Climate change: Households cut livestock herds, work hours

Prof Paul Kamau, Afrobarometer national investigator in Kenya and Director of Research, Institute of Development Studies, University of Nairobi. [File, Standard]

Cutting down the number of work hours and reducing the size of livestock are some of the new radical measures by households to cope with the effects of climate change, a new report shows. 

The intensity of these actions is concentrated in the rural areas where the research shows the impact of climate change is felt more.

The research by the Institute for Development Studies (IDS)  at the University of Nairobi in partnership with Afrobarometer notes that at least six in 10 Kenyans are aware of climate change. 

Additionally, the majority (73 per cent) cite human activity as the major cause of climate change.

According to the research, 50 per cent of Kenyans in the rural areas compared to 34 per cent in the urban centres have had to reduce the size of their livestock or change grazing patterns.

“In substantial numbers, Kenyans say they have adapted to changing weather patterns by reducing their livestock or changing their grazing patterns (45 per cent of those who keep livestock), reducing their water consumption or changing their water source (45 per cent), changing their work hours (43 per cent), or changing the crops they plant or the food they eat (42 per cent),” says the report. 

When these numbers are compared between urban and rural areas, 47 per cent of rural residents report changing the crops they plant or the food they eat compared to 32 per cent of urban dwellers.

IDS Director of Research Paul Kamau said the study was undertaken to reconcile the views of citizens and the kind of policies being put in place to tackle climate change.

“We sometimes prescribe policies without citizenry input,” he said. 

Prof Kamau noted that the finding that 61 per cent of Kenyans have heard of climate change speaks to awareness levels among the citizenry about the phenomenon.

“The Kenya we are dealing with today is very different from what it was in the 80s. That is what we are seeing, a lot of litigations around matters that affect the environment,” he said.

About 44 per cent of rural residents reported reducing or changing outdoor working hours compared to 42 per cent for urban dwellers.