Water resources and the importance of preserving catchment sites

By Anthony Mugo

The Arid Lands Information Network (ALIN) is pleased to present the second issue of Laikipia Mali Asili newsletter. Contributors to this Newsletter are mainly partners working in Laikipia County under a project sponsored by United Nations Development Program under its Global Environment Facility Small Grants Program (UNDP GEF SGP).

In this second issue of Laikipia Mali Asili, we focus on water resources and the importance of preserving catchment sites as a crucial element of sustainable land management. Laikipia is relatively water stressed county with large areas of the northern part being semi-arid. Yet the County’s main economic activities namely tourism, agriculture and livestock keeping are highly water-dependent.

Noah Lusaka’s article about a project that is demonstrating use of drip irrigation as a climate smart agriculture technology at Matwiku in Laikipia West gives promising insights that farmers can begin practicing agriculture that uses water more efficiently.

With climate change taking place, it is predicted that many areas of Kenya, including Laikipia are likely to become drier. At the same time, extreme events particularly droughts and floods will become more frequent.

That is why the article by Njenga Kahiro about how to harvest water from a Manyatta (traditional Maasai house) provides a new perspective about water harvesting, a practice that needs to be adopted by all communities.

The Children’s Corner once again demonstrates the amazing potential of the young to play their part in protecting their environment. The illustrations, poems and articles reveal that children are indeed aware of the role that they can play to protect their surroundings and support their parents in practicing sustainable agriculture and livestock keeping.

Laikipia Mali Asili is a tool for sharing information between initiatives focused on preserving Laikipia’s landscapes and enhancing communities’ resilience while improving their livelihoods. A listing of organization’s supported by UNDP GEF SGP, their contacts and where they operate from is provided in this issue as a way of making it easier for them to share and receive information.

You can download a copy of the second edition of Laikipia Mali Asili here.