Land and Water Grabbing in an East African Coastal Wetland: The Case of the Tana Delta
The delta of the Tana river in Kenya, an important wetland in Eastern Africa, is at a major turning point. Key decisions regarding its future are on the verge of being made, some of which may dramatically alter its characteristics. At present, in a landscape that is a mosaic of floodplains and fores...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Water Alternatives Association
2012-06-01
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| Series: | Water Alternatives |
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| Online Access: | http://www.water-alternatives.org/index.php/alldoc/articles/vol5/v5issue2/172-a5-2-8/file |
| _version_ | 1819264320283869184 |
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| author | Stéphanie Duvail Claire Médard Olivier Hamerlynck Dorothy Wanja Nyingi |
| author_facet | Stéphanie Duvail Claire Médard Olivier Hamerlynck Dorothy Wanja Nyingi |
| author_sort | Stéphanie Duvail |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | The delta of the Tana river in Kenya, an important wetland in Eastern Africa, is at a major turning point. Key decisions regarding its future are on the verge of being made, some of which may dramatically alter its characteristics. At present, in a landscape that is a mosaic of floodplains and forests of high biodiversity, small-scale farming, fishing and livestock-keeping are the main activities practised by the local communities, all relying on the occurrence of floods in November and May. Private investors with the backing of governmental bodies or parastatals, including the river basin authority, have planned the conversion of the lower Tana into irrigated sugar cane and Jatropha curcas plantations for biofuel production. In this paper, we discuss the land and water grabbing aspect of this new biofuel production trend, 'grabbing' being defined as cases of land acquisition or water abstraction where established user-rights and public interests are disregarded. We focus on two case studies: a planned large-scale sugar cane plantation in the central floodplain and a large-scale Jatropha curcas plantation on the floodplain terraces. We demonstrate through a water budget analysis that their potential impacts on the water balance and quality, on the environment of the Tana delta and therefore on the flood-dependent livelihoods have not been adequately addressed in the Environmental Impact Assessment documents. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-23T20:27:36Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-97df0033ba97437b826fd7b53661c0dd |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1965-0175 1965-0175 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-23T20:27:36Z |
| publishDate | 2012-06-01 |
| publisher | Water Alternatives Association |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Water Alternatives |
| spelling | doaj.art-97df0033ba97437b826fd7b53661c0dd2022-12-21T17:32:20ZengWater Alternatives AssociationWater Alternatives1965-01751965-01752012-06-0152322343Land and Water Grabbing in an East African Coastal Wetland: The Case of the Tana DeltaStéphanie Duvail0Claire Médard1Olivier Hamerlynck2Dorothy Wanja Nyingi3UMR 208 'Patrimoines Locaux', Institut de Recherche pour le Développement, France ; and National Museums of Kenya, Nairobi, KenyaUMR 205 'Migrations et Sociétés', Institut de Recherche pour le Développement, France ; and Makerere University, Kampala, UgandaCentre for Ecology and Hydrology, Wallingford, OX, UKNational Museums of Kenya, Nairobi, KenyaThe delta of the Tana river in Kenya, an important wetland in Eastern Africa, is at a major turning point. Key decisions regarding its future are on the verge of being made, some of which may dramatically alter its characteristics. At present, in a landscape that is a mosaic of floodplains and forests of high biodiversity, small-scale farming, fishing and livestock-keeping are the main activities practised by the local communities, all relying on the occurrence of floods in November and May. Private investors with the backing of governmental bodies or parastatals, including the river basin authority, have planned the conversion of the lower Tana into irrigated sugar cane and Jatropha curcas plantations for biofuel production. In this paper, we discuss the land and water grabbing aspect of this new biofuel production trend, 'grabbing' being defined as cases of land acquisition or water abstraction where established user-rights and public interests are disregarded. We focus on two case studies: a planned large-scale sugar cane plantation in the central floodplain and a large-scale Jatropha curcas plantation on the floodplain terraces. We demonstrate through a water budget analysis that their potential impacts on the water balance and quality, on the environment of the Tana delta and therefore on the flood-dependent livelihoods have not been adequately addressed in the Environmental Impact Assessment documents.http://www.water-alternatives.org/index.php/alldoc/articles/vol5/v5issue2/172-a5-2-8/fileLand grabbingwater grabbingsub-Saharan AfricaKenyabiofuelsfloodplainsecosystem serviceswater balanceEnvironmental Impact Assessment |
| spellingShingle | Stéphanie Duvail Claire Médard Olivier Hamerlynck Dorothy Wanja Nyingi Land and Water Grabbing in an East African Coastal Wetland: The Case of the Tana Delta Water Alternatives Land grabbing water grabbing sub-Saharan Africa Kenya biofuels floodplains ecosystem services water balance Environmental Impact Assessment |
| title | Land and Water Grabbing in an East African Coastal Wetland: The Case of the Tana Delta |
| title_full | Land and Water Grabbing in an East African Coastal Wetland: The Case of the Tana Delta |
| title_fullStr | Land and Water Grabbing in an East African Coastal Wetland: The Case of the Tana Delta |
| title_full_unstemmed | Land and Water Grabbing in an East African Coastal Wetland: The Case of the Tana Delta |
| title_short | Land and Water Grabbing in an East African Coastal Wetland: The Case of the Tana Delta |
| title_sort | land and water grabbing in an east african coastal wetland the case of the tana delta |
| topic | Land grabbing water grabbing sub-Saharan Africa Kenya biofuels floodplains ecosystem services water balance Environmental Impact Assessment |
| url | http://www.water-alternatives.org/index.php/alldoc/articles/vol5/v5issue2/172-a5-2-8/file |
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