The study was conducted in Tana Delta, which is within the Tana Delta Sub County of Tana River County in the Coast region of Kenya, which is over 90% Arid and Semi-Arid Lands (ASAL). It experiences bimodal rainfall pattern averaging 800 - 1000 mm p.a. The sub-county occupies 16,012 Km², out of which agricultural land is 3822 Km² and rangeland is 8964 Km² [1] [10]. The Delta ranges between two kilometers and up to forty-two kilometers in width (Figure 1). The river discharges, on average, 4000 million m³ of freshwater and 3 million

tonnes of sediments annually, which enter the ocean near Kipini at Ungwana Bay [4]. The Tana Delta area and associated ecosystems cover an area of 1300 km². The Delta is subject to frequent flooding and changes in the network of channels and canals. The Delta has a coastal strip of 35 km protected by a 50 m high sand dune system [4].

The study area comprised of fourteen villages in Tana Delta as outlined in Table 1.

Enumerators were selected from each of the participating villages and trained alongside the community leaders on the data collection approach. The community leaders were to sensitize the community on the data collection exercise and provide social support to the enumerators. Both qualitative and quantitative approaches were used to collect data. Sixteen Focus Group Discussion (FGD) were conducted with one FGD being held in each of the fourteen villages with selected community members comprising village committee members and ordinary residents with a vast knowledge of the respective villages. An additional two FGDs

were held with representatives from all the villages at the beginning and the end for feedback and validation. Key Informant Interviews (KII) were conducted with officers from Nature Kenya, representatives of local NGOs, Area Chiefs and village elders. Participatory Rural Appraisal (PRA) tools, including well-being ranking and resource mapping, were also used to obtain qualitative data.

PRA tools were used: household well-being characterization was done for each village and later consolidated to a general well-being ranks and characterization for the entire Delta area (Appendix A). The households were classified into four broad categories and the indicators for ranking households were based on the five capitals and included; livestock number, ability to educate children, authority and social status, farming type and farming area. The respondents indicated that there is a fifth category that has no means of survival that survives through God’s grace with support from well-wishers. The ranks were; Rank A: perceived to be well-off or rich (in Kiswahili¹ referred to as Tajiri), Rank B: perceived to be moderately well-off or rich (in Kiswahili referred to as Tajiri wa kadri/Tajiri kiasi), Rank C: perceived to be slightly well-off or poor (in Kiswahili referred to as Maskini) and Rank D: perceived to be least-well-off or very poor (in Kiswahili referred to as Maskini sana). Social mapping was done to identify the delta stakeholders, resources and conflicts, undertake diet profiling and list what the communities are eating, their sources and identify the new diets they would wish to eat indicating how they would access the diets.

Besides, a total of 631 households were interviewed using semi-structured questionnaires to obtain community perceptions on natural resource management, land ownership, livelihood and income sources, diversity of diets and conflict management. The results were analyzed using MS-Excel computer software and subjected to descriptive statistics involving computation of sums, means, frequencies and percentages and presented through charts and graphs.

Household well-being ranking indicated that the majority of communities living in Tana Delta were either poor (41%), very poor (39%) with the well-off being 15% and the most well-off (Rank A) being 5%. The KI and FGD attributed this situation to a lack of competitive market prices for their products, drought and diseases, which affect both crop farming and pastoralism negatively.

The high levels of poverty were attributed to inadequate rainfall that has limited the productivity of livelihood activities, mainly crop farming and livestock keeping, as well as incidences of conflicts in the Tana Delta, which disrupts livelihood activities. The findings of this study compare with earlier studies [11] which found that despite continued efforts to enhance agricultural productivity and the increased momentum towards globalization, along with increasing scarcity of land and water resources, poverty and resource degradation have increased in some marginalised areas, especially in sub-Saharan Africa.

Respondents expressed concern that the status of natural resources in Tana Delta has continued to deteriorate over time, and this was attributed to anthropogenic factors. These include deforestation (66%), change of river course (18%) and overgrazing by livestock owned by immigrants (16%), which was largely blamed for perrenial drought and resource use conflicts witnessed in Tana Delta. Flooding remains a challenge though the community did not mention it. These findings vary from earlier studies [12] which summarised the main threats to the conservation of Tana Delta as poor governance, sectoral approach to resource management, lack of community access and participation in decision making, lack of access to environmental information for local communities, lack of a legal remedy and land tenure insecurity.

To address these challenges and improve the management of Tana Delta’s natural resources, respondents proposed strict enforcement of rules and regulations governing the use of Tana Delta resources, community sensitization on sustainable natural resource management and implementation of afforestation and reforestation programmes. They also proposed restricting grazing of livestock from other areas, the introduction of alternative income-generating activities to relieve pressure on natural resources, non-interference with the river course and improved management of CCAs. Respondents expressed willingness to have the CCA well managed, with the majority (66%) proposing community-based management as the best management strategy. Another 34% proposed multi-stakeholder management to enhance accountability in the management of CCAs.

About 27% of land in Tana Delta was perceived by household respondents to be owned individually, while 73% as owned communally. In 2012, communal land ownership was over 80% [10]. The community recognizes community land ownership/tenure system. Of those with individual land ownership, only 13% have title deeds. Another 54% have sale agreements, 31% allotment letters and 2% lease certificate. As community land ownership decreases and individual ownership increases, there is a likelihood of non-delta residents purchasing land. This is likely to escalate resource use conflicts and more land appropriation. Furthermore, the high number of sale agreements is a pointer to increasing cases of land sub-division and sale that was mainly attributed to the strategic location of the Delta as a major component of the Lamu Port Southern Sudan-Ethiopia Transport (LAPSSET) corridor project being spearheaded by the Government of Kenya. A study conducted earlier [12] concurs that the proposed Lamu Port will have severe environmental consequences on the Tana Delta.

Respondents further recommended land adjudication as a remedy for ensuring sustainable land management as well as averting the high cases of land-use conflicts recorded in Tana Delta, since most residents do not have land ownership documents. Though a positive move, individual land ownership is likely to have a negative impact on livestock grazing, the major community land use. Such a move would therefore require to be supported by awareness creation, the introduction of more profitable alternative land-use activities to replace livestock grazing and conserve wildlife conservation areas.

The average size of land used per household was 19.5 acres, land was allocated for various uses as follows; grazing area (48%), the area under trees (25%), crops (18%) and 9% under homestead. The land was generally said to be adequate, but land use planning at the location and village level is still a major challenge and could be addressed through the planned implementation of The Tana Delta land-use plan. There were reported cases of more investors coming into the Delta to engage in large scale commercial farming, a scenario that is likely to exacerbate conflicts as competition for land among farmers and pastoralists escalates as any increase in crop production and urbanization is expected to reduce grazing land.

These findings compare with past studies [13], which established that the ecological balance of the Tana Delta, which has been maintained by traditional land-use practices, is threatened by ill-conceived and unsustainable development projects in the upper catchment and at the Delta. Integrating environmental considerations into the management and the development of the delta area, to reconcile interests and ensuring that the development of the natural resources is in harmony with the ecological processes [13].

Farming was the main source of livelihood practiced by 71% of households in Tana Delta, while salary was the least source of livelihood (2%). Farming is, however, mainly practiced for subsistence with the only surplus produce sold in local markets (Figure 2), contributing less to household cash income.

The community, as indicated through FGD and KII, has numerous livelihood activities as outlined in Appendix B. It was evident that the community has a high diversity of livelihood sources [14]. Additionally, the organizations were aware of the challenges facing these livelihood activities and knew the best option to increase the livelihood sources. All Gender was involved in the livelihood activities, with a few being gender-specific.

The livelihood/income-generating activities mentioned above, however, face several challenges that affect their productivity. Crop invasion by wild animals and diversion of Tana River was ranked (highest frequency) as the greatest challenges to productivity in Tana Delta (Table 2). Respondents recommended ways of addressing them through capacity building, provision of farm implements and improved road network and formation of marketing

cooperatives. This confirms the observation by [14] that in the Tana River Basin, livelihoods are clearly and inextricably linked to the natural environment in a co-evolving way such that people influence and are influenced by land cover.

The delta economy is agriculture-based with increased interest in improved poultry and cash crops. FGD indicated that this requires technical support to maximize production and its livelihood contribution as was similarly recommended earlier [10].

Pastoral communities mainly practice livestock keeping for commercial value. The majority of this livestock is, however, owned by people living outside the Delta; hence the benefits accrued do not directly translate to enhanced community livelihoods in the Tana Delta. This explains why farming ranked as the most important livelihood activity (Figure 2), although livestock farming generates more income (Figure 3).

Livestock keeping was the highest source of income (Ksh. 142,543 per annum) followed by savings and credit schemes with poultry farming being the least source of income at Ksh. 14,570. Analysis of average household income per annum per village revealed that male-headed households generated more income from the various livelihood activities as compared to the female-headed households (Table 3).

This could be attributed to lower women participation in major income generation activities, notably livestock keeping, savings and credit schemes, fishing and fish farming, forest products and small businesses (Table 4) by women. Respondents were of the opinion that women spend a substantial amount of time performing domestic chores and taking care of children and are thus often excluded from other development activities. Women’s participation was very high in poultry keeping and farming. Affirmative action could enhance their participation in these and other IGAs. These findings compare with earlier observation [15] which found that men own more and higher value assets than women and empirical evidence shows that ownership and control of assets affect household income.

The community has maize and rice as their staple food, but they would wish to eat foods that were hitherto considered for urban populations. This has been caused by good road network and Information Technology, which have increased their level of interaction with communities from outside the Delta.

Respondents (41%) alluded that there are resource use conflicts and conforms to earlier observations [4] [6] [20]. The perceived types of conflicts by the households included; ethnic (41%), Resource use (24%), Human-wildlife (19%), land-use conflicts (14%) and conflicts between TARDA and local communities (2%). Conflicts disrupt rural livelihoods and destroy investments, uproot households from their homesteads, creating deep-rooted ethnic tensions. Boundary disputes were highlighted as a cause of conflicts in the Tana Delta [19].

These conflicts were mainly driven by inadequate land, ethnic animosity among diverse communities living in Tana Delta, scarce pasture and water resources and an influx of livestock from other areas (Figure 5). These findings confirm the causes of conflicts highlighted by [19].

Additionally, an analysis of the conflicts, their causes and proposed mitigation measures perceived by the community was provided through Focus Group Discussion and Key informants and outlined in Appendix C. Crop losses were mainly attributed to resource use conflicts that result in livestock owned by pastoralists invading crop farms in search of pasture hence causing destruction. These findings compare with earlier studies [19] which established that conflicts in Tana Delta are largely fuelled by conflicting land uses whereby pastoralists believe in a communal land system that would support their lifestyle while the farmers advocate for land adjudication of individual freeholds. One of the causes for the eruption of inter-tribal conflicts in the Tana Delta is connected to the

activities of the land adjudication commission [21]. The study further listed politics as another major cause of conflicts in the Tana Delta. To reverse the losses, respondents suggested several means of managing conflicts, including; sensitization of local communities on the importance of peaceful co-existence among various communities living in Tana Delta through local community leaders and the implementation of the land-use plan.

Conflicts often result in loss of essential livelihood assets, thus impoverishing local communities even further. On average, households living in Tana Delta lose the following assets per annum as a result of conflicts (Table 10).

These results compare with past studies [21] which summarised the main impacts of conflicts in Tana Delta as loss of lives, loss of property and livelihoods, increased levels of poverty, increase in the number of school dropouts, displacement and loss of economic growth.

The changing livelihoods and lifestyle in the Delta areas were evident. In addition to the existing IGAS, the communities are desirous of living a life that other global citizens are living. In this paper, this is presented by the yearning for an apple expressed during village social mapping, among many other livelihood and lifestyle changes households desired. The apple fruit in Kenya is imported and locally grown in Kiambu, Kitale and Nandi counties; the nearest county where the fruit is grown from Tana Delta is over 600 kilometres away. The numerous income-generating activities (Table 11) through Nature Kenya have contributed significantly to local livelihoods, as indicated by 70% of the respondents. This was perceived as a key step in contributing considerably towards the community accessing the new diets (Apple).

Respondents acknowledged that Nature Kenya’s project supported IGAs have contributed up to 60% of household incomes in the beneficiary villages. The income generated has enabled households to acquire household assets as well as purchase food for their families. The support provided by Nature Kenya includes capacity building, provision of soft loans, provision of certified seeds of maize and green grams, and subsidized ploughing services for farming communities, construction of greenhouses, fish ponds and apiaries, and provision of milk storage equipment, beehives and solar panels to meet the household energy needs.

Respondents alluded that they have gained skills following the numerous projects capacity building initiatives in improved farming methods (27%), business management skills (23%), best practices in beekeeping (15%), marketing skills (11%), good animal husbandry practices (11%), environmental conservation skills (4%), fish farming skills (1%), and crop and livestock pests and disease management (1%). Respondents, however, noted that they require more capacity building in accessing credit facilities and accessing competitive markets for their goods. Respondents further recommended that repeat pieces of training should be conducted and follow up visits done to enhance their skills for successful management of both existing and proposed new IGAs. Each village also recommended the use of Trainers of Trainers (ToT) as an appropriate strategy that should be used to enhance community skills in undertaking various income-generating activities as they transform the community to acquire the apple.