Climate Change Vulnerability and Resilience of Communities dependent on the Floodplains of the Ewaso Ng'iro North River

Communities in the lower reaches of the Ewaso Ng’iro North River are vulnerable to droughts because of reduced dry season flows in the river. The impacts of climate change, such as more frequent and prolonged droughts, risk... [ view full abstract ]

Communities in the lower reaches of the Ewaso Ng’iro North River are vulnerable to droughts because of reduced dry season flows in the river. The impacts of climate change, such as more frequent and prolonged droughts, risk making the communities even more vulnerable to the effects of increased upstream abstraction. Upstream water over-abstraction, land use change and climate change will also affect the availability of other ecosystem services besides water availability in the downstream pastoral areas. The decline in the flows of the river will most likely ignite resource use conflicts at various scales. A lot of uncertainty remains on how climate change will impact the availability of surface water in the Ewaso Ng’iro North River and the consequent effect on the provision of ecosystem services but various climate projections indicate that there will be further reduction in the river’s flows. Since the current declining river flows are caused by other factors and not entirely climate change is an opportunity to make the communities more resilient to climate change if these factors are addressed. This study seeks to assess the impacts of upstream water abstraction on ecosystem services provision of the floodplains of the Ewaso Ng’iro North River in the face of climate change.