Gender adaptive capacity to climate variability and change in pastoral communities : case study of Turkana in North-western Kenya.

Abstract

Recurrent droughts due to climate change have led to the vulnerability of the pastoralist communities, leading to loss of assets and food insecurity. Climate change will have different impacts on women and men’s livelihoods. This specific study examined the relationships between gender and adaptive capacity to climate variability among pastoral communities in Turkana in north-western Kenya. This study used triangulation method which includes: the quantitative household survey data, focus group discussions (FGDs), a literature review of secondary data sources and key informant interviews (KIIs). Data was then analyzed using the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS). Focus group discussions and key informant interviews were carried out to obtain qualitative data. This survey adopted stratified random sampling. The unit of analysis was the individual household. The target respondents of the closed/structured survey questionnaires were based on gender (either a female-headed household or male-headed household). The total sample size used in this study was 379 households. Findings from this study revealed that all respondents surveyed have witnessed a change in weather in the last 10 years. The study indicated that vulnerability to climate change is influenced by gender with elderly women being the most vulnerable in the area. The study revealed that participating in decision making and access to basic services were the most important in influencing the resilience of pastoralists.