02 Jul 010
In Turkana county air temperature have increased by about 3 degrees between 1967 and today, the long rainy season has become shorter and dryer and the short rainy season has become longer and wetter, while overall annual rainfall remains at low levels.
During these droughts, the Turkana ethnic group who were mostly pastoralist were pushed closer to the lake. They gradually adapted their lifestyles to depend upon fishing, despite it previously being a livelihood looked down upon. Now the lives of the people in this area depend directly on fish or fishing. Fishing now forms a core part of local livelihoods, and fish are sold regionally – among other places, in Nairobi, the Rift Valley, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Sudan and Uganda.
Hydropower and irrigation developments underway on the Omo River, upstream in Ethiopia caused the shrinking of the lake. The goats are searching something to eat where before there was the lake.