climate change, water and kenya - trócaire change, water and kenya ... son: morris (15) morris...

NAIROBI

KENYA

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Republic of Kenya Republic of IRelandArea: 270, 285 km2

Capital: Dublin

Population: 4,109,086

Annual population growth: 1.1%

Life expectancy: 75 (male), 80 (female)

Languages: English, Irish

Literacy: 99%

Currency: Euro

GDP per person: US$44,500

Area: 582,650 km

Capital: Nairobi

Population: 36,913,721

Annual population growth: 2.8%

Life expectancy: 55 (male), 55 (female)

Languages: English, Kiswahili,numerous indigenous languages

Literacy: 85%

Currency: Kenya Shilling

GDP per person: US$1,200

Kenya and its neighboursWith the help of an atlas identify:

• The countries labelled 1-4

• The lake labelled 5

• The ocean labelled 6

*(100 Ksh = 1 Euro approx.) Figures taken from CIA Central Intelligence Agency, December 2007

€Identify three

sets of statisticsthat show Ireland

to beeconomically

wealthier thanKenya!

� Some basic statistics on Kenya and Ireland

Climate Change,Water and KenyaA Post-Primary Geography Teacher’s resource for Transition Year andJunior Certificate students on the topic of Climate Change and Water.

R9972 Geography Resource 31/1/08 7:18 AM

Meet the Mwangi FamilyBelow is a picture of some members of the Mwangi family, who live in Kenya, Africa. Like most Kenyans, they live inthe countryside and depend mostly on farming for a living. Outside of farming, there is little employment in therural areas of Kenya. Some family members have therefore migrated to Nairobi, which is Kenya’s capital city.

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Father: SamuelSamuel owns thefamily’s six-acrefarm. He is now 60years old. He is ahard worker and askilled farmer. Bythe clever use ofirrigation (see FactFile 1) he managesto grow maize and beans, whichmake up the family’s staple diet. Healso grows cash crops, such as onions

and snow peas, which are sold at thelocal market. Some of these cashcrops are bought cheaply bymiddlemen who then sell them on toexporters at greatly increased prices.Trócaire is helping farmers such asSamuel to organise themselves in co-operative groups that will by-pass the

middlemen and sell their producedirectly to the exporters.

Mother: ShelmilhShelmilh is 50years old. Sheand Samuel have8 children agedbetween 29 and6, three ofwhom still liveon the familyfarm. Like mostAfrican women,Shelmilh works very hard. It is herduty to cook, to repair the houseand keep it tidy, to care for thechildren, to help to water andweed the crops, to tend to thefarm animals and to milk thecows. Shelmilh also prepares foodto sell to construction workerswho work on a nearby road. Themoney she earns is spent on thehome. An outline of Shelmilh’sworkday is given in Fact File 2.

Fact File 1: Samuel’s PanSamuel dug a pond that enables him to bring water to the

crops on his farm. This pond is called a pan and it serves to collect

rainwater. A hosepipe from the pan carries water to ‘drip irrigate’

the Mwangis’ crops. The pipe has many tiny holes in it, which

allows water to drip slowly onto the ground where the crops are.

The crops are cleverly planted in little hollows that prevent the

irrigation water from seeping away. Samuel is full of ideas and plans. He hopes to expand his pan to

such a degree that he could set up a small fish farm in his land.

Fish would provide food security for his family and would be a

source of income.But Samuel’s plans, and even the survival of his family, are now

under threat. Global warming, for which developed countries

such as Ireland are largely responsible, now threatens the Mwangi

farm and many parts of Africa with potentially deadly droughts.


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Son: Morris (15)Morris attendsMirera PrimarySchool (see Fact File3). He wants to be afarmer like hisfather. He is a gooddistance runner andpractices by running14 kilometres threedays a week. Morris would love tobecome a top athlete like so many of

Kenya’s famous runners. He wouldalso like to make friends with youngpeople in Ireland.

Daughter: Nancy (14)Nancy and Morrisshare the sameclass at school.Nancy enjoysschool and studieshard. Each dayafter school, shehelps her fatheron the farm andher mother with the housework. Shewould like to become a high schoolteacher.

Son: Ian (6)Ian also attendsMirera PrimarySchool. He lovesto play soccerand othergames with Danand with otherchildren.

Grandson: Dan (5)Dan’s mother(who is adaughter ofSamuel andShelmilh) nowlives and worksin Nairobi. Dan isclever at schooland wants to be aheadmaster when he grows up!

Fact File 3: Mirera Primary SchoolMirera Primary School is a 1.5 kilometre walk from theMwangi home. The school has 300 pupils, eight teachers andeight classrooms. The school is open from 7am to 4.30 pm(7am to 3pm for junior pupils). The subjects taught areMaths, Kiswahili (an African language), English, Science,Social Studies and Religious Education.

An important thing about the school is that it can provideits students with clean water. Rainwater is trapped on theroof and is carried from there by pipes into large plasticstorage tanks. When there is not enough rain to fill thetanks, students must bring their own water to school. Duringtimes of drought, many students do not attend school at allbecause they must move with their families to water sourcesfurther away.

Fact File 2:Shelmilh’s Day

� 5am• Rise.• Make tea to sell to

construction workers onthe nearby road.

• Prepare breakfast (teawith milk) for familymembers.

� 7am• Wash clothes, repair or

tidy the house or doother household tasks

• Prepare fodder (food) forfarm animals. Feed andtend to the animals*

� 11am• Prepare lunch (usually

boiled and fried maizewith beans) to sell toconstruction workers at20 Kenyan Shillings (ksh)per plate. Twenty ksh(which is the equivalentof about 20 cent) wouldbuy two bars of soap orenough kerosene tokeep the householdlamp going for one day.

�2pm• Work on the farm,

weeding and wateringthe crops, then milk thecows.

4.30pm• Prepare dinner for the

family

� 7pm• After dinner: wash the

dishes, tidy the houseand plan the next day’swork.

8.30pm• Go to bed* The farm animals consist

of two cows, a baby bull,three chickens and somebaby chicks. The Mwangisused to have goats andsheep, but they werestolen by thieves whoraided the Mwangi farmthree years ago.

Do Activity One on Page 8! ✎


It is easy for people in Ireland to forgethow vital water is to our existence. We livein an economically developed country witha maritime climate where rainfall isfrequent and where seemingly endlesssupplies of water require no more than thetwist or movement of a tap.

People in developing countries such as Kenya place ahigh value on access to water.

� The Kenyan climate does not provide rainfall allthrough the year. You will see from the graph thatKenya has two rainy seasons only.

� Most Kenyans rely on agriculture for their livelihoods.They have always relied on the rainy seasons toharvest two crops a year and to rear livestock.

In recent years, there have been very worrying changes in Kenya’s rainfall patterns. Rainfall amounts have declinedseriously. The rains of March-April have now dwindled so much that they no longer always support a harvest or eventhe rearing of livestock. Meanwhile, the number of rainy days during the October to January period has now shrunkfrom nearly 60 to about 30. To make matters worse, the times of rainfall are now much less predictable than theyused to be. Farmers are no longer sure when to sow their crops and valuable seeds are often lost when rain fails tocome at its expected season.

A drought is an unusually long period of insufficient rainfall. Drought has increased fourfold in parts of Kenya overthe past twenty years. It can bring untold hardship to families such as the Mwangi family that you have read abouton pages 2 and 3.

Periods of drought may cause harvests to fail. When harvests fail, food becomes scarce and food prices risedramatically. Millet is a cereal that is used for making porridge. During times of scarcity, the cost of onekilogram of millet has risen from 15 to 100 Kenyan shillings. The cost of a kilo of beans has risen from about2000 to nearly 5000 shillings. Increased food prices such as these make it very difficult for poor people to buyfood. Long term drought can therefore lead to malnutrition among the poor.

Water and Drought in Kenya

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Water is one of the world’s most preciousresources. We need it to drink, to grow crops,to rear animals and to keep ourselves cleanand healthy. Clean water is therefore a basichuman need and human right. Furthermore,without water our planet would contain noanimal or plant life. Water is life!

Rainfall figures for a weather stationin Ireland and in Kenya.1. Identify the month of maximum rainfall and

of minimum rainfall in the Kenyan stationand give the rainfall figures for each of thesemonths.

2. Identify one main contrast between rainfalldistribution in Ireland and Kenya.

3. What problem might Kenya’s rainfalldistribution present for agriculture?

Ireland

Kenya


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The actions or ‘coping mechanisms’ that farmerstake to respond to the above problems oftenmake the overall situation even worse:

� Some people cut down trees to makecharcoal from wood. They then sell thecharcoal and buy food. But when trees areremoved, the soil is less able to retainmoisture. This leads to drier soil, to soilerosion and therefore to even more cropfailures.

� Some men leave their farms and go to otherareas in search of work. Their farms maybecome neglected and even less likely toproduce food.

� Farmers sometimes sell their cattle with theintention of replacing them when a droughthas passed. But rainfall is now so poor andunreliable that some farmers are afraid torestock their farms. Such farmers end upwith less food than ever before.

The above three ‘coping mechanisms’ helpedKenyan farmers to survive seasonal droughts in thepast. But as droughts become more severe andrainfall becomes more erratic, these traditional‘coping mechanisms’ now merely add to a viciouscycle of falling food supplies, poverty andmalnutrition.

Thomas theThomas thewwwwaaaatttteeeerrrr ccccaaaarrrrrrrr iiii eeeerrrr

Thomas Ledula is an eight year old Kenyan boy. Each day after school, he walks from his house to

the nearest river to fetch water for his mother.

Consider the following facts:• The river is 1.5 kilometres from the Ledula’s home.• The can Thomas uses to collect the water in carries

10 litres. • There are 8 people in the Ledula family• Each person needs at least 5 litres of water a day

for cooking and drinking alone. (To stay healthyand clean, a person would need five times thatamount of water).

� IMAGINE that Thomas was asked to collect thewater needed to supply only the cooking anddrinking needs of all his family:How many times would Thomas need to go tothe river each day to fetch this amount of water?How many kilometres in total would Thomashave to walk each day to fetch this water?If Thomas walked at an average rate of 3kilometres an hour, for how many hours wouldhe need to walk each day to fetch this water?

� DISCUSS the following questions:(i) Women and children traditionally fetch waterin Kenya. How might this work affect their lives? (ii) How might the task of water-carrying bereduced in Kenya?

Farming in Africa(a) How does this farm scene differ from a typical

Irish farm scene?

(b) Describe how drought might affect the lives ofthese farmers.

✎ Do Activity two on Page 8!


Global Warming - a great challenge of our time

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We have seen on pages 4 and 5 howdrought is increasingly affecting the lives ofpeople in Kenya. Drought now harms tensof millions of people in the DevelopingWorld. Scientists fear that its affects arelikely to become progressively worsethroughout this century.

Can it be that we in economically developed countries such as Ireland are contributing to themisery of drought in countries such as Kenya? The answer, unfortunately, appears to be ‘yes’.Scientific studies show that global warming increases Developing World drought. It is virtuallycertain that global warming is being caused by human activities that are taking placeespecially in economically developed countries.

Examine the news article entitled ‘On Global Warming’(Page 7) and answer or discuss the answers to thequestions that follow:(a) What do the letters IPCC stand for? Write three factual

points about the IPCC.

(b) Describe two signs of the existence of global warming.

(c) Describe in detail some causes of global warming thatare mentioned in this article.

(d) What effects might severe global warming have onIreland and on many parts of Africa?

(e) Describe some lifestyle alterations that you think youand your family could make to combat global warming?

An Irish street scene(a) How does the situation shown in this picture affect the

global environment?

(b) What could be done to reduce the usage of privatemotor vehicles in Ireland?

How Global Warming HappensThe sun heats the earth with short-wave radiation that passes easily through the atmosphere.

The earth then sends out long-wave radiation, some of which remains in and heats ouratmosphere. This is called the Greenhouse Effect. It is entirely natural and provides the heat

we need for plants, animals and people to survive.

The problem is that ‘greenhouse gases’ such as Carbon Dioxide are now increasing inour atmosphere, are trapping more and more long-wave radiation and so are causingglobal warming. The build-up of greenhouse gases is being caused by human

activities and is triggering the climate to change. This is a huge threat to our planet.

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On Global WarmingGlobal warming is no ‘theory’. It is an ‘unequivocal’ fact according to a 2007 finding of theUnited Nations’ IPCC or Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. The IPCC is an expert bodythat represents 130 nations. It has received the Nobel Peace Prize for its specialist investigationsof global warming, for which it draws on the research of about 2000 top scientists. The verdictof a body such as the IPCC must be heeded!

The signs of global warming are everywhere. The planet’s glaciers and ice sheets are shrinking.Eleven of the twelve warmest years recorded since 1850 have occurred in the past 12 years.World temperatures are rising progressively and are now 0.76º C warmer than in the ‘pre-industrial period’ before 1850. This temperature rise might not at first glance seem significant.But scientists agree that a further rise of 2º C would probably unleash an unstoppable climatechange that would have horrific effects for our planet and its inhabitants.

The effects of severe global warming would affect people everywhere.• If the great ice caps of Antarctica and Greenland melt, sea level

will inevitably rise – perhaps by as much as several metres. Such arise would inevitably result in the widespread flooding of highlypopulated lowland areas throughout the world.

• Climate change will bring strange and extreme weather patternsto many parts of the world. Ireland might be warm enough togrow grapes and to harbour malaria. On the other hand, if risingwater temperatures in the Arctic cause the North Atlantic Driftto stall, our harbours could suddenly freeze in winter.

• Some parts of the world may experience prolonged anddestructive rains. But many more regions (an estimated 50% ofthe globe by the year 2090) would experience devastatingdroughts and water shortages. As a result, African crop yieldscould be reduced to 50% of their already inadequate levels.Mass famine would almost certainly follow. As with most globaldisasters, it will be the poor who suffer most.

The principal motor of global warming is the ever-increasing use of oil and other fossil fuels thatrelease more and more Carbon Dioxide into the atmosphere. Rapid population growth in someThird World countries plays its part in this. But the main culprit is far closer to home and residesin the ‘throw-away’ consumer society that now holds sway throughout much of our ‘developed’world. It is the rich minority and not the poor majority within our planet that are the mainculprits of global warming. The United States, for example, houses a mere 5% of our humanfamily but emits more than 20% of all global CO2 emissions. Nor can Ireland be proud of itself.Our near addictive use of motor vehicles has resulted in a staggering increase of 140% intransport-related greenhouse gas emissions between 1990 and 2004. The rapidly growingeconomies of China and India also pose potential problems. These countries house a total ofmore than two billion people or one-third of the world’s population. What would happen toworld climates if large proportions of Chinese and Indians were to copy the ways of the Westand seek to make petrol-guzzling cars, foreign holidays and endless electric gadgets part of theireveryday lives?

It is still well within our power to save ourselves from the ravages of global warming. Whatwe need now is an outbreak of sanity among world leaders and among ourselves. Now thatworld leaders have met at Bali, Indonesia, to discuss climate change, it is essential that theyagree on and carry out a meaningful programme of action to reduce greenhouse emissions. We,as individuals, have our own vital roles to play. If global warming is to be contained, many of usin the Western World will need to make serious and perhaps painful alterations to our lifestyles.

December 2007

� Fact:The melting of glaciers onMount Kenya is likely toseriously reduce water andhydro-electricity supplies to thecity of Nairobi.

�Puzzle: How can there be glaciers onMount Kenya, which is situatedalmost on the Equator?


(a) Find out and write the meanings of each of the following terms

• Migration • Middlemen

• Capital city • Drip irrigation

• Staple diet • Drought

• Cash crops • The Developing World

(B) Describe three problems that were, or are, caused by people and that have affected the

Mwangi family.

(C) How has Trócaire helped the Mwangi family?

(D) What could you or your class do to help people in the Developing World? Discuss this

question in class with your teacher and classmates.

✎

✎

Activity 1 (relates to pages 2 and 3)

✎

✎ Activity 2 (relates to pages 4 and 5)

You have learned that drought is causing a ‘vicious cycle’ of poverty in Kenya and other partsof Africa. The diagram shown here illustrates such a vicious cycle. Redraw the diagram so thatit fills a double page of your notebook. Give your diagram a suitable title. Then fill in the boxeslabelled A-K with appropriate terms from the mixed-up list of terms given in the ‘SelectionBox’. Two entries have already been made for you.

J

K

H

F

E

G

I

A

B

C

D

Droughtoccurs

Crops fail

� Selection Box• Poor people cannot afford food • Farms become neglected • Rains fail• People leave their farms • Food prices rise • Crops fail • Deforestation damages the soil • People cut down trees • People sell cattle• Fewer cattle means less food available • Drought occurs

This booklet was inspired by families in Kenya, researched by Trócaire workers and written by Charles Hayes, author of New Complete Geogrpahy and other textbooks.


climate change, water and kenya - trócaire change, water and kenya ... son: morris (15) morris...

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