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Dorothy Akinyi Amwata
Practitioner Fellow at World Wildlife Fund
Location:
Kenya
Project Title: Climate Variability, Land Use, and Livelihoods in African Rangelands
Publications and Presentations: Forthcoming
Project Description
Of all the continents, Africa is the most vulnerable to climate change and variability due to its low adaptive capacity. This is a result of the deteriorating ecological base, widespread poverty, inequitable land distribution, a high economic dependence on the natural resource base, and a weakness in resilience systems.
In addition to climate variability, land is also becoming a great concern on the continent. Historically, the arid and semi-arid areas of Kenya supported the raising of livestock, where mobility was the key strategy to utilize the forage and rangeland resources. With population increases, these areas are increasingly being converted into farmland. This, combined with climate variation, has resulted in devastating famines and droughts that have led to increased food insecurity.
"One of the reasons for this worsening scenario is that climate information does not reach the needy so they can take precautions, such as storing food, planting drought-resistant varieties, or growing crops that mature early," said Dorothy Akinyi Amwata. "To reduce rural household vulnerability to famine and drought, there is a need to integrate climate issues in the socio-economic activities at the local and national levels."
Under her Alcoa Foundation fellowship, Amwata will address the missing link on accessibility and use of climate information under different land-use types and how the latter influence rural livelihoods. Specific objectives of the study are to:- Assess climate impacts, particularly with respect to drought, on rural households;
- Assess land degradation in terms of biophysical and socio-economic indicators under different land-use types; and
- Document the best traditional practices for coping with climate variability under different land-use types.
"The results obtained from the study will provide a baseline for the integration of climate information in agricultural policies that are based on rural household needs," said Amwata. "Also, the data generated will give a clear picture of land-use types and livelihoods, which will be vital as Kenya reviews its land-use policy and develops a better approach to national action programs to minimize land degradation."
Biographical Information
Dorothy Akinyi Amwata holds a B.Sc. and an M.Sc. in range management from the University of Nairobi in Kenya.
She currently is a junior officer in research for development at Observatoire du Sahara et du Sahel (OSS) in Tunisia, where she coordinates research activities and writes articles and proposals related to three multilateral environmental agreements-climate change, biodiversity, and desertification.
Previous experience includes serving as a research scientist with the Kenya Wildlife Service, where she worked on issues that included resource use conflicts, land use, food security, and livelihoods in the rangelands. She also was a lecturer with the Kenya Wildlife Training Institute, where she offered courses on wildlife conservation management, community wildlife management, and ecotourism.
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