Complexities of Natural Resources Conflict in Kenya: a Case Study of Laikipia Conflict

Abstract

Conflicts are extensively documented as a significant foundation of poverty and menace to pastoral communities and potential investors in the Arid and Semi-Arid Lands (ASALS) areas. Laikipia region is no different, as the recent spate of conflicts has led to many problems and challenges experienced in the region, and far beyond Kenyan boarders. The complexities of these conflicts have made the situation delicate to handle. The main objective was to investigate the complexities of natural resource conflicts in Kenya with the key focus on the Laikipia conflict. The specific Objectives of the study were; to assess the various actors, discourses and claims behind the recent Laikipia conflict, to assess the effects of the Laikipia conflict in relation to the county’s natural resources, livelihoods of local communities and conservancies, and to assess the implications of the conflict to the foreign relations between Britain and Kenya. This study is focused on facilitating to the speculative form of knowledge allied to the difficulty of the conflicts in Kenya that have gone on for many years. Although there has been focus on past conflicts, the findings of this research which is influenced by the recent web of violence will help build upon and support the outcomes of previous researchers on the Laikipia conflict and causes of violence in the region. The research was studied through the use of a descriptive and analytical research design. Target population for the study comprised of the members of local communities living in Laikipia region, county government, ranch owners, experts on conflict management, as well as other individuals working in the Laikipia County. The study used qualitative methods to gather primary and secondary data. The primary data was collected through interviews. The researcher concludes that politicians, inter-ethnic conflicts, drought situations, historical land injustices and human wildlife conflicts were major contributors to the violence experienced in Laikipia region. The study further concludes that the conflicts experienced in Laikipia has a huge negative effect on the county’s natural resources, such as the wildlife, the rangelands, and livestock, and led to huge losses to the investors and the community. The conflicts experienced in Laikipia had far-reaching effects on the people of Laikipia, and Kenya at large. The conflicts stirred a diplomatic row between Kenya and Britain which led to travel advisories against Laikipia region of Kenya. The researcher recommends that; a restoration of the northern rangelands, a modification different from pastoralism with other methods of incomes. Administration of livestock-holding volume on the rangelands ought to be at the front of any such long-term exertions, in conjunction with revitalization of the veterinary levels and administrations that formerly were in post-Independence Kenya, and active actions to market livestock. This will require active buy-in and consensus from all concerned stakeholders: the state, the pastoralist communities, and other land users of all scales, acting as development partners, not competitors. The national government as well as the county government of Laikipia should device a method to give the local communities a percentage of the proceeds from the tourism activities. The funds should be used to reclaim the pieces of lands in Laikipia that are not under use, so that they can ease pressure on the pastoralists during the dry seasons and thus stop the violence experience. Land adjudication in the region should also be carried out. The community land should also be subdivided into individual portion, and this will create a sense of ownership and boundaries. Further, it will make the pastoralists to act individually rather than the current state where they act as a community.