Webinar: Pastoralism & renewable energy projects
Lake Turkana Wind Power farm, northern Kenya. Licence: CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0
On 9 June 2022, the Heinrich Böll Foundation and Bread for the World Germany co-hosted an online discussion to launch the study on “Pastoralism and large-scale renewable energy & green hydrogen projects” researched and written by two CELEP members in Germany and Kenya.
In efforts to replace fossil fuels with clean energy, green hydrogen is seen as a game changer and key for the low-carbon transition. This requires a massive upscaling of renewable energy. Rangelands offer perfect conditions for such projects. However, huge solar and wind plants built to achieve the global climate goals may compete with traditional uses for land and water.
The study found that, without careful planning, green hydrogen installations fed by large-scale wind and solar plants may have serious negative impacts on local pastoralist communities and serve to intensify inter-ethnic and intra-community conflicts.
Careful design involving genuine participation of the pastoralist communities and respect for their rights to Free, Prior and Informed Consent are required to pave the way for solutions that benefit both local people and society at large.
During the online event, the authors – Ann Waters-Bayer and Hussein Wario – presented the study, with positive and negative case examples from Kenya, and discussed together with Christian Schnohr (Press Officer ABO Wind) and Kirsten Westphal (H2Global Foundation) what this means for the private sector and for policy implementation.
The video recording of the event can be found here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k_um8c7lI-4&t=47s
See also “Making green energy safe for pastoralists“.
Posted on 1 July 2022 in News, Pastoralism & Climate Change, Pastoralism & Extractives, Pastoralism, Mobility & Land Tenure