Camel caravan event held in Isiolo to push for conservation and peace

The event, which started on Tuesday and will end on Friday, has seen participants reflect on the gains made and challenges faced towards conservation of the Ewaso Ngi’ro River Ecosystem. 
The participants highlighted the need to conserve Lake Ol Bolossat in Nyandarua County, which is the source of River Ewaso Ng’iro, as a key component of preserving the crucial river that supports the livelihoods of the pastoralist communities that live in the lower counties of Laikipia, Samburu, Isiolo, Garissa and Wajir. 

The event has also been dominated by peace-building dialogues between different communities at Kipsing village, with representatives from the five counties calling for concerted efforts to protect the crucial water source. 
The 700 km river originates from Lake Ol Bolossat in Nyandarua County, meandering through seven semi-arid counties in northern Kenya, and supports the livelihoods of at least two million people, their livestock, and wildlife. 
According to Hezekiah Karanja, the vice chairperson of Lake Ol Bolossat Water Users Association, overcoming the challenges of conserving the lake is key to saving river Ewaso Ngiro. 
He said that residents in the areas have been cutting Eucalyptus trees around the lake catchment area and protecting the lake from herders. 

He called for concerted efforts between the respective county governments where the river passes to join hands and erect a fence around the lake to protect it from adverse human activities. 
Participants in this year’s Camel Caravan have also expressed the need for the County and National Governments within the Ewaso Ng’iro Basin to address other threats such as illegal sand harvesting, encroaching on the river riparian, and unregulated water abstraction for irrigation in upstream regions. 
As the stakeholders in the Camel Caravan mark 12 years since the inception of the annual event, they aim to formulate a tangible action plan that will guarantee peaceful coexistence among farmers in the upstream and pastoralists in the downstream through equitable sharing of natural resources. 
Teresia Nairotia, the programs officer, Indigenous Movement for Peace Advancement and Conflict Transformation (IMPACT) said that the upstream and downstream communities were engaged in different initiatives to work together with an aim of restoring a working formula of conserving the river. 
Teresia said that the Caravan also engages participants in activities that enable them to appreciate each other’s cultures as a way of promoting cohesion and peace building since most of the communities involved are also those that have been in perennial conflicts over pasture and are also engaged in cattle rustling. 
Charles Remogi from Oldonyiro said that his experience through the caravan has enabled him to understand the challenges of communities that live downstream. 

He appreciated that the efforts have also helped to identify sources of conflicts between communities. 
According to Idris Forole who hails from Lorian Swamp area where River Ewaso Nyiro drains, the caravan is not only about conservation but has been used to promote peace between different communities as well. 
The Annual Camel Caravan is organized through partnership between the Ewaso Nyiro North Development Authority (ENNDA), which is a regional development authority by the National Government, Indigenous Movement For Peace Advancement and Conflict Transformation (IMPACT), and Isiolo Peace Link.