropriate enabling environment.
Drought resilience requires investment in the essential foundations which any com-
munity or production system needs to prosper, such as security, infrastructure and
human capital. In all these respects, the arid counties of Kenya have historically
been disadvantaged. For example, in Turkana in the early 1980s as much as 54 % of
the district was inaccessible to herders because of confl ict (Republic of Kenya
1985 ). The situation is little changed today.
The mechanisms to facilitate this shift in public resources have now been estab-
lished under the Constitution of Kenya 2010, which embeds the concept of equity
in the principles that govern the distribution of public resources, and which estab-
lishes mechanisms to compensate for historical marginalisation, such as the
Equalisation Fund.
11.3.2
The Benefi ts of Institutionalisation for Drought
Management
The mandate of the NDMA is to 'establish mechanisms to ensure that drought does
not become famine and the impacts of climate change are suffi ciently mitigated'. 1
As a parastatal, the Authority enjoys certain advantages over other institutional
options within government, such as a project or a ministerial department.
First, any restructuring of government, particularly that which follows an
election, is destabilising and disruptive to the functioning of the bureaucracy.
1 Two clarifi cations may be helpful. First, it is understood that a 'drought' cannot become a 'famine';
the two are different phenomena. The legal wording is generally interpreted to mean that while
drought is an inevitable and natural event, its worst effects can be avoided. Second, the term 'miti-
gation' is used in its everyday sense of avoiding a problem, and not as used under the climate
change regime (i.e. of reducing greenhouse gas emissions).
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