Besides, various local conflicts around the lake can be observed, i.e. resulting from water pollution, land encroachment, upstream deforestation, unsustainable farming activities, overuse of chemicals, and increased pressure on the water access points. Most of these conflicts arise at community level. For instance, farmers construct fences around their land to stop pastoralists from grazing their cattle. Fishermen protect their landing beaches by setting up provisional fences or by night guards in order to prevent farmers from accessing water and encroaching on their land. Moreover, more forceful actions nowadays include cattle raiding and the destruction of fishing boats or agricultural land. Recently, cattle is slaughtered or people even get killed when trying to access the lake’s landing beaches.
There are various conflict promoting factors that exacerbate these confrontations: Farmers, fishermen, and pastoralists feel politically, economically and socially marginalized by the political elite. Lacking access to education (to escape from poverty and to increase employment opportunities), increasing population pressure, high levels of poverty and an unclear landownership system further add to the tensions. More recently, however, the limited access to water basins and unavailable or unaffordable water infrastructure become major drivers of these conflicts.
So far, this low-key conflict has not escalated into large-scale violence. National and international actors turn a blind eye onto these conflicts, although the situation worsens by the day as the water scarcity threatens the existence of many people around Lake Naivasha.
Due to the lake’s unique setting as the only fresh water source in the area, Nairobi elites in particular support the set-up of agricultural and touristic businesses that shall contribute to the growth of the Kenyan economy. At the same time, ineffective governance structures, high levels of corruption and political unwillingness to solve socioeconomic problems also accelerate the capitalisation of land around the lake and therewith contribute to increased water shortages with severe consequences for local residents.
The contradiction of water shortages in water-abundant areas and its links to low-key resource conflicts is an interesting nexus to investigate. As I demonstrate in this article, this perspective focuses on conflictive interests between investors, the government, and the different local populations. Developing theoretical and analytical models on this nexus can support policy programs and bring the topic to wider attention of political stakeholders and scholars.
Julia Renner is a Research Fellow and doctoral candidate at the University of Koblenz-Landau. Her research interests centre on resource conflicts and water conflicts within the Eastern African Community in particular. She has conducted field work in Kenya and Uganda. Moreover, she is an Associate Fellow at the Peace Academy of Rhineland-Palatinate and member of the research group on land-use conflicts. She is speaker of the research group “Junge AFK” of the German Association for Peace and Conflict Studies.