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In Northern Kenya's Turkana region, people are waiting for the rains that should arrive any day now. This predominantly pastoralist community depends on cattle for their livelihood. However, with climate change increasingly disrupting weather patterns, life has become more challenging—fueling hunger, conflict, and insecurity.
Sabrina, a refugee from South Sudan and a mother of three in Kakuma, lost her home and vegetable garden to floods exacerbated by the El Niño phenomenon. Like many others, she now faces an uncertain future as extreme weather events become more frequent and intense
“We were living peacefully when the floods hit. We never imagined it could get this bad. In the middle of the night, flash floods displaced us as the river broke its banks,” she said.
During a recent mission to Turkana, co-organized by Mercy Corps and UN agencies, Reena Ghelani, Assistant Secretary-General and Climate Crisis Coordinator for El Niño and La Niña, highlighted the urgency: "People tell me the climate has already changed. Seasons are less predictable, and droughts and floods are more intense. The pastoralist way of life is under threat. We must help these communities prepare for future climate disasters and adapt to a changing climate," said Reena Ghelani.
In Turkana, Mercy Corps, through the USAID-funded Nawiri program, is taking a climate-sensitive approach to tackling persistent acute malnutrition. Working with local communities and the county government, Nawiri promotes climate-resilient farming, restores rangelands, repairs and installs water systems, and reclaims land for irrigation. It also encourages diversified livelihoods to provide alternative income during climate shocks. This multi-sectoral strategy aims to strengthen food security and resilience, reducing reliance on costly humanitarian aid, even amid climate crises.
"As shocks increase in both frequency and intensity, we can no longer wait for one emergency to end before preparing for the next. By scaling up smart investments in adaptation and resilience now, we can help protect hard-won development gains and better equip people to withstand future climate shocks," said Melaku Yirga, Mercy Corps Regional Director.
In a remote village of northern Turkana, Hellen, mother of seven, explains how such investments have been life-saving for her community. "The heavy rains used to wash away our water pump, leaving us without water to drink, farm or give our livestock. But we worked with the Nawiri program to rehabilitate the pump and make it climate-proof. Now we're able to grow cowpeas, sweet potatoes and other vegetables that we can eat and sell in the market for income, even during drought," she said while weeding her crops.
Despite contributing less than 0.1% of global greenhouse gas emissions, Kenya—particularly its arid and semi-arid regions—bears the brunt of the climate crisis. Yet, the country receives only a portion of the climate finance it desperately needs to address disasters and meet rising adaptation costs.
Kenya’s ongoing struggle with extreme weather patterns is stark. The 2023-2024 El Niño season has brought heavy rains and catastrophic floods, killing over 500 people and displacing hundreds of thousands since October 2023. This comes on the heels of a historic drought induced by the triple-dip La Niña event, which affected over six million people in Kenya and wiped out more than 70% of livestock in the Horn of Africa.
"Climate change is displacing families, making it harder for communities to recover from these disasters. We need urgent resilience planning to protect vulnerable populations and ensure they are better prepared for future crises,” explained Dimanche Sharon, IOM Kenya Chief of Mission.
In November, global leaders will gather at the 2024 United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP29) to advance climate action. The decisions made there will have a profound impact on the lives of the most climate-vulnerable and their ability to adapt and cope. Leaders must come to COP29 prepared to agree on an ambitious, fit-for-purpose new climate finance goal, with an increased focus on investments for climate adaptation for the most vulnerable communities.
Notes to editors:
- UN agencies and humanitarian partners are supporting local authorities in their efforts to build resilience for communities living across the arid and semi-arid lands. For example, the World Food Programme (WFP) is supporting 700,000 people in the region to adapt to a changing climate and produce food year-round, not just for consumption but also a surplus for sale. Investments in solar energy for irrigation, conservation agriculture, as well as alternative livelihoods like beekeeping, are helping diversify income sources and strengthen food security for families living in areas most prone to climatic shocks.
- USAID Nawiri is an 8-year (2019-2027) Resilience Food Security Activity (RFSA) funded by USAID’s Bureau of Humanitarian Assistance (BHA) with the overarching goal of sustainably reducing levels of persistent acute malnutrition (PAM) in Turkana and Samburu, in close partnership with the four county governments and participant communities. The program is implemented by Mercy Corps in partnership with Save the Children, Research Triangle Institute (RTI), The BOMA Project, Caritas Lodwar, and a number of local partners. USAID Nawiri’s goal is achieved through four interconnected pathways: empowering vulnerable households (HHs) to achieve and maintain food security, minimizing disease burdens, nurturing nutrition-enabling environments, and enhancing institutional capacity to sustainably strengthen nutrition resilience.
Media contacts:
Priscilla Lecomte | lecomte@un.org | +254794321034
Grace Wairima Ndungu | gndungu@mercycorps.org | +254 722 890 551