"There is still hope in Mountain Research in Africa!"

After a brief stay in Kenya, where I attended African Association of Insect Scientists, I met Philip Omondi and Boniface Kiteme. I used the opportunity to introduce the GCRNAM to the african insect scientists community who are still worried about the issue of climate change and how to adapt insect science to the situation. There were two planary lectures on climate change in relation to insect, especially the issue of coffee/tea production in African highlands and the proliferation of the coffee berry borer in a scenario of temperature increase which is likely to favour the pest.

I also had the chance to attend the Mbale meeting. My colleague and friend from icipe Dr. Tino Johanson coordinator the Chiesa project at icipe and I shared the road with Akamba bus from Nairobi to Mbale, just beneath the Ugandan side of Mount-Elgon. At that time, I used to believe that Mountain research in Africa was an uncommon field and I was still trying to convince myself if it was promising field to undertake. Even the program that was given on the website could not give me a hind of the type of research programs that are being conducted in African Mountains by african researchers.

Due to the fragility of mountain ecosystems, it was important for both researchers and policy-makers to identify shortcoming that underpin sustainability, adaptation and resilience regarding to mountain resources. The Mbale conference is the first of its kind in East Africa and was organized by key stakeholders including governmental and non-governmental organizations such as NGOs, Universities etc… The conference was organized by most of the pioneers’ researchers who attended the creation of the Global Change Research Network in African Mountains in 2007 in Kampala. Before the conference I have had several email conversations with Bob Nakileza about the main topics and themes of the conference. Of course we used the opportunity to prepare a key note adress about the Network and the Mountain Research Initiative, our objectives and expected results. The overall conference's objectives were to deliberate upon issues affecting sustainability in East Africa by bringing together researchers working on Mountains in East Africa. By creating such meetings, it will promote South-South collaborations and strengthen international partnership in mountain/highland-lowland research. The conference aimed at publishing eventually quality publications in form of an edited volume in mountain research.

Over 40 communications from 60 attendees were presented in the ICEAM conference at Mbale Resort Hotel. Various topics including ecosystem services, adaptation, climate change, conservation and biodiversity, urban-rural interactions, cultural heritage, trans-boundary conflicts have been discussed. At that moment I confidently stated "There is still hope in Mountain Research in Africa!"

Ecosystem services and Livelihoods

Mountains regions are subjected to environmental stress due to populations increase and poor governance in addition to the issue of climate change. There are many reasons that may cause conflicts: insecurity from illegal arms, land mines (UXO), cattle raiding across regional borders, cultural disharmony and environmental shocks (ASALs). However, most of these conflicts have severe repercussions on the environments. Mr. Francis Onditi came up with a talk about “Shared borders, common problems: policy options for a comprehensive livelihood adaptation framework in Eastern Africa” which depicted the real situation on trans-boundary calamities due to population movement affecting mountain resources and ecosystems services. In his paper, Francis described a participatory rural appraisal (PRA) to follow up and predict potential conflicts in East African Mountains which can be used by the East Africa Community.

In South Sudan for instance, the drivers of livelihood-based conflict are mainly the seasonal changes; for example, in Torit County, cattle raids tend to occur on a weekly basis. The estimates of human deaths related to cattle were 15-20 per months (EES Strategic Plan 2008/10). It is believed that conflicts are more common in the months of Dec and Jan rain fall distribution).

In Kenya and Ethiopia border, the drivers of livelihood-based conflict in Ilemi Triangle include: colonial administration (British & Italians); cultural differences between communities (Turkana, Didinga, Toposa, Inyangatom and Dissanech), territorial disputes. The perception of residents on the influence of territorial boundaries was not sharp and this is due to many factors for instance; free movement accelerated by the need to accommodate increasing pastoral productivity, population increase and of course ecological stresses.

The “Gun Culture”; in most communities in East Africa, guns are viewed as central fixture in the determination of social and cultural hierarchies. For that reason, there are homemade arms by local Blacksmith. There is strong pressure on communities to acquire guns for self-defense as well as prestige for instance in Kenya-Tanzania border.

In South Sudan and Ugandan border, civilians are often rapped by the official government forces like the Owinj Ki Bull and Narus black spots. The regions are characterized by elusive boundaries and there is a constant movement of livelihood assets across borders. Such conditions are favorable for criminal activities of rebel groups and militia- Notably the Didinga and Buya along the SS-EAC roads.

The study showed that livelihood failure across the borders is largely determined by inter-communal factors such as culture and beliefs. Interventional programs must focus on household coping strategies and gender roles. The emerging new generational gap is critical and should be considered as part of livelihood intervention framework. Militarized development among some countries is a spoiling factor as witnessed along water points. The focus should be on the emerging livelihood-based conflict triggers as opposed to the traditional conflict drivers. However, there is still a lot of effort on how to obtain information timely and share it with relevant actors to support decisive strategic interventions.

Still in the theme of ecosystem services, I listened to Dr. Festus Bagoora presentation on “Soil loss variations with Inter-annual rainfall, Slope and Seasonal cropping systems in the highland region of south-western Uganda”. Soil erosion and mass-wasting are major environmental problem in the humid mountainous and highland regions of Southern Uganda. Heavy rains and soil degradation in conjunction to climate change and human activity could be the mains reasons. Dr. Bagoora indicated that: there is a prevailing need to adopt both physical and agronomic soil conservation systems to protect the ecosystems for resilience.

Ecosystems play a great role in our daily lives but, we tend to underscore their importance, thinking that environmental benefits are “FREE”. Although water is not considered as part of the ecosystem services, the processes of purification for its availability are strongly linked to community development. In that regard, Babu and Ogaram presented their work on “Ecosystem Services for Urban Water Supply: Case Study, Manafwa River System- Mbale, Uganda”. Ecosystem degradation and particularly deforestation are major threats to the provision of ecosystem services (water purification, soil erosion control). Inadequate resource monitoring and protection may soon lead to supply shortages in major urban centers. Babu and Ogaram tried to determine the trends in water quality of the Manafwa River and to evaluate the spatial differences in the water quality along the Manafwa River. Water quality, treatability and the cost in the next decade were assessed as well. In a timeframe of 10 years, they reported an increasing trend of water turbidity due to solide fractions emanating from mountain soil erosion. Between 1999 and 2007, water alkalinity was decreasing at 1mg/L CaCO3/yr. Though the FC counts generally decreased, it was not statistically significant (17 CFU/yr). There were significant differences in chemical usage between the DRY (lower) and WET season (higher). The unit treatment cost in 2007 was 61 UGX/m3and in 2015; it will be 80 UGX/m3. This degradation in water quality and purification which is an ecosystem service can be attributed to land use differences. The wet season alum dosage is higher than the dry is due to high erosion- a consequence of widespread destruction of natural vegetative cover in the catchment. The authors stated that “If Manafwa water works was situated at Mount Elgon National Park (un-degraded area upstream); there would probably be no need of extensive treatment of the raw water”. 

In conclusion for that interesting presentation, “the costs of ecosystem services are normally underscored not until the effects of their degradation become visible (e.g. increasing water treatment costs and water tariffs)”.

“Farmers’ Perceptions of the Erosion Risk on Mt. Elgon: Implications to Soil and Water Conservation”. Dr Yazid Bamutaze explained how farmer’s perceptions influence implementation of SWC measures on Mt. Elgon in Uganda. He looked at the awareness of erosion as an environmental hazard positively influences field implementation of SWC measures and how farmers of education influence implementation of SWC. The study showed that farmers are aware of the occurrence of erosion and its negative consequences. They also farmers perceive the quality of land to be decreasing. As predicted by models, farmer’s perception matched with scientific predictions. However, there is a gap between perceptions and SWC actions probably due to Institutional constraints which need further investigations (labor, incomes, gender), historical approaches etc. Dr. Yazid recommended that there is need to harness the high level of awareness of erosion as a hazard and to explore promising strategies to incentivise farmers to conserve.

In East Africa, Mountains forests are threatened by farmers who are looking for more fertile land. Clare Mutumba et al. assessed the “The impact of land use and cover on soil organic carbon stocks”. She conducted survey in Mt Elgon to look at “the impact of land use and cover on soil organic carbon stocks”. She compared soils of several altitudes of the Atari catchment considering slopes and depth. The major outcome of her study was “The higher the vegetation cover and diversity in a land use and cover the more the soil organic stock”. In response to land degradation and soil erosion which are the results of poor farming methods, deforestation, due to population increase. David Kiirya presented “Crop residue utilization for soil productivity improvement, livestock feeding and erosion control in Mt. Elgon”. Since “Poverty and environmental problems are both children of the same mother, and that mother is ignorance”, the consequence of these bad practices is high cost of inputs by farmers. Mr. Kiirya and his team suggested the integration of organic manures that could sustain soil fertility in Mountain land where soil erosion is a rule. The technique is beneficial in soil fertility improvement, yield increment and runoff control. Although results are not immediately seen due to terrain-floods, the nature of soil texture is very important. Crop residues are a useful resource in soil fertility improvement. They increase crop yields and many farmers from the study sites are currently using crop residues effectively. The approach is generally cost effective and sustainable towards meeting soil conservation requirements. There is a need to improving the knowledge gap of farmers in making on-spot decision aid tools.