Conflicts over water are increasing in the sprawling
Pangani River Basin in northeastern Tanzania as farmers and herders
jostle for dwindling water resources in the face of climate change.
Over the past decade, Maasai pastoralists from the
northern areas of Moshi and Arusha have been streaming towards the
basin with tens of thousands of their cattle in search of water and
grazing pasture.
Hafsa Mtasiwa, the Pangani District Commissioner,
told IPS that the Maasais’ traditional land was strained by overuse of
water resources and overgrazing. She said in the last three years 2,987
herders with 87,1321 cows and 98,341 goats moved into the basin’s low
land, destroying arable land.
She said that although the government of this East
African nation was trying to control the influx into the basin, a lack
of policy coordination between relevant regional authorities made this
difficult.
“This is a very complex issue whose solution
requires a general consensus between the fighting groups. You don’t
simply chase away cattle keepers. We must educate them on the need to
respect the rights of the others,” she said.
The Pangani River Basin, which sprawls across
48,000 square kilometres, is already stressed as it faces continued
demands on its water resources and ecosystems.
According to the Water and Nature Initiative of
the International Union of Conservation of Nature, the basin has a
population of 3.4 million people, “80 per cent of whom rely on
small-scale farming.
Ecosystems are in decline and, with aquatic
resources supplying up to 25 per cent of household income in parts of
the basin, the poorest are those most affected by declining water
levels.”
Statistics from the Tanzania Meteorological Agency
(TMA) show rainfall patterns across many parts of the Pangani River
Basin have drastically dropped in the past 10 years. Some areas that
recorded 990 mm of rainfall a decade ago receive almost half of this
now.
“The impacts of climate change are very difficult
to foresee, they keep changing from time to time. It could start with
drought then abruptly switch to floods, the important thing is for the
people to adapt,” TMA’s director general Agnes Kijazi told IPS by phone.
Irrigation
What little water there is, is mostly used for
irrigation and electricity generation. The Clim-A-Net project, which
aims to develop scientific knowledge on climate change, states on its
website that “almost 90 percent of the surface flow in the Pangani Basin
is used for irrigation and hydropower generation.”
“We are spending sleepless nights just finding
water, the little we get we feed our cattle. We have lost so many cows …
The people here should also understand the situation we are in,”
Vincent Ole Saidim, a Maasai youth living in Pangani, told IPS.
But farmers here complain about the number of
cattle that enter their fields, destroying crops and irrigation
structures in the process.
“These Maasai are very selfish people, they think
they are always right, even when they destroy other people’s lives. I
can’t bear them, they should go back to where they belong,” Mwasiti,
Isinika a farmer in Pangani, told IPS.
Residents from the region told IPS that over the
last six months tensions between farmers and herders have been ongoing
and many feel that there is no end in sight.
The most recent incident that IPS noted occurred
in August in Makenya village, a community of 600 people located about 19
km from the basin’s Pangani Town.
According to residents, a scuffle involving
farmers and pastoralists ensued when 24 herders attempted to take over
the village’s central water source in order to feed their animals. The
villagers managed to remove them and no deaths were reported.
However, two years ago in Mbuguni village, which
is about 18 km from Pangani Town, four farmers were hacked to death by
angry Maasai morans (warriors) as they tried to stop a group of cattle
from trampling on their maize seedlings.
Reduced rainfall
Omar Kibwana, a local government official from
Mbuguni village, told IPS that conflict was rife because the government
was reluctant to create borders separating farmers from pastoralists.
“This issue should have been resolved a long time ago had there been clear demarcation,” he said.
The Pangani Basin Water Board said it was aware of the challenges here.
Arafa Maggidi, an engineer from Pangani Basin
Water Authority, told IPS that while climate change was the main reason
for the reduced water supply here, other factors such as deforestation,
increasing number of livestock, and an expansion of farming activities
contributed.
“The threat of climate change and the need to
adapt cannot be over emphasised. We are trying our very best to educate
the people to change their life styles, they must understand by
destroying environment they are preparing for their own suffering,”
Maggidi said.
“We strongly believe that successful management of
the water resources has to integrate all environmental, economic and
social demands,” he said.
Going forward, scientists predict increasing temperatures, reduced rainfall and ultimately less water.
According to Pius Yanda, a professor at the
University of Dar es Salaam who is also a member of the
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, a rise of between 1.8 and 3.6
degrees Celsius, decreasing rainfall and increased evaporation in the
river basin can be expected before the end of the century.
But as they face an uncertain future, people here
recall better times when the river was full and its flow was guaranteed
throughout the year.
“The river has lost all its old glory, some of the
fish species have also disappeared, how disgusting,” Fundi Mhegema, a
villager at Buyuni village in Pangani, told IPS.
-IPS-
SOURCE: AFRICA REVIEW
SOURCE: AFRICA REVIEW
