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About the project

RARE investigates relationships between resilience and land rights in the context of pastoral and agro-pastoral (in brief, pastoral) adaptation in Kenya. It examines how adaptation strategies interact with land needs, land conflicts and land reforms, and the consequences for efforts to support community land rights for resilient rural development. A key element of resilience is rural communities’ capacity to adapt (IPCC 2014), which depends on their agency, the assets available to them, and the institutional, political and economic context (Folke et al. 2010; Berkes & Ross 2013, Davidson et al. 2016). Recently, practitioner awareness about the role of land rights as a critical asset in climate change adaptation has increased, as has the realization that communities’ new land uses, livelihood practices, and investments related to adaptation strategies all need land security in order to be successful (UNCCD 2014, Landesa 2017).

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Work packages

There is need to understand better the dynamics between pastoralists’ land rights and climate change adaptation in order to support and facilitate their resilience. This is not only significant for pastoralists themselves, but also for other land users with whom they interact, and for Kenya’s broader resilience and peaceful development. In the context of Kenya, this leads us to the following research questions and work packages: (1). How do land use- and mobility patterns change as pastoralists adapt, and what are the implications for their land needs? (2).How do conflicting land claims affect pastoralist adaptation strategies, and what are the statutory and non-statutory mechanisms for dealing with them? (3). How do land reforms, land rights, and devolution interact with pastoralist adaptation strategies? (4). How can international, national and local institutions best support pastoralists’ land access and deal with conflicting land claims related to climate change adaptation?

Objectives and Results

The development objective is to ensure secure and peaceful access to land for climate change adaptation and thereby the resilience of all Kenyan citizens. There are three immediate objectives:

Revised Kenyan policies and institutions in support of pastoralists’ land-based adaptation

Specifically in relation this objective, WP1 aims at insights that can help improve land use policies and land use planning, WP2 at preventing conflicting land claims from erupting into violence, WP3 at ensuring management of land rights in support of pastoralists and other land users’ adaptation; and WP4 at identifying innovative approaches to land rights and adaptation.

Increased capacity of the University of Nairobi (UoN) partner institutions

To deliver and disseminate high quality research, research based policy advice, and provide candidates for influential positions in public and private institutions across societal levels.

Drive state of the art forward theoretically, conceptually, and empirically

(a) Theoretically and conceptually by adding new analytical perspectives to resilience and adaptation studies by joining two bodies of knowledge and research experience: that on climate adaptation, and that on land access and property rights. (b) Empirically: Achieve new understanding of pastoralists’ land rights and adaptation in Kenya by addressing the research questions.

Relevance

Kenya national policies: RARE provides knowledge and recommendations in support of the implementation of the Government of the Kenya Vision 2030 including land reform and development in Kenya’s Arid and Semi-Arid Lands (ASALs). Second, the project will provide recommendations and inputs for the implementation of Kenya’s new national Climate Change Act (2016), the Community Land Act (2016), and the ongoing devolution process in land use planning and adaptation as stipulated in the Constitution of Kenya (2010). Third, RARE supports several Priority Actions in Kenya’s Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC, 2015) under the Paris Climate Agreement, and the Kenya National Adaptation Plan 2015-2030 (NAP). Both NDC and NAP aim at mainstreaming climate adaptation in land reforms, strengthening the resilience of vulnerable groups, and incorporating adaptation into development planning. Fourth, RARE aligns with Kenya’s draft National Land Use Policy (2016), which calls for research capacity on climate change and land use, and methods for defining pastoral land rights; and the Common Program Framework for Ending Drought Emergencies (2015) that aims to address land conflicts.