Indigenous people and conservationists in Kenya are calling for the inclusion of climatic issues affecting their biodiversity around the Mara River basin in the COP28 conference in Dubai.  

The communities in the southern part of Kenya want the UN conference on climate change to focus on weighty implications for pastoral communities’ livelihoods in Arid and Semi-arid Areas especially in the counties of Narok and Kajiado.

Friends of Maasai Mara founder Prince Harris Taga said the indigenous people’s voices which play the biggest role in the climate change conversation were not heard well as the Paris Agreement on indigenous voices was never implemented or implemented partially.  

“As the pastoral communities we want attention to be paid to our concerns, priorities, and potential contribution across the 7 pillars of the African summit that was held in Nairobi recently by all African heads of states,”.

“Pastoralist communities who fall under the indigenous communities most of the environmental and other costs of renewable energy which most of it are implemented in their territories, “said Taga.

Speaking during a press conference in Narok town, Taga who is also the proprietor of Mara Napa camps in Maasai Mara and philanthropist said renewable energy should not undermine pastoralists’ access to their rangelands and Natural habitats and Natural mobility.

“On carbon Markets, we also want the indigenous communities included, since it targets their lands, like the Maasai Mau forest, Nyakwei forests, and the great Maasai Mara ecosystem” he added.

He said the community is also calling for equitable sharing of benefits accruing from carbon credit investments.

“Like in the climate finance and carbon credits financing should see to it that indigenous people territories protect their livelihoods and human rights and sustainability of their environment,” he added.

The organization also held the summit to focus on solutions to deal with biodiversity loss due to severe weather conditions. For five consecutive years, erratic weather has hit Kenya and the entire Horn of Africa region, in equal measures leading to the deaths of thousands of people and wildlife. 

Between 2020 and 2023, Kenya has grappled with devastating floods; forecasts suggest that the country could experience more flooding in the last quarter of this year.

Climate extremes are battering nature and conservation, leading to massive die-offs of wildlife recently in ASAL conservation areas, she explains that increased vulnerability of local communities to extreme climate impacts is pushing them into heavy reliance on natural resources for survival, leading to over-exploitation.

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For example, the Maasai Mara ecosystem would be sinking under its own global success due to climate change and global warming that is threatening its biodiversity, tour operators have warned.

According to the Basecamp Explorer Foundation founder; Svein Wilhelmsen erratic weather patterns where on one hand there is a lack of rainfall resulting in the ground being extremely dry and in other extreme cases there are heavy rains that cause flooding havoc threating its flora and fauna.

Svein said the unpredicted weather has resulted in a drastic decrease in wildlife numbers and the phenomena can only be reduced by protecting water sources. 

“We need immediate solutions through mitigation and adaptations like international and regional interventions securing our water resources which if not taken care of by erratic weather partners would affect our biodiversity-the wildlife-and would sink tourism in general,” said Svein.

He further called on tourism players in the ecosystem to seek funding from global platforms like the Green Climate Fund (GCF) and other donors to respond to climate change by investing in low-emission and climate-resilient development.

“This effort would be geared towards limiting or reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in developing countries like Kenya, and to help vulnerable societies adapt to the unavoidable impacts of climate change and protecting water sources like forests that play a big role in the Mara ecosystem,” he added.

Ecologists and scientists in the region have also raised a red flag that erratic weather patterns brought on by global warming are beginning to impact the wildebeest migration patterns in the Mara-Serengeti ecosystem. These migration patterns are modeled from rainfall and new vegetation growth.

Over 2 million wildebeest migrate in an enormous loop every year from Tanzania to Kenya in mid-June for pasture and in September they move from Kenya to Tanzania to breed.

The annual migration northwest, at the end of the rainy season in Serengeti (usually in May or June), is recognized as one of the “Seven Wonders of the Natural World.”

The migration involves mainly wildebeests, Elands, and zebras crossing to and from the Serengeti National Park in neighboring Tanzania. The search for greener pastures does not come without danger. Its migration route crosses many rivers, most filled with giant Nile crocodiles with peaks of the spectacular witnessed along the Mara River.

The Wildebeest, also called gnus, are members of the antelope family. They are related to oryxes and gazelles and spend three months in the Maasai Mara and nine months in the Serengeti but this might change.

Scientists based in the Par Lemein ecosystem say the change in length and timing of the rainy season is slowly reducing the amount of time wild animals spend in the Maasai Mara game reserve.  As a result, they migrate to Mara late and make the return trek to Serengeti earlier than anticipated.

Lemein who has been studying the patterns for the last 10 years says, in the near future, this is likely to have a direct impact on the thousands of tourists visiting the Mara from across the world during this annual wildebeest migration.

“The frequency of severe droughts increased and floods intensified in the Maasai Mara before 2018 but for the last 2 years or so there has been moderate rains due to the restoration of the Maasai Mau forest,” he said.

In the Maasai Mara reserve, the increased dry spells are also stoking conflict between humans and predators.

“When there is drought, the herbivores move into areas looking for pasture and water and they are followed by lions, who then attack cattle,” said David Sasine, a Maasai cultural ambassador based at Sarova Mara Lodge.

Conservationists also argue that the Mara ecosystem is now more polluted than ever before and is still under enormous threats arising from human activities.

The Mara is a transboundary resource shared by Kenya and Tanzania and it covers an area of 13,500 square kilometres with 65 percent of it being in Kenya.

It is believed that the climate change effects might be reversed following the ongoing rehabilitation and Conservation of the Mau forest complex that has led to increased water levels in the Mara River.

Delegates from Kenya and Tanzania during the Mara Day celebrations said there is a need to sustain efforts to conserve the Mara Basin, a regional resource.

The Kenyan government started the rehabilitation of the Mau forest complex by evicting more than 60,000 settlers and planting trees.

By George Sayagie