Children played in the canals running through a field of maize at the Kabulokor irrigation project in Loima Constituency, Turkana County. Nearby, their parents attended a community council meeting under a small thicket of trees.

The canals, maize and council meeting are all remarkable for Turkana– a vast cialis mg stretch of desert in northwest Kenya plagued by cattle rustling and wedged against the unstable borders of Ethiopia, South Sudan and Uganda. Images of the small groups of semi-nomadic pastoralists who inhabit Turkana’s parched landscape, combined with the romance of the discovery of the first humans by the archeologists the Leakeys , have long drawn the sympathy and humanitarian aid funds from European donor countries. There is little romance, however, in the statistics cited by the United States African Development Foundation 75% of Turkana’s population is dependent on food aid for survival. This small agriculture oasis in Loima Constituency is therefore a victory for the community of over 2,100 families, the county government and the non-profit organizations who have been working for decades to wean Turkana off aid. And over the course of one year, it seemed that everything could change. The discovery of underground oil and water deposits in Lokichar Basin in the south of Turkana in 2012 could, potentially, fix poverty and drought for Turkana forever. Or, it could make everything worse. The “oil (and water) curse” The European Commission funds an Oxfam democracy and human rights program in Turkana. Its program manager John Ebenyo Ewesit, said that investors snuck in without the people realizing. “They erected blue and white tents and started clearing oil fields before anyone knew what was happening.” The most precarious and neglected region of Kenya has caught the attention of multinational petroleum conglomerates,

most notably British-owned Tullow Oil – a situation that has the potential to cast a spoke in the wheel of progress and tentative rule of law that donors have cultivated and set off the “oil curse.” Communities that now manage revenue from a borehole or earth dam to cover maintenance costs, are by all accounts not equal to the task of regulating the billions of Euros of oil revenue that lie beneath this land. The same sildenafil online goes for the giant water aquifers mapped out by UNESCO and Japanese funders for the Government of Kenya. And, the investors who have snatched up exploratory drilling contracts without having to make those contracts public, know it. For the last five years, Samson Otira Emirica is the chairman of the Kabulokor irrigation project where the community meeting took place in the shade of the trees, has overseen the cultivation of maize, sorghum, onions and tomatoes to feed the community, since the national government built it under the Expanded National Irrigation Program. He has never heard of the Lotikipi Basin Aquifer – the deep underground reserve that is estimated to store 207 billion cubic meters of water according to the assessment carried out by the exploration firm

Radar Technologies International and sponsored by UNESCO and the government of Japan. It is estimated that the aquifer will boost Kenya’s water reserves by 900 percent. The announcement of the aquifer assessment in the newspapers surprised the local water administration, too. Both water engineer William Kilimu and Chrispinus Wafula of the Water Resource Management Authority, who manage the water projects in Turkana County, said they read about the assessment in the newspapers. Wafula explained that while Radar Technologies International requested data for the assessment, nobody ever sent him the final report, which is currently available on the RTI website. It is not available on the websites of the national or local government, nor that of the Rift Valley Water Management Authority, the entity that is managing the

discovery from hundreds of kilometers away. RTI declined to give this reporter the data used to develop the report, referring to UNESCO and the Ministry of Water, who did not respond. Emirica’s main concern is centered on expanding the current size of the irrigation scheme. He explained that as word of a successful harvest spread, friends and families began to show up. Parcels of land were sub-divided to the point that they became unsustainable. Even one bad harvest can lead to rising malnutrition. Managing water Community-based water projects like the Kabulokor irrigation scheme in Turkana are most often managed by groups including Oxfam, World Vision free trial cialis and the Spanish Nariokotome Mission. They have long received European funding; projects that are just as much about preparing the community for a modern system of government as they are about watering goats. The European Commission currently funds over €7 million of active water and governance projects in Turkana according to data provided by the Commission for this investigation. Representatives of NGOs and the Catholic Church working with water issues maintain that the aquifers are hardly newsworthy. “The Lotikipi aquifer is not a discovery as there have been papers written about it since 1969,” explained Ikal Ang’elei , Director of the environmental group Friends of Lake Turkana. “The concern is how much is rechargeable.” , According to regional water experts, it is only now that investors and the government are talking about making the huge investment needed for extracting the water. Oxfam, which received over €3 million from the European Commission to improve water access, also provided data for the assessment, and said that it would be years before the project could be realized. Infrastructure seems to be the biggest barrier. Many of the 700,000 Turkana County residents covering 77,000km2 would have access to water if there were adequate international donor or national government funds and infrastructure to dig boreholes and wells to access groundwater just meters deep and provide solar-powered generators to pump out the water. But with high dependency of emergency food aid, water infrastructure takes a back seat. In Kakuma, a Turkana border town that is home to 110,000 refuges, a water distribution point for one of the Oxfam boreholes serves

1,700 livestock and 4,570 people. Thomas Kavua, the Oxfam Turkana County Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) program coordinator explained the cost and work that goes into governing even a small-scale water project like this one. The generator and solar panels for water extraction average 5.6 million Kenyan Shillings (€48,000), a water kiosk costs about sh200,00 (€1,700) while a water

tower stand runs about sh510,000 (€4,300). Beyond infrastructure, Oxfam helps set up water management committees and teaches the members how to develop a tariff structure to cover maintenance costs, and regulate distribution in the absence of any state presence. They cover topics such as governance, environmental impact, resilience, sanitation and agriculture with a focus on livelihoods. At this facility, swarming with children, users are charged sh5 (€0.04) per 20 liters container. A man what doctors can prescribe viagra who only gave the name Josephat is the deputy secretary of the 12-member committee and said that often the revenue does not cover expenses and they provide children, the elderly and the disabled with free access. They have to appeal to the local government for funding when they can’t cover their own repairs. At the Spanish Nariokotome Mission, near the discovery site of the most complete early human skeleton ever found, Father Antonio Aguirre explained that water access does not necessarily mean a shift towards agriculture for the pastoralist community. The Mission, equipped with heavy machinery, has built 186 dams, water catchments and other water collection structures around the county through funding from Spanish and other European donors. The network of Missions maintain thriving gardens with staples and more exotic items such as dates and papayas that feed 2,500 children daily through 28 infant feeding centers. Aguirre explained that few local communities have used the new sources of water for farming themselves and it is a mistake to assume that lifestyle shifts will come naturally.

Paul Ekutan, a water engineer for a local natural resource NGO Practical Action, said that exploiting the aquifers could herald the arrival of agro-industrialists that would endanger the pastoralist lifestyle. As with oil, foreign companies are leading exploration and much of the data and contracts are kept secret. While the efforts of Practical Action to bridge the gap between local communities and local government in water management have met with some success so far, national government is another matter. Practical Action ensures that water supports food security not only by building facilities and local capacity, but also by holding forums with the local

government. Each ward is given sh10 million (85,000 euros) from the county government for natural resource management. Practical Action works with 15-member water user associations to help them articulate their concerns as a unit and act as collective bargaining mechanism. These groups are recognized and licensed with the Ministry of Water. The various groups and government actors involved in water management come together in the Water, Environmental, Sanitation Coordination Group to carry out participatory planning, needs assessments on the ground and communication to stakeholders. They also coordinate to avoid duplication and make best use of resources to ensure the most equitable access to water resources possible. This body reports to a District Steering Group which looks at education, water and other key services. When water goes to oil John Ebenyo Ewesit, the Oxfam human rights project manager witnessed the Tullow tents appear overnight. He said their local governance projects were of no use in mediating oil negotiations. The government called a placatory meeting to announce the arrival of Tullow after the fact, he explained. Now there are two parallel systems: national

coordination with the county commissioners appointed by the national government, and county and ward level government who were all left out of the equation as the national ministries of energy and mining moved in. “It’s still total confusion from a governance perspective.” Now, local government officials fly in and out of Turkana for free on Tullow-operated aircraft, while decisions are made in Nairobi. And all the while, the stakes have gotten higher. Real concerns for the environment include the dumping of industrial and human waste that could poison grazing lands. cialis for premature ejaculation Oil extraction requires large quantities of water,so new water discoveries could be diverted to either oil or agro-industry instead of the public. The oil drilling itself could contaminate water aquifers, which are found in the same geological structures but at different depths.Community advocacy could be silenced by the para-military

protection pledged to Tullow by the Government of Kenya in a recent confidential Memorandum of Understanding to end recent protests that was does alcohol affect cialis leaked to the Land Quest team. Pastoralists displaced by fenced-off drilling sites have no where to go. The Kenya Oil & Gas Working Group, a network of civil society organizations that form the Community

Action for Nature Conservation seeks to level the playing field for community, government, private sector and CSOs, but they too, are stumped.Their grassroots approach of engaging local communities in the discussion does not work when all meetings and decisions are being help in Nairobi. Even the community forums convened in Turkana have little effect, as the county government is no longer calling the shots. As part of the Memorandum of Understanding, the Ministry of Energy has committed to stationing three officials in Turkana to directly address problems when they arise and referee conversations with the County government. The deadline of December 31, 2013 has passed and no officials have been publicly appointed.

Government donors have not yet responded to the new challenges that the water and oil discoveries have brought to Turkana. The World Bank is taking the lead in developing a $50 million credit for the government of Kenya that will finance the technical assistance program. However, as Lex Huurdeman, Senior Expert for Oil, Gas and Mining Policy at the World Bank pointed out, the World Bank can make recommendations, but cannot force the Government of Kenya to implement them. Several NGOs have obtained private funds from the MacArthur Foundation for a Turkana County Natural Resource Governance Hub. It includes an advisory committee for oil that involves all sub-counties, although the committee is still in its launch phase. “The donors are from the countries where the oil companies are from”, explained Director of the Oil and Gas Working Group Hadley Becha… there is something they can do because so much of the value is based on the stock exchange and we know they can influence the investors at the risk assessment stage to ensure that the companies are not using proxies and are on the

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ground to ensure that the risk assessment reflects reality.” explained Director of the Oil and Gas Working Group Hadley Becha. Back in Kabulokor, the local residents have not heard of any oil or water discoveries. The biggest external threat to them is that camels or cows will break through the fence that protects their irrigation field and trample or eat the new crops. But news of the oil discovery has reached the rest of the world. Already, the American oil exploratory companies Apache and ERHC Energy and the British Bowleven Oil & Gas have begun surveys in Turkana. Major donor grants to prepare the Turkana for the next wave of oil investors have yet to be announced.

Landquest by Internews Kenya is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. Permissions beyond the scope of this license may be available at http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/.

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Un grupo de niños juega en los canales que cruzan el campo de maíz de Kabulokor, en el distrito de

Loima, Condado de Turkana. top pharmacy chains in canada Cerca de ellos, sus padres participan en una reunión de la comunidad, a la sombra de un pequeño matorral. Los canales y el maiz son lo más importante que hay para los pastores que viven en Turkana, una vasta explanada de desierto en el noroeste de viagra non prescription Kenia, encajada entre las inestables fronteras de Etiopia, Sudán del Sur y Uganda. Desde hace décadas, la vida en este paraje reseco se sustenta gracias a los fondos de ayuda humanitaria que llegan desde los países europeos. Tanto que a día de hoy, según los datos de la estadounidense Fundación para el Desarrollo de África, el 75% de la población de Turkana depende de esta ayuda para sobrevivir. Solo en 2013, la Unión canadian pharmacy

ha financiado proyectos para la gestión de aguas por siete millones de euros, según datos oficiales. Pero durante un solo año, todo podría cambiar. El descubrimiento de yacimientos de petróleo en Lokichar Basin, en el sur de Turkana, podría, potencialmente, acabar con la pobreza en la zona para siempre. En las mismas perforaciones que han permitido acceder al crudo, pero a una diferente profundidad, el Gobierno local ha empezado a movilizar fondos para explorar nuevos depósitos de agua. Su explotación, según las primeras estimaciones, podría disparar de un 900% las reservas de agua de Kenya. Un equipo de periodistas se ha desplazado hasta la región para comprobar cómo petróleo y agua podrían convertirse en la salvación de la región. online pharmacy delivers to canada O en su nueva pesadilla.

Desplazados por el petróleo Los maizales de Kabulokor pueden considerarse un pequeño oasis agrícolo. Son una victoria para la comunidad local. Algo más de 2.100 familias, el gobierno local y las ONG han trabajado durante años para que esta zona de Turkana dejara de depender de los fondos internacionales. Johen Ebenyo Ewesit es el responsable de los proyectos de impulso de la democracia y de los derechos humanos que Intermon Oxfam mantiene en la zona, en un marco de proyectos de ‘gobvernance’ que financia la Unión Europea. “Petroleras e inversores llegaron a la zona sin que nadie se diera cuenta”, explica. “Levantaron tiendas azules y blancas y empezaron a despejar la zona de perforación sin que nadie supiese qué estaba pasando”. La británica Tullow Oil ha sido una de las petroleras que se han sentido atraídas por la región más abandonada y precaria del Kenya en cuanto empezó a olerse la presencia del ‘oro negro’. En mayo de 2013 el Gobierno convocó un encuentro apaciguador para anunciar la llegada de Tullow después de que los hechos se produjeran. Desde entonces, explica Ewsit, existen dos sistemas paralelos: coordinación a nivel nacional con los responsables del condado seleccionados por el Gobierno nacional por un lado; autoridades locales que han sido desahuciadas de la cialis medication price negociación en cuanto el Ministerio de Energía se ha sentado a la mesa. “Todavía

es un gran caos a la hora de tomar decisiones”, asegura este trabajador de Intermon Oxfam.. Cualquier polémica sobre estas actuaciones puede ser silenciada con la fuerza. La colaboración entre Tullow Oil y el Gobierno de Kenya prevé la presencia de una seguridad paramilitar a disposición de la empresa petrolera, según consta en el Memorandum of Understanding que oficializa el acuerdo y al que ha tenido acceso este periódico. Los pastores, cercados por las nuevas perforaciones, no tienen un sitio adonde ir. Agua, para el petróleo La comunidad local teme que los nuevos descubrimientos de agua se utilicen para la extracción de petróleo, una actividad que por sí sola puede contraminar los acuíferos, además del terreno de los maizales. El agua y el petróleo han sido encontrados en la misma estructura geológica, pero a diferente profundidad. La finalidad de su explotación, sin embargo, no ha sido desvelada. Los contratos que la regulan no son públicos y se está firmados sin contar con las autoridades locales que, durante años, han gestionado los pocos recursos de agua gracias a los fondos de la ayuda europea. Samson Otira Emirica, jefe de los proyectos de riego de la comunidad de Kabulokor, lleva años administrando los cultivos de maíz, sorghum, cebollas y tomates para dar de comer a la comunidad. “En cuanto se propaga la voz de una buena cosecha, aparecen amigos y familiares, miembros de la comunidad”, explica. Pero una sola cosecha mala puede hacer reaflorar la malnutrición. A pesar de ser quien controla la gestión de las aguas en la zona, Emirica nunca ha oído hablar de los nuevos descubrimientos. Se estima que la reserva albergue 207 billones de metros cúbicos de agua, según el informe de Radar Technologies International, que exploró la zona soportada por la UNESCO y con los fondos del Gobierno de Japón. El acuífero disparará las reservas de agua de Kenya del 900%, aseguran los expertos. Es la misma situación que denuncian William Kilimu y Chrispinus

Wafula, ingenieros al mando de la autoridad que gestiona el uso del agua en Turkana: se enteraron de la valoración del acuífero leyendo la prensa. “Radar Technologies International nos pidió datos para elaborar su estudio, pero en ningún momento se nos informó del resultado final”, que, a día de hoy, está disponible en la web de RTI. No hay noticia de él, a cambio, desde el Gobierno Nacional o el local, y tampoco entre las autoridades que gestionan la distribución del agua en la Rift Valley. A pesar de las peticiones de estos periodistas, ni RTI ni UNESCO o el Ministerio de Agua han facilitado los datos del estudio. Un proyecto poco viable Todas las ONG de la zona coinciden en algo: el acuífero no es un descubrimiento nuevo. “Se habla de él desde el 1969”, recuerda quien lleva décadas trabajando sobre el terreno. Desde el sector aseguran que solo ahora, descubierto el petróleo, es cuando el Gobierno ha empezado a buscar inversores para encontrar la financiación necesaria para la extracción del agua. La infraestructura es el mayor obstáculo. Gran parte de los 700.000 residentes en el Condado de Turkana, un terreno de 77.000 kilómetros cuadrados, tendría acceso al agua solo con la adecuada financiación. ¿Podría servir para dar una vida estable a la población de pastores nómadas de la zona?

La Misión española de Nariokotome se encuentra a escasos metros del lugar en el que se encontraron los restos humanos más antiguos. Padre Antonio Aguirre explica que el agua no tiene por qué significar un cambio hacia la agricultura para esta comunidad de pastores. La misión está equipada con grande maquinaria y ha construido 186 presas y decenas de estructuras para acumular el agua en todo el condado, gracias a los fondos de Cooperación Españoles y de otros países de la UE. Una red de misiones mantiene próspero jardines que, con plantas como dátiles y papayas, da de comer a 2.500 niños en 28 centros de nutrición. A pesar de estos recursos, “son muy pocas las comunidades que han utilizado el agua del aganado para beber. Quien está aquí http://cialisonline-certifiedtop.com/ sabe que es un error creer que pueda realizarse un cambio de estilo de vida así, de forma natural”. Cooperación: ¿En interés de quién? Más allá las perforaciones, desde los principales países donantes de Ayuda poco se está moviendo. Los que más aportan, EEUU, Reino Unido y la Unión Europea, todavía no han dado una respuesta a los desafíos

que los descubrimiento de

petróleo y de agua llevan a Turkana. El Banco Mundial está haciendo de guía. Una partida de 50 millones de euros financiará un proyecto de asistencia técnica en la gestión de recursos naturales para el Gobierno de Kenya. Sin embargo, recuerda Lex Huuderman, Senior Expert para Petróleo, Gas y Minería en el Banco Mundial, la institución puede hacer recomendaciones, pero no obligar el Gobierno a ponerlas en práctica. Las ONG esperan en la ayuda privada. Varias de las que trabajan en Turkana han obtenido financiación desde la Fundación MacArthur. Crearán un centro de actividad de gestión de los recursos y un comité asesor para la gestión del petróleo. “Los donantes son de la misma nacionalidad de las compañías de petróleo”, argumenta Hadley Becha, director del Grupo de Trabajo

de Petróleo y Gas, unión de ONG dedicada a temas medioambientales. “Hay mucho que pueden hacer, empezando por influenciar a los inversores ya en las primeras fases para asegurar que las compañías estén sobre el terreno y que los estudios reflejen la realidad”. Entre los maizales de Kabulokor, los residentes siguen ignorando los descubrimientos de petróleo y agua. Su mayor amenaza es que los camellos o las vacas irrumpan en los campos destrozándolos o comiendo los frutos de la cosecha. Pero la noticia ha alcanzado ya el resto del mundo. Las compañías estadounidenses Apache y ERHC Energy, además de la británica Bowleven Oil & Gas ya han comenzado a explorar el territorio en Turkana. La nueva oleada de ayuda internacional, a cambio, está todavía pendiente de ser anunciada. Una versión reducida de este reportaje se ha publicado en el diario El Mundo.