Table Of ContentDEVELOPMENTS IN EARTH SURFACE PROCESSES, 16
SERIES EDITOR -J.F. SHRODER JR
1. PALEOKARST:ASYSTEMATICSTUDYANDREGIONALREVIEW
P.BOSA´K,D.FORD,J.GLAZEKandI.HORA´CEK(Editors)
2. WEATHERING, SOILS & PALEOSOLS
I.P.MARTINIandW.CHESWORTH(Editors)
3. GEOMORPHOLOGICAL RECORD OF THE
QUATERNARYOROGENY IN THE HIMALAYA AND THE
KARAKORAM
JANKALVODA(Editor)
4. ENVIRONMENTAL GEOMORPHOLOGY
M.PANIZZA
5. GEOMORPHOLOGICAL HAZARDS OF EUROPE
C.EMBLETONandC.EMBLETON-HAMANN(Editors)
6. ROCK COATINGS
R.I.DORN
7. CATCHMENT DYNAMICS AND RIVER PROCESSES
C.GARCIAandR.J.BATALLA(Editors)
8. CLIMATIC GEOMORPHOLOGY
M.GUTIE´RREZ
9. PEATLANDS: EVOLUTION AND RECORDS OF
ENVIRONMENTAL AND CLIMATE CHANGES
MARTINI,A.MARTINEZCORTIZASandCHESWORTH(Editors)
10. MOUNTAINS WITNESSES OF GLOBAL CHANGES RESEARCH IN
THE HIMALAYA AND KARAKORAM: SHARE-ASIA PROJECT
RENATOBAUDO,GIANNITARTARIandELISAVUILLERMOZ(Editors)
11. GRAVEL-BED RIVERS VI: FROM PROCESS UNDERSTANDING
TO RIVER RESTORATION
HELMUTHABERSACK,HERVE´ PIE´GAYandMASSIMORINALDI(Editors)
12. THE CHANGING ALPINE TREELINE: THE EXAMPLE OF
GLACIER NATIONAL PARK, MT, USA
DAVIDR.BUTLER,GEORGEP.MALANSON,STEPHENJ.WALSHand
DANIELB.FAGRE(Editors)
13. NATURAL HAZARDS AND HUMAN-EXACERBATED DISASTERS
INLATINAMERICA:SPECIALVOLUMESOFGEOMORPHOLOGY
EDGARDOM.LATRUBESSE(Editor)
14. THE WESTERN ALPS, FROM RIFT TO PASSIVE MARGIN TO
OROGENIC BELT: AN INTEGRATED GEOSCIENCE OVERVIEW
PIERRE-CHARLESDEGRACIANSKY,DAVIDG.ROBERTSandPIERRETRICART
15. GEOMORPHOLOGICAL MAPPING: METHODS AND
APPLICATIONS
MIKEJ.SMITH,PAOLOPARONandJAMESS.GRIFFITHS(Editors)
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Foreword
Both Editor Dr. Paolo Paron and I began our postdoctoral careers in East
Africa,heinthepastdecadeandIhalfacenturyagointhe1960s.Theregion
iscertainlythesortofprimalplacethatgeoscientistsofallvarietiescanreally
discoverforthemselvestheenthusiasmandmeanstoutilizemanydimensions
oftheirtrainingforitsmostbeneficialeffectstothelocalpeopleandtheirenvi-
ronment.Kenya,ofcourse,iswellknownasoneofthemosticonicofAfrican
locales, with its towering volcanoes above the huge African Rift and great
grasslandscoveredwithmigratingherdsthatsupporttheremarkablepredators
sobelovedofthetourists,butnotmuchbythelocalpeople.Africaisalsowell
known, however, as being a place where the diverse human populations have
been sorelybeset and exploited for centuries by the largely external forces of
slavery and colonialism visited upon them, as well as being riven by internal
divisiveness,brutishtribalpolitics,andendemiccorruption.Theresultwasthat
the continent has been unfortunately left out of many of the world’s more
recent advances in industry, trade, economic development, higher education,
and newer understandings of the natural environment. This essential realm of
Kenya, however, is critical to protect for the future progress of the country,
andmustbebetterunderstoodtobemanagedproperly.
WhenDr.ParonfirstnoticedinKenyatheunhappylackofsomuchessen-
tial environmental informationabout whatmostofthe more developed world
considersfundamentaldata,heresolvedtodohisbesttofindawaytoallevi-
atesomeoftheinformationshortages.Thus,thisnewbookofeditedchapters
by different authors, Kenya: A Natural Outlook, is the direct result of his
efforts to produce a general account of the physical geography and general
geology of the country that might be useful in future in some pragmatic and
beneficial ways.
Asanexampleofthemostcommonuseofabooksuchasthis,thevolume
is replete with exactly the sort of material one seeks to know when initiating
any sort of new development project in a poorly developed place like East
Africa. These essential projects commonly help out people in isolated rural
communities or even in the fairly hopeless city slums that are so known for
majordeficienciesofsuchservicesasreliabletransport,communication,pota-
blewater,powersupply,andsoforth.Theboomingpopulations,coupledwith
unknownchangesthatwilllikelyarriveasworldclimatesshift,causedemand
forbackgroundworkssuchasthistoteachpeopleaboutwhatexistsatpresent
and to provide certain baseline sources of information for planning. Any
United Nations or World Bank project or even those development projects
xv
xvi Foreword
coming from the new donor countries in East and South Asia must rely upon
works like this. All development officers need basic information sources on
the local natural resources in the particular country, as well as to find out
muchofwhattheyneedtoknowaboutthemostcommonnaturalhazardsthat
threaten the people and any particular development project.
Atthesametime,however,wherethereadermaydetectsomeless-developed
sourcesofbasicinformation,suchareasofthinresearchcanserveasanindica-
tiveguidetocontentareaswherenewworkneedstobedone.Thiswouldbemost
true,especiallyifsuchworkcouldsolvesomeurgentdevelopmentproblemsor
provide a thoughtful focus for new assessments by government ministries, or
evenjustserveasaninformationsourcetoprovidelocaluniversitystaffperson-
nelwithgoodnew,thought-provokingideasforstudentorfacultyprojects.
In another useful fashion, this book also has been done relatively inexpen-
sively by a major publishing house, with a full-colour version available online
ofsomeoftheimportantgraphics,sothatthebookmightactuallybecomemore
easily or cheaply available in Kenya itself. No guarantee of this possible low
publication costactuallyexists, ofcourse, inthese uncertain times for publish-
ers, but at least the thought has been there in the preparation of this book.
The two sections of this book—the first part on natural resources and the
second on natural hazards—are notable in having a plethora of Kenyan
authors. With only three chapters having all foreigners for authors, the other
21chaptershavesome39Kenyansastheirwriters.Thisamountstowellover
half of the book as made up of contributions by Kenyans, which is an exem-
plary way to involve indigenous experts. The 18 chapters of the natural
resources section include all of the expected topics of geology and physical
geography that one would expect, with such topics as basic geology, mineral
resources, relief, drainage, climate, soils, vegetation, and surface and ground
waters.Alsoincludedaremorespecializeddiscussionsofsuchunusualtopics
as landscape evolution in the Quaternary, renewable energy, remote-sensing
applications,fireecology,andenvironmentalimpact.Fivechaptersonnatural
hazardsinKenyaincludedetailsrelatedtoearthquakes,landslides,floodsand
droughts, as well as coastal erosion.
This book, Kenya: A Natural Outlook, is thus a useful new view of the
land of one of the most important countries of East Africa. The information
givenhere about aleading African countryprovides a guidefor othernations
on a continent that most definitely needs other such examples of background
information for use in those countries as well. Dr. Paron has succeeded in
locating the best people in Kenya who could contribute to such a volume
and has brought the book to fruition for use by the development community
andthelocalsecondaryschoolsanduniversitystudents.Hisprofessionalpost-
doctoral career is thus off to a fine start from Africa, with a book that offers
importantsourcesofinformationforthosewhomightneedit.Inhisintroduc-
torycomments,henotesalsotheneedforacompanionvolumethatdetailsthe
human geography of the country, a suggestion to which we concur. In this it
Foreword xvii
would be important to emphasize details, less on the quaint ancient tribal
aspects that safari tourists may desire, but instead to focus upon the complex
modern social developments which will control the future of Kenya.
John F. Shroder Jr.
Editor-in-Chief
Developments in Earth Surface Processes
Introduction
It is exactly 40 years since the first comprehensive synthesis of physical and
human geography of Kenya appeared in one single book by Ojany and
Ogendo (1973), titled ‘Kenya, a study in physical and human geography’.
Atthattime,Kenyawasayoungindependentnationwithanalreadybright
path ofgrowth anddevelopment. That book, beautifullyillustrated, described
theenvironmentalandhumanlinksandunderlinedimplicitlytheneedsforan
integrated social and environmental sustainable development of the country.
Sincethen,thisremainedtheonlybookthatsynthesizedinonevolumethevari-
ousenvironmentsofthisbeautifulcountrysittingacrosstheequator.Sincethen,
though, the country has gone through several stages of development and its
humanandphysicalenvironmenthavechangedtoo,undertheinfluenceoflocal
andglobalprocessessuchaslandtenureandlanduse,andclimatechanges.
Inspired by the book by Ojany and Ogendo and, at the same time, aware
that we could not replicate their intent, we therefore focused on the natural
aspects of Kenya’s environment. In doing so, we wanted to harvest from as
much as possible the local scientific knowledge of the country, presenting
the readers with the state of the art of Kenyan knowledge on Kenya itself.
At times, this proved difficult as the still too few scientists in the country
are in great demand for many initiatives and they made an exceptional effort
to contribute to this book. At the same time, we also wanted to expose to the
Kenyan and international readers the work of some researchers from other
countries who are concentrating their studies on Kenya. Needless to say that
this volume does not pretend to be a complete outlook of Kenya’s environ-
ment,butitwantstopresentanupdatedoverviewofitsphysicalenvironment,
its hazards, and part of its natural environment management needs. Being a
synthetic overview of Kenya’s natural environment, we tried to be accessible
for a variety of readers: from the academic audience, to the university stu-
dents, to the ones who look for a summary of Kenyan environments, who
hopefully will find an up-to-date reference.
Thisvolumewouldideallyneedtobecomplementedbyacompaniontext
on the Human Geography of Kenya in the present times, presenting its com-
plex and quickly changing human and social developments.
This book is divided in two sections: the first one addresses the Natural
ResourcesofKenya,with18chapters,andthesecondsectionitsNaturalHazards,
in 5 chapters. The book has a combination of main chapters, usually larger in
length and scope, and some smaller chapters which are either geographically
specificortopicspecific.
xix
xx Introduction
InChapter1,Opiyoetal.describethegeneralgeologyofthecountrythat
isanimportantbackboneformostoftheothernaturalaspectssuchasclimate,
vegetation, soil, and waters, let alone human population distribution and its
economicactivities.Kenyaisaparadiseforgeologists,offeringrisingtropical
coastline, active continental rifting, active and extinct volcanism, proterozoic
complexes, and an almost complete suite of rocks and structural patterns.
Chapter 2, by Opiyo et al., follows naturally the first one and presents the
mineral, oil, and gas resources of Kenya. It is an insight of special interest in
these times when new deposits of rare earths, gold, gemstones, and other
minerals as well as gas and oil are being assessed and/or exploited, and more
are to come. This chapter addresses the occurrence of minerals, from the tra-
ditional soda ashes from rift lakes to the oil and gas development always in
the frame of Kenyan legislation and the history of production.
Chapter 3, by Gichaba, reviews the main physiographic regions and drain-
age basins of Kenya, highlighting the great variety of morphology that the
countryshows,withdesert,largeendoreicregions,andanalmost500-km-long
monoclinal slope from the eastern edge of the rift to the coastal belt.
Chapter 4, by Olago, describes the Quaternary geomorphological evolu-
tion of Kenya that has been shaped by global, hemispheric, and regional cli-
mate changes interacting with tectonism and volcanism to generate the
present-day landscapes and environments. This has had an enormous influ-
ence on hominid evolution, that from the Rift valley spread across the whole
globe, largely conditioned by geographic and geomorphologic constrains.
InChapter5,ObieroandOnyandoprovideasummaryofthefactorsinfluen-
cingKenyanclimate,whichisdominatedmostnotablybytheITCZfluctuation
acrosstheyear,andthetopographicbarriersandcorridorsofthecountry,result-
inginagreatvariabilityofclimatesacrossthewholecountry:fromdesertsinthe
northtothelushtropicalrainforestenvironmentjustfewhundredsofkilometres
tothewest,tothewetcoastalclimatesontheeasternmargin.
Chapter 6, by Kiema, illustrates the new methods and data available for
remote sensing analysis of climate in Kenya. It focuses particularly on the
potentialandrealapplicationsofremotesensingforintegratedwatermanage-
ment in ASAL areas (making up to almost two third of Kenya) and also on
lake management with two examples from the two large freshwater lakes
in Kenya.
In Chapter 7, McClain and Subalusky present the first case study focused
on the environmental flows in the Mara River Basin, the world renowned
safari destination for rich game viewing and the thrilling spectacle of the
annual wildebeest migration. They explore the minimum flow requirement
for ecosystem services and conclude with recommendations for an improved
sustainable environmental flow management in this delicate ecosystem.
In Chapter 8, Kuria presents one of the most important and conditioning
resourcesofKenyawithtwothirdsofitsterritoryclassifiedasASAL:ground-
water. Here, the reader will find a very welcome update on the groundwater
Introduction xxi
quantity and quality of Kenya, largely influenced by the geological setting in
thehighlandsaswellasinthelowlands.Thechapterwasbuiltfromtheanal-
ysis of the more than 10,000 borehole databases held by the Ministry of
Water, and it highlights its potential and constraints for use in a modern
scientific way. Finally, it presents for the first time a regional groundwater
potential map of Kenya.
In Chapter 9, by Omuombo et al., the coastal waters are addressed with
specialregard tocurrentsandtides, butalsopollutionandcoastal waterman-
agement practices. It represents an updated summary of the potential and
threats of coastal waters in Kenya.
Chapter 10, by Oludhe, presents a new emerging field of interest in the
energy sector: renewable energy resources of Kenya. This contribution
touches on solar, wind, hydro, geothermal, and biogas resources of Kenya,
presenting several maps of the energy potential of the country.
Chapter11,by Omuto, showcasesthemajor soilanddata typesinKenya.
This chapter shows where the gaps are in soil data in the country, and never-
theless, it presents a new soil map for Kenya that shows how the country is
dominated by soil types that have strong crop production limitations under
rain-fed agriculture but are good for the development of pastoral resources.
These insights are very relevant for future development policies.
Chapter 12, by Brink et al., shows years of research conducted on vegeta-
tion changes in Kenya and the region by this group of researchers. The chap-
terhighlightshowthepredominantclearingofnaturalvegetationinfavourof
cropland may have long-term impacts on food production and food security,
freshwater reserves, and ecosystems, especially in view of the impacts of cli-
mate change and climate variability that are already observed in Kenya. The
authors make extensive use of freely available remote sensing data for
regional and national analysis.
Chapter 13, by Pellika et al., shows a case study with a focus on the agri-
cultureexpansionanditsconsequencesintheTaitaHills,inlinewiththepre-
viouschapter.Theauthorsstressthefactthat,despiteincreasingcropland,the
clearing of natural vegetation has also some negative impacts on very impor-
tantecosystemservices,withnegativefeedbackontheexpandingagriculture.
The authors make extensive use of remote sensing data at different scales
combined with repeated field verification campaigns over the past 10 years
in the Taita Hills of southwestern Kenya.
Chapter14,byPalumboetal.,showstheimportanceoffireecologyinpro-
tectedareasmanagement.Theauthorsintroducetheecologicalroleoffireon
the tropical ecosystems and biodiversity and then they assess the importance
offireinKenyanecosystemsandprotectedareas.Theauthorsbasedtheiranal-
ysison10yearsofremotesensingobservationoffirefromspacesoareableto
relatefireoccurrencewithotherbiophysicalchangessuchaslandcover.
Chapter 15, by Kirui, describes the distribution, types, and commercial
uses and also shows the threats and conservation strategies for mangroves in
xxii Introduction
Kenya.Despitetheirimportanceforecosystemservicesandsea-levelrisepro-
tection worldwide, and in Kenya too, these unique coastal forests are among
the most threatened habitats in the world and in Kenya: recent overexploita-
tion,portdevelopments,increasedsediment supply,andbiophysical degrada-
tion of waters are posing a real threat to this ecosystem. An opportunity for
their protection is legislated in the Forest Act that includes also the sustain-
able management of mangroves.
Chapter16,byNyingietal.,exposestheimportanceoffreshwaterecology
of Kenyan highlands and lowlands. They clearly show how these ecological
systems are on the verge of collapse that would pose a dramatic threat to
theeconomyofsomanycommunitiesandoftheecosystemsingeneral.Still,
they explain the gaps in knowledge on these precious resources and continue
in presenting a much needed updated overview of the existing knowledge.
Chapter 17, by Ogada and Nyingi, shows the management of wildlife and
fisheries resources in Kenya: origins, present challenges, and future perspec-
tives.Theauthorsprovideaveryclearandimportanthistoricaltimelineofwhat
was until recent years the common practice of wildlife management, beauti-
fullyillustrated.Theythencontinuepresentingtheconflictsinhuman–wildlife
dynamicsandillustratethiswithtwocasestudiesfromAmboseliandLaikipia,
including poaching issues that so sadly are increasing in the country. Finally,
theyexplaintheregulatoryframeworkinplaceonwildlifeandfishery.
In Chapter 18, Biamah et al. explore in depth the Environmental Impact
Assessment (EIA) process in the Kenyan context. In doing so, they always
frame the EIA general principles into the Kenyan environment and laws and
regulations that apply in the country.
Chapter 19, by Mulwa et al., opens the section on Natural Hazards. This
chapter provides an up-to-date overview of Kenyan seismic hazard, with a
reviewandexplanationofKenya’sseismicityinthe1900stodate,combining
macroseismicdataandinstrumentalobservations,intheframeoftheregional
geodynamic set-up.
Chapter20,byMaina-Gichabaetal.,focusesonlandslidehazardinKenya.
This is an often under-reported hazard in this country despite the high toll of
lives and livelihoods, and posing serious challenges to a sustainable develop-
ment and local population’s resilience. This chapter provides an up-to-date
descriptionofthefactorscontributingtotheslopeprocessesinKenya.
InChapter21,byOpere,theissueoffloodsinKenyaisexploredindetail.
Floods, both seasonal and flash floods, are more recurrent—or at least more
reported—in Kenya in recent years. After a review of the historical flood
eventsinKenya,thischapteraddressesalsothevulnerabilitylinkedtofloods,
and finally it presents a flood risk map for Kenya.
Chapter 22, by Omuombo et al., addresses the hazard of coastal erosion
along the almost 600km of Kenyan coast, starting from causes and extreme
events and concluding with management issues.
Introduction xxiii
InChapter23,theconcludingchapter,Balintetal.,showcaseanewindex
created for monitoring droughts, the Combined Drought Index (CDI), tested
so far in Kenya and Somalia. The CDI combines three main meteorological
indicatorsinone,hasalreadybeensuccessfullydeployedinSomalia,andwill
hopefully be tested soon in other geo-ecological environments. The CDI
makes use of simple, almost everywhere available, data like Temperature,
Rainfall and NDVI thus being a very ‘low data consuming indicator’ quite
suitable for developing countries where data availability is low.
