A process-oriented approach to equitable resilience: insights from droughts in Lake Naivasha Catchment Area, Kenya

Abstract

Drought is a recurrent hazard in Lake Naivasha Catchment Area, Kenya, a centre for commercial irrigated agriculture and horticulture. Drought affects smallholder farmers, pastoralists and larger-scale agricultural enterprises differentially. We gathered qualitative data through semi-structured individual and group interviews with representatives of all Water Resource User Associations in the area, focussing on drought impacts on various actors, and the strategies they undertook to alleviate drought effects. We used an original framework combining insights from equitable resilience and environmental justice literatures to understand how absorptive, adaptive and transformative resilience capacities are distributed among different groups. Historical processes of land alienation and promotion of commercial farming have reduced pastoralists’ and smallholders’ access to land and financial, social and political capital, and their involvement in water governance processes, which are dominated by large-scale commercial flower farms. Thus, smallholders and pastoralists are more vulnerable to drought and less able to enact drought resilience strategies, such as establishing water storage infrastructure and fencing off water access points. The study confirms the importance of analysing how historical processes influence contemporary drought resilience capacities. This approach enhances resilience analyses in an era of climate change, with broad implications for livelihoods and business.