Restoring nature and peace threatened by climate change: monitoring human security benefits of EbA in Kenya

Grasslands provide several biodiversity, climate mitigation and socio-economic benefits, including the retention of soil carbon, habitat for a large diversity of animals and plant species, forage for livestock, and tourism. However, the benefits that grasslands provide are being jeopardized by climate change as more intense and frequent droughts negatively affect water provision, leading to the encroachment of woody species that present a survival advantage over grasses and to the prevalence of grasses that are less palatable for cattle. These impacts are further exacerbated by degradation, overgrazing, and land conversion. In Kenya, grassland restoration has shown to increase the income of pastoralists and could improve peace and human security due to the reduction in human-human and human-wildlife conflicts over limited water and fodder availability. This project conducted innovative research to build evidence on ecosystem-based adaptation interventions by understanding whether grassland restoration can maintain peace and human security in the context of a changing climate.

Project Status

Completed 31 December 2023

The project implemented 4 household surveys to understand the linkages between grassland restoration and conflicts, reaching 1,567 households. The results show that 88.9% of households interviewed experienced human-wildlife conflict during the time of the interviews, and 94.6% of the total number of households interviewed implemented strategies to mitigate human-wildlife conflicts. In contrast, a much lower percentage of households experienced social conflicts (32%), yet a high percentage of households use strategies to deal with human-human conflicts (87.04%).

There was a negative and significant correlation between the area restored in each site and the number of human-wildlife conflicts, showing that conflicts decrease as the area restored increases. However, the team did not find a decrease in human-wildlife conflicts through time as expected. Yet, they did find an overall decrease in social conflicts through time, as well as a reduction in the feeling of insecurity. There was also a negative and significant correlation between areas restored and the number of social conflicts. One similarity between human-wildlife conflicts and social conflicts is that environmental-related issues (e.g., droughts, limited water, limited grasslands) are overwhelmingly perceived as the main cause of conflicts. The results of the project contributed to the development of a technical brief, with the scientific paper based on the project being finalised for publishing.

More information can be found at Ecosystem-Based Adaptation (conservation.org).