Abstract: Riparian communities livelihood vulnerability to shocks and stresses appears to have increased in the last decades due to climate change. In the humanitarian assistance circle, the contemporary debate is focusing on how to make resilience a core aim of external assistance when responding to disasters and other related stresses. The approach has ignored capability and the ability of Riparian Communities to respond, withstand and recover from such shocks and stresses. It is on this background that this study investigated riparian communities’ vulnerability and response to shocks and stresses in Murang’a County, Kenya. The study was conducted in four purposively selected Sub-Counties - Kiharu, Kangema, Mathioya, and Maragua, due to their richness in wetlands. Data was collected using household’s survey questionnaires, key informant interviews, and focus group discussion. Questionnaire were administered to a randomly selected sample of 404 respondents from the riparian community in the four sub-counties. Data was analyzed using SPSS software version 26.0. Chi-squared test was used to test for association between vulnerability and response to shocks and stresses. Rejection value for statistical tests was set at P< 0.05. Results showed proness to shocks and stresses rate of 60.4%. It is concluded that livelihood strategies of riparian communities were not sustainable due to a high rate of vulnerability to shocks and stresses, which sometimes are beyond their vulnerability level of control in responsive, adoptive, and transformative leading to reduction in resilience level. Hence the study recommends technological natural resource information early warning system, natural resource information system, balancing ecology in the lens of response to shocks and stresses for sustained livelihood through empowerment, capacity building and stakeholders’ active participation.
Keywords: Shocks, Riparian, Stresses, Community, Livelihoods, Wetlands.
Title: Riparian Communities Response to Livelihood Shocks and Stresses in Murang’a County, Kenya
Author: Isaiah Ochieng Abillah
International Journal of Social Science and Humanities Research
ISSN 2348-3156 (Print), ISSN 2348-3164 (online)
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