Land-use changes & invasive shrubs in Baringo, Kenya

In the drylands around Lake Baringo, Kenya, the recent bush encroachment by the invasive alien species Prosopis juliflora and the native Dodonaea viscosa has changed human–environment interactions. The article “Land-use changes and the invasion dynamics of shrubs in Baringo”, published in the Journal of Eastern African Studies 10 (1): 111–129 (2016), suggests what led to the spread of these invasive woody species. It describes the strategies adopted by the small-scale farmers and pastoralists in Baringo in the

face of this change in vegetation, relates these dynamics to current invasion theory and analyses possible implications for Baringo’s social-ecological systems. It suggests that recent increased climate variability has triggered changes in land management and livelihoods around Lake Baringo, paving the way for the bush encroachment. The extent and speed of these changes has exceeded the capacity of local communities to adapt their production systems. This has, in turn, destabilised the social ecology of the drylands around Lake Baringo and endangers continuation of the local production systems.

Posted on 25 September 2016 in Pastoralism & Climate Change, Pastoralism & Natural Resources