Water Governance, Institutions and Conflicts in the Maasai Rangelands

• Author: Kennedy Mkutu Agade,David Anderson,Klerkson Lugusa,Evelyne Atieno Owino
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1177/10704965221123390
• Published date: 01 December 2022
• Date: 01 December 2022
• Subject Matter: Articles

Article

The Journal of Environment &

Development

2022, Vol. 31(4) 395–420

© The Author(s) 2022

Article reuse guidelines:

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DOI: 10.1177/10704965221123390

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Water Governance,

Institutions and Conf‌licts in

the Maasai Rangelands

Kennedy Mkutu Agade

1

,

David Anderson

2

, Klerkson Lugusa

1

, and

Evelyne Atieno Owino

3

Abstract

Water scarcity in Narok county, Kenya may be attributed to demographic pressures, land-use

changes, environmental degradation and the effects of climate change. This article combines

methodologies from history and political science to investigate how local communities cope with

water scarcity. In so doing, we consider how institutions, both indigenous and modern, mitigate

conf‌lict over access to and control of water sources. Cases are presented from sites of irrigation

and development projects or plans. We f‌ind that climate change has little to do with water

conf‌licts in Narok, but that more important factors are privatisation and commoditisation of

formerly common-pool resources, and challenges and failures in modern water governance in

mediating between Maasai (pastoralist) and non-Maasai (agriculturalist) groups. Indigenous

governance institutions still have a place in conf‌lict resolution and environmental protection.

Keywords

water, governance, institutions, conf‌lict, scarcity, Maasai

Introduction

A recent media article provided a graphic description of water scarcity in arid and semi-

arid lands (ASALs). Women from a village in Maasai Mara, Narok county recalled

often walking for 13 kilometres in search of water, travelling in groups for protection

1

International Relations, United States International University-Africa, Nairobi, Kenya

2

History, University of Warwick, Coventry, WM, UK

3

Bonn International Centre for Conf‌lict Studies, Germany

Corresponding Author:

Kennedy Mkutu Agade, International Relations, United States International University-Africa, Thika Road,

Nairobi 14634-00800, Kenya.

Email: kmkutu@yahoo.com

against wild animals until they reached a seasonal river. At dry times, they would dig

wells in the river bed and wait in the night for them to f‌ill, again guarding them against

thirsty wild animals. In 2013, various stakeholders in partnership with the Narok

County Government constructed a pipeline from a natural spring to the village.

Residents now pay a monthly access fee of Ksh 100 (US$ 0.92), which is reinvested in

the maintenance of the infrastructure at the water points, although not all can con-

sistently pay (Mbugua, 2020). Such water developments can make huge differences in

ASALs, but are not without their own challenges as this article explores.

ASALs constitute 43% of Africa (De Jode, 2009) and 89% of Kenya’s land surface

(Republic of Kenya, 1980). In Kenya, most of these lands have a high population of

livestock-keeping nomadic pastoralists, able to subsist in a challenging environment

through adaptations such as mobility over the vast rangelands. ASAL ecosystems can

provide essential goods and services, both tangible and intangible which are crucial for

satisfying human needs. Furthermore, systems and institutions have developed over

time to govern the sustainable use of water and conservation of catchment areas. These

have often extended into the management of land and other natural resources (Gaur &

Squires, 2018). They are not always effective and cycles of pastoralist resource-based

conf‌lict are common.

However, in recent decades, we see ASALs facing even more challenges as a result

of climatic pressures, environmental degradation and ambitious development agendas

and projects frequently sited within them (Bedelian & Ogutu, 2017). In terms of

climate, modelling suggests that the East Africa region could potentially experience a

rise of 2–5 degrees Celsius by the end of the 21

st

century, and probably higher rainfall

(Niang, 2014;Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research and Climate Analytics,

2013). In Kenya’s ASALs specif‌ically, Ogutu et al. (2016) found evidence of tem-

perature rises in the ASALs of Kenya from 1960 to 2013 by perhaps as much as 2

degrees Celsius (rainfall trends are rather inconclusive). Moreover, the UN Envi-

ronmental Program’s Global Environmental Outlook GEO-6 Regional Assessment for

Africa (UNEP, 2016) mentions many pressing environmental challenges for Africa

other than climate change including pollution, land-use changes and loss of biodiversity

from a range of factors including population incre ase, urbanisation, industrialisation

and deforestation. Likewise, Kenya’s Vision 2030 development agenda, which aims to

transform the country into a newly industrialised middle-income country by the year

2030 (2030 Water Resources Group, 2015), brings new contenders for available water

resources through varied and dynamic economic activities such as agriculture, wildlife

tourism, infrastructure, construction, industry and energy production. Large-scale water

developments to support urbanisation (such as dams and reservoirs) threaten down-

stream users in ASALs. Showers (2002) notes that urban-rural water cycle linkages in

Africa need to be recognised and ecosystems protected, while Adams and Smiley

(2018) argue with regard to Malawi that despite improvements in water supply,ine-

qualities between rural and urban access persist.

Given the current focus upon climate change around the world, pastoralist conf‌licts

in northern Kenya have been attributed to these dynamics and labelled ‘the world’s

f‌irst climate change conf‌licts’by some observers and development agencies

396 The Journal of Environment & Development 31(4)