![]() Streams and irrigation canals, built a few decades ago to support the region's growing populations, also serve as hotspots for mosquitoes to breed. The shrubby trees provide shade in an otherwise sweltering environment – creating conditions that are better suited for the growth and maturation for mosquito larvae. It also threatens human health, and not just by imperilling food production. The invasive plant threatens the health of the landscape – in both Ethiopia and Kenya, it outcompetes local flora, with one study finding that in places where mathenge has proliferated, occurrence of the indigenous Acacia tortilis tree dropped from 81% in 1990 to 43% in 2007. ![]() But here, at this scale, containment is unmanageable. People have tried cutting mathenge down – a manageable task when confined to private lands. Although it thrives in harsh conditions, mathenge is particularly robust in wet areas. Their biggest rival, however, might be the feral mathenge. Most of Kapkuikui's people live on irrigation agriculture and herding, for which they must compete for space with Kiborgoch's wild inhabitants: zebras, roebuck, ostriches, and many other species. Kapkuikui is just one of many under-resourced settlements adjacent to Kiborgoch – communities facing the troubling impacts of drought and environmental degradation on livelihoods. "We can't control how mathenge grows along a wetland of this size," says 36-year-old Peter Lembes from Kapkuikui, a village of 6,000 people that teeters on the edge of Kiborgoch Community Wildlife and Wetland Conservancy.Ī view over Kiborgoch with wetlands visible in the distanceĬredit: Kang-Chun Cheng A woman of Kapkuikui It was intentionally introduced around 1984 by the World Bank and the UN's Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) to 'rehabilitate' dry plains across Kenya by providing the ecosystem service of shade and clean water.īut it has proven difficult to keep in check. Known as mathenge in Kiswahili, Prosopis juliflora is a species of mesquite native to South America. "We can’t control how mathenge grows along a wetland of this size" – Peter Lembes, Kapkuikui herder and farmer And their threat has worsened in recent years because of the encroachment of one thorny invasive tree. ![]() Though seasonal rivers traverse the region's rocky valleys, and wetlands dot the plains, the landscape is dominated by savannahs.īut even here, the risk of malaria, an infectious disease commonly associated with wet places, persists.Īround those scattered marshy areas, teeming mosquitoes are not only a nuisance, but a menace to public health. ![]() Baringo County, in the central-western portion of Kenya's Great Rift Valley, is classed as a semi-arid landscape. ![]()
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