Tana Delta Irrigation Project, Kenya: An Environmental Assessment

Rehabilitation of the Tana Delta Irrigation Project, Kenya: An Environmental Assessment.
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
To be successful, conservation investments must consider the natural resource base, traditional cultures,
tenure of all resources, economic aspects, as well as the history of activities in the area.
This environmental assessment strives to address all these aspects in equal regard in order to provide
recommendations to the Tana and Athi River Development Authority (TARDA), the Japanese Bank for
International Cooperation (JBIC), communities reliant upon the Lower Tana Forests and other relevant
stakeholders. These findings will help ensure that any re-establishment of the Tana Delta Irrigation Project
(TDIP) will have positive impacts on sustainable community livelihoods, long-term conservation of the
forests, and the survival of the two Critically Endangered primates, the Tana River red colobus Procolobus
rufomitratus and Tana River mangabey Cercocebus galeritus, flagships for all the threatened species that
rely on these forests.
These recommendations are made on the basis of three independent, but intrinsically linked, studies:
• Socio-economic study
• Botanical/Ecological study
• Census of the Tana River red colobus and Tana River mangabey
The three studies presented in this report represent the current state of the area for the proposed
rehabilitation of TDIP (established in 1986) that was severely damaged by the floods associated with the El
Nino in 1997/1998. The history and details of this development are available elsewhere and need not be
reiterated here.
Each of above studies stands alone as an independent statement of the current status of the specific sector.
However, there are several concurrent themes in each of the studies that form the basis of this executive
summary.
These recommendations present a once off opportunity in re-establishing the TDIP that, if combined, will:
• Alleviate poverty amongst the local Pokomo and Orma tribes, as well as other pastoral groups that
seasonally rely upon this area and;
• Expand forest cover and forest health and, ultimately, improve the long-term conservation of the two
species of threatened primates.
This is a rare opportunity that combines development investment with conservation priorities to
repair the environmental damage and negative community attitudes in a critical area of Kenya.
To achieve these goals will require a long-term and creative approach. Commitments by all stakeholders’ to
any new approach needs to be honoured in a timely fashion.
The conclusions and recommendations from the three studies are as follows:
Socio-economic Study
Significant levels of poverty and vulnerability characterise the Pokomo agricultural and the Orma or Wardey
pastoralist communities associated with the Lower Tana River. The greatest constraint to their livelihoods
stated by the communities was the low and highly seasonal rainfall. The communities believe that the
irrigation rice scheme holds the potential to contribute significantly to improvement of their lives by allowing
dry season production of crops, at little cost to the TDIP. However, the historic relationship between TARDA
and the communities is characterised by mistrust and bad feeling.
These communities identified (1) that there are three types of woodlands integral to their livelihoods, and (2)
express the desire for the forests to be conserved, rehabilitated, and expanded. The three forest types are:
• Riverine forests adjacent to the river course;
• Floodplain forests (‘madzini’) a short distance from the river course and of greatest importance to the
local communities;
• Thicket woodlands (‘gubani’) on dryer areas away from the flood plain.
This environmental assessment focuses on the riverine and floodplain forests.
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