‘Initiatives for Land, Lives and Peace’ inspires a ‘Dialogue on Land and Human Security’ in Kenya

‘Brother is turning against brother... We need a mind-set shift.’

27/04/2017
ILLP group under the tree

 

In the context of a drought that has put three million people in need of emergency food aid and killed millions of livestock, the second annual ‘International Dialogue on Land and Human Security in Kenya’ was held in an effort to mitigate conflict and reverse environmental degradation in the region.

This Dialogue comes at a critical time, when we face challenges of insecurity caused by resource scarcity,’ said H E Alex Tolgos, Governor of Elgeyo Marakwet County. ‘Scarcity of food, pasture and water has resulted in a brother turning against a brother. ‘We have lost 100 lives in the last year due to conflict [in this County]’, Governor Tolgos continued. ‘We cannot afford to continue as before. We need a mind-set shift to address the problems in a sustainable way.’

Governor Tolgos was one of many speakers at the event, hosted by the County Government and inspired by Initiatives for Land, Lives and Peace. Fifty participants, including national agency and county government officials, traditional elders and civil society representatives, gathered to address the theme of ‘Conflict mitigation through sustainable development’.

Member of the International Initiatives for Land, Lives and Peace (ILLP) Steering Committee Dr Alan Channer shared that, ‘These Dialogues were started because we know that the vicious cycle of environmental degradation and conflict can be reversed. Reviving degraded land, improving water management, restoring trust between people – these can heal entire ecosystems and give life to communities and the Earth in all its fullness.’

All the participants lit candles in memory of the lives lost due to ethnic clashes and cattle rustling in the region.

Deputy Governor Dr Gabriel Lagat, whose vision had first brought the dialogues from Caux (the Initiatives of Change conference centre in Caux, Switzerland) to Kenya, concluded the gathering by urging participants to adopt 30 recommendations. These include strengthening the role of Councils of Elders so that they can help mediate disputes and making the ‘Dialogues on Land and Security’ an annual event rotating in the affected counties of Kenya.

Highlights of the Dialogue were broadcast on national television primetime news.

The Dialogue was funded by the Elgeyo Marakwet County Government, the National Land Commission, Kenya Commercial Bank and Transnational Bank.

This article is an excerpt from a full report written by Dr Alan Channer & Simon Thuo.

 

Featured Story
On

related stories

Dhanasree Jayaram CDES 2020

A closer look at links between environment and security

Food security is a key to understanding the complex connection between climate and security, Dhanasree Jayaram, Assistant Professor in the Department of Geopolitics and International Relations Manipal...

Irina Fedorenko CDES 2020 screenshot

Caux Dialogue on Environment and Security 2020

The Caux Dialogue on Environment and Security aimed high in its first online edition, with more than 15 sessions and a cumulative total of 450 participants. Experts discussed the connection between se...

Summer Academy 2020 screenshot participants cropped credit: Alan Channer

Summer Academy 2020: expansive possibilities for the future

The effusive feedback from participants in the five-day 2020 Summer Academy on Land, Climate and Security vindicated the difficult decision to take the course online. Four months ago, this had seemed ...

CDLS 2019 Chau Duncan

Retooling the wheel for regenerative investment

Chau Tang-Duncan, co-founder and chief operating officer of Earthbanc, has been coming to Caux regularly since 2010. It was there that she first embraced the role she could have in connecting people a...

Karina Cheah

Overcoming the challenges of online dialogue groups

I have never been to Caux. I had also never moderated a dialogue group before, in or outside of the Caux Forum. As I faced the prospect of co-facilitating an online dialogue group in the Caux Dialogue...

CDES teaser theme square

Land and Security in Sub-Saharan Africa: assessing the risks and seeking a response

As part of the Caux Forum Online 2020, Initiatives of Change Switzerland and the Human Security Division of the Swiss Federal Department of Foreign Affairs organized a video-conference in French on ‘L...

Tony Rinaudo

Tony Rinaudo: For a better future in Niger

Why would an Australian farmer who moved to Africa in the 1980s be called ‘the forest-maker’? Tony Rinaudo, World Vision Australia's climate action advisor, told this year's Caux Dialogue on Environme...

Visier Sanyu discussion Caux

The Healing Garden of Nagaland

Dr Visier Sanyü often sleeps in his tree house. It’s a feature of the 12-acre Healing Garden which he created in Medziphema, Northeast India. Sanyü, a retired professor of history and archaeology, lik...

Caux Palace view night

Climate and the economy in the post-COVID world

As pandemic-related lockdowns and travel restrictions slowly begin to ease and a return to normal life seems nearer at hand, we are at a critical juncture as to how we choose to act towards our enviro...

Alan Channer Bremen prize

Dr Alan Channer shortlisted for the 2019 Bremen International Peace Prize

Dr Alan Channer, who has been one of the organizers of the Caux Dialogues on Land and Security since their inception, was a runner-up for this year's Bremen International Peace Prize....

Bo Sprotte Kafod

Saving a sacred grove

Bo Sprotte Kafod volunteered to help organize the Caux Dialogue on Land and Security (CDLS) in 2019, after meeting former CDLS participants at the UN climate change conference (UNFCCC COP24) in Katowi...

Oliver Gardiner

Filming regeneration

One-man film crew, Oliver Gardiner, travels to remote regions around the world to tell stories of how people have addressed complex issues through food, farming and land use....

CDLS 2019 Tom Duncan

Empowering communities to restore mangroves

Tom Duncan is CEO of Earthbanc and passionate about problem solving and strategic systems thinking, primarily in regenerative economics, green finance and financial technology, as a means of restoring...

Nhat Vhuong

Plucking water from the air

Webmarketing consultant and social entrepreneur Nhat Vhuong is passionate about tackling water scarcity. A Vietnamese refugee, who grew up in Switzerland, he worked in Japan for eight years before ret...

Meghalaya CDLS 2019 Conrad Sangma

Meghalaya’s lighthouses of sustainable development

‘Our goal in Meghalaya is to build a low-carbon economy through complete involvement and ownership of communities,’ Conrad Sangma, the Chief Minister of Meghalaya, told the opening session of the Caux...