InfoRange is a 4 year (2022-2026) collaborative research project funded under the “Collaborative Project Land Management Sub-Saharan Africa” programme of the German Ministry of Education and Research. The consortium is led by the German Institute for Tropical and Subtropical Agriculture in Germany, and includes University of Nairobi, the Center for Research and Development in Drylands, Kenya, Namibia Nature Foundation, Namibia University of Science and Technology, and University of Kassel. The project aims at improving rangeland use and governance and increasing resource-use and production efficiency in rangeland-based livestock production through digital and ICT applications/services that permit user-generated information acquisition and transmission through co-learning and co-design approaches. InfoRange will work comparatively in northern Kenya and northern Namibia. Project sites include Laisamis and Moyale Subcounties in the northern arid and semi-arid Northern Kenya, and “George Mukoya” & “Muduva Nyangana” Conservancies in the Kavango East Region (Ndiyona Constituency), and in the “Eiseb” Conservancy in the Omaheke Region (Otjombinde Constituency).

Role: Co-Principle Investigator

 

The IVC is a Mercator Foundation Switzerland –funded 5-year project (2021 to 2025), led by Zurich University of Applied Sciences (ZHAW), Switzerland in collaboration with the Universidade Federal de Grande Dourados (UFGD), Brazil; University of Agricultural Sciences Bangalore (UASB), India; and the Department of Land Resource Management & Agricultural Technology, University of Nairobi (UoN). The course takes four (4) weeks and is organized into four (4) phases that include: Understanding Climate Change in our Environment; Virtual Classroom; Virtual Teamwork; and Reflections by Participants. Each partner University recruits at least 10 students each year to participate in the course. The students are located in their home Universities throughout the entire course.

Role: Coordinator, University of Nairobi

 

The project itself will synthesise work that has been undertaken by Adaptation At Scale in Semi-Arid Regions (ASSAR) and Pathways to resilience in semi-arid economies (PRISE) projects funded by IDRC and DFID under the Collaborative Adaptation Research Initiative in Africa and Asia (CARIAA) consortium, with a view to understanding better the sorts of trajectories that are required for semi-arid regions to develop in a way that is climate-resilient. The specific objectives of the project area to: 1) Synthesise a more generalised set of forward-looking findings from ASSAR, PRISE, and relevant FCFA-funded projects (FRACTAL and AMMA-2050) concerning the risks and opportunities for SARs; 2) Analyse national development priorities for SARS and the extent to which the dynamics articulated in Objective 1 are compatible with existing development plans and what alternative pathways might deliver more climate-resilient futures; 3) Work with selected national and regional decision-makers in 2 – 3 case study countries on a specific policy area or sector and seek to reorient the planned development pathway to one which is more climate-resilient and equitable. The collaboration is led by the University of East Anglia in UK, and includes the University of Nairobi, University of Cape Town, University of Namibia, Indian Institute for Human Settlements,  Overseas Development Institute, Uk, Kenya Market Trust.

DOWN2EARTH seeks to address the multi-faceted challenges of water scarcity and food insecurity under climate change in Horn of Africa Drylands, by facilitating community-centered adaptation and resilience to climate change impacts. It will uses a multidisciplinary, inclusive approach, bringing together local communities, academic experts, novel decision-support tools, multi-level governance structures, regional climate centers, and NGOs. Specifically the project will: Assess the socio-economic dimensions and human dynamics of climate change in HAD including feedbacks between climatic shocks, human behavior, and policy implementation; Characterize and quantify historical trends and (future) projections of and interactions between water scarcity, food insecurity, population, land use, and the policy environment in HAD; Develop and enhance multi-level decision-support tools that emphasize the translation of climate information into critical land and water information required for near-term and long-term adaptation and resilience by communities, state/regional governments, NGOs, and humanitarian and development organizations; and Strengthen regional climate adaptation and resilience through capacity building, citizen science, information dissemination to improve multi-level decision making, expansion of data networks, and policy implementation. The project is funded by European Union under the Horizon 2020 programme. Partners include: Cardiff University (Lead institution), University of Bristol, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, University of Hohenheim, University of Nairobi, IGAD Climate Prediction and Applications Center (ICPAC), Ghent University, University of East Anglia, Food and Agriculture Organization-Somalia Water and Land Information System (FAO-SWALIM), Climate Analytics, BBC Media Action, Action Aid, Transparency Solutions, and Addis Ababa University.

Role: Co-Principal Investigator, University of Nairobi

DRIER is a 3-year collaborative research project funded by the Royal Society and implemented by a consortium that include Bristol University, UK (Lead institution); University of Nairobi, Kenya; Addis Abba University, Ethiopia, among other collaborators. The project is concerned with near-future drought risk under climate change in East Africa (Kenya, Ethiopia and Somalia). Specifically, the project seeks to answer the following questions: i) What will be the impacts of climate change on soil moisture and groundwater? ii) How will different areas be affected? iii) What are the barriers to drought adaptation and uptake of information? DRIER project will develop new tools (including a mobile phone app) and data that will enable stakeholders and everyday people to access direct information on the state of the water balance in their local area under current and future rainfall conditions. Using these tools, the project team will work with regional partners and stakeholders to develop strategies for media communication, information uptake, and decision-making for drought adaptation using uncertain data. The products and new understanding from this research have the potential to benefit millions of people in the region.

Role: Co-Investigator, University of Nairobi

 

The project aims to support pastoralists and agro- pastoralists to use transformative and socially inclusive adaptation knowledge to build the resilience of their livelihoods and landscapes in northern Kenya. The specific objectives of the project are to: develop a social inclusive multi-stakeholder system for knowledge integration and exchange for adaptation and timely decision making; reduce barriers to the flow and integration of adaptation knowledge from different sources; and identify and empower women and youth networks with knowledge, skills and confidence to effectively articulate their adaptation needs.

Role: Co-Investigator, University of Nairobi

Economic Valuation of Sustainable Rangeland Management Practices in Northern Kenya (SURAMA) is a one and half year collaborative project under the Economics of Land Degradrtion (ELD) initative, which was established in 2011 by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ), the UN Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) and the European Commission (EC). ELD is supported under the “Reversing Land Degradation in Africa through Scaling-up EverGreen Agriculture” in Kenya project, which is co-funded by BMZ and EC. The Initiative quantifies the costs of land degradation and sets out a universal approach for quantifying the economic benefits of SLM, providing answers to vital questions. These include: How high are the social and economic costs of land degradation? What are the short- and long-term benefits of applicable SLM approaches? What actions are needed to address the problem of land degradation effectively and efficiently, and what specific measures need to be implemented? The ELD Initiative highlights the value of SLM and provides an approach for analysis of the economics of land degradation. It helps decision makers better understand the overall costs and benefits when implementing policies and actions dealing with land, making economics of land management an integral part of policy strategies and decision making by increasing the political and public awareness of the costs and benefits of land and land-based ecosystems. SURAMA project includes  University of Nairobi,  Stockholm Environment Institute; Laikipia University; and Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology.

Role: Principal Investigator/Team Leader

 

Adaptation at Scale in Semi-Arid Regions (ASSAR) is 5-year (May 2014 –November, 2018) consortium funded by IDRC and DFID. The consortium is led by the University of Cape Town and covers Eastern Africa, Western Africa, Southern Africa, and Central Asia (India). ASSAR’s overarching objective is to deepen understanding of climate vulnerability and adaptation in semi-arid regions, and help transform current adaptation practice to a mode that achieves proactive, widespread adaptation embedded in development activities at multiple governance scales, to advance adaptive livelihoods for vulnerable groups. Specific objectives are to: (i) undertake high-quality, transdisciplinary research to generate new knowledge on vulnerability and adaptation; (ii) develop and trial relevant actionable strategies for adaptation; (iii) drive innovative communication approaches for knowledge sharing; and (iv) enable systemic capacity strengthening for adaptation in research, policy and practice.

Role: Co-Researcher

 

Open Society Institute (OSI)/International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED), bursary award to build awareness on adaptation to climate change in African Universities

U-RES primary aim is to establish a community of trans-disciplinary experts (beyond academia) working together to provide the underpinning knowledge needed to support the transition from burgeoning settlements to resilient and sustainable cities and megacities in the face of a changing climate in Africa. It is a research consortium funded by the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) through the Global Challenges Research Fund (GCRF). U-RES is led by University of East Anglia in UK and includes University of Nairobi; University of Newcastle, UK; Kwa Zulu Natal University, South Africa; OXFAM GB, UK; and Asian Institute of Technology in Thailand.  The specific objectives of the project are to: Identify the most promising locations to nurture resilient cities, given current knowledge about past hazards from archaeological evidence, current urbanisation trends, and future climate risks; review the development and governance approaches in cities that have specifically tried to address the needs of the marginalised, and generate and share insights on processes through which urban governance processes could be improved and; identify information flows at the very early stages of urbanisation, including for marginalised groups, and the op+

portunities to influence urban development. The project aims to produce a 5-year international research and engagement plan focusing on better understanding the intervention points at the early stages of urbanization and the needs of marginalised communities.

Role: Co-investigator

 

RELOAD is a 5-year (June 2013 – 2018) collaborative trans-disciplinary project funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF). The project brings together a consortium of partners in Germany, Kenya, Ethiopia and Uganda and is led by the Institute for Agricultural Engineering at the University of Kassel in Germany. In Kenya, one focus of RELOAD is on pastoral meat value chains. The high losses along the pastoral meat value chain include animal weight loss prior to slaughter, wastage of animal products and by-products, losses in quality of meat products and economic losses due to low profit margins for the producers. The project is funding four (4) PhD research studies to analyze different possibilities to reduce losses and increase efficiency along the pastoral meat value chains. These studies are jointly implemented by the University of Nairobi, National Museums of Kenya and the German Institute for Tropical and Sub-tropical Agriculture (DITSL) at the University of Kassel in Germany. The PhD candidates are registered at the University of Nairobi and University of Kassel (www.ditsl.org)

Role: Principal investigator for sub-project 6, workpackages 4 (Stratified livestock production systems) & workpackage 5 (Livestock marketing associations).

 

PIK was a 17 months project funded by the Christensen Fund. The project is implemented by the University of Nairobi in partnership with a community-based organization, Resource Advocacy Programme (RAP) baaed in Isiolo County. It covers Marsabit, Samburu and Isiolo Counties and seeks to review indigenous knowledge (IK) of pastoralists in northern Kenya with the view of increasing its awareness, understanding and use both at community and decision makers’ levels. The awareness creation is expected to restore confidence of the new generation in IK, as well as promote formulation of policies that recognize IK. All these are expected to attach value to IK as an important resource in conserving biological and cultural diversity and therefore encourage the recognition of principles of intellectual property to ensure the proper protection and use of indigenous traditional knowledge and products derived from it.

Role: Principal Investigator

 

A 3-year collaborative research co-funded by CORDAID and DFID and led by the Institute for Environment and Development (IIED). The objective of the project is to generate scientific evidence and build the capacity of pastoral citizens and their advocates to make the argument that pastoralism is central to the future development of the drylands in Kenya while strengthening the ability of decision-makers to review and reform policy in the light of these arguments. The consortium includes the University of Nairobi through the Department of LARMAT; Adaptation Consortium at the National Drought Management Authority; IIED; Isiolo County government institutions; the Resource Advocacy Programme (RAP); among other local civil society groups and relevant NGOs. The project is supporting four (4) postgraduate research studies registered in the Department of LARMAT.

Role: Principal investigator

 

Grants for Local Adaptation Support (ASSAR-GLAS) is a competitive small grant awarded by Global System Change for Analysis Research and Training (START), on behalf of the Collaborative Adaptation Research Initiative in Africa and Asia (CARIAA) and the Adaptation at Scale in Semi-Arid Regions (ASSAR) Project. This grant is in recognition of the need to go beyond academic capacity building within ASSAR to do more to strengthen the capacities of those living and working in the ASSAR study sites. The GLAS is intended to draw from findings of on-going ASSAR research to support the most vulnerable groups in each region on overcoming top barriers to and supporting enablers of their adaptation. The GLAS award for the East African ASSAR research team will be particularly used to facilitate peer-to-peer learning among pastoral communities on various climate change adaptation options, among others, diversification of pastoral herds to embrace more drought tolerant species such as camels in Isiolo County; pasture production and reservation in Kajiado and Makueni Counties; and customary natural resource management in Isiolo County.

Role: Principal Investigator