Pastoral communities are confronted with variety of challenges which undermine their resilience to stresses and shocks. For these communities to maintain their coping and adaptive capabilities and assets, accurate early warning information is required to cope with and recover from the adverse natural events witnessed in arid and semi-arid areas. For early warning system to be effective, the community at risk should be actively involved and educated on the risks to ensure there is constant state of preparedness. This brief reviews various traditional early warning systems among communities in northern Kenya highlighting the challenges faced in its application by the current generation, as well as the opportunities available for its use and promotion by future generations. The paper concludes by exploring possible ways of preserving the use of traditional knowledge for early warning. The recommendations are targeted at ensuring that current young generations understand, appreciate and benefit from traditional early warning systems.
According to Wasonga (2009), pastoralism is based on strategic utilization of landscapes that conforms to the asymptotic distribution of resources in space and time. Pastoral communities that inhabit these areas are oftentimes the victims of natural events such as droughts and floods. In order for pastoral communities to access and use resources to deal with the challenges they face, pastoral communities should be well aware and informed of the impending disturbances (Mauro et al. 2000) so as to prepare and put in place coping mechanisms. Accurate early warning information therefore is a prerequisite to coping with and recovering from natural disasters that have now become common place in pastoral systems of Africa