Climate Change and Kenyan Pastoral Women's Dependence on Forest Resources

The East African drought from 2020 to 2022 was a greater crisis for Kenyan pastoralists than the spread of COVID-19. Cattle became starved to death one after another, and goats and sheep also perished. The few surviving goats were sold at the market to purchase food for the people. However, thin sheep fetched only low prices, and grain prices had skyrocketed due to the Ukraine crisis. Even if they wanted to leave for migrant work, travel was impossible due to the pandemic. It was truly a dead-end situation.

What saved the people was making and selling charcoal. It required no capital—just an axe and hard labor. Even before the drought, some women had been making charcoal to supplement their food expenses, but as the drought worsened, even those who had never engaged in this work joined in. However, some parts of the forests they utilized were officially under the national government control, and making use of them is illegal. Community forests surrounding the national forests, which many people relied on, were also subject to restrictions imposed by NGOs and other organizations. Yet, during the most severe periods of the drought, forest use was tacitly permitted because everyone was desperate to survive.

The use of the forests has enabled people and their cattle to survive droughts in the research area. However, the frequency of large-scale droughts has clearly increased, and in response to climate change, governments and the international community have begun to focus more on forest conservation. This study seeks to clarify that, in this region, utilizing forest resources is a vital means of survival during droughts and that, for the poorest, especially single mothers, making and selling charcoal forms the foundation of their livelihood. It is crucial to introduce methods for protecting forests without sacrificing vulnerable populations.