TITLE: Climate Adaptation

I see more and more the effects of climate change. The average annual temperature on earth has increased, the oceans have warmed, snow and ice caps have diminished, and sea levels have risen, but still today is not there scientific consensus that climate change is occurring and is due to human activity. The effects are devastating directly on human life, from populations already vulnerable due to poverty and difficult environmental conditions.
Today Turkana County is home to a rapidly growing population that is among the poorest in Kenya, the population is predominately indigenous Turkana people, and pastoral, relying on livestock herding. Some Turkana fish in the waters of Lake Turkana, while others reside in the county’s towns. Their traditional reliance on natural resources for food and livelihood, the historic marginalization of the region, and the lack of infrastructure make them especially vulnerable to any changes in the environment.
In Turkana county air temperature have increased by about 3 degree between 1967 and today, the long rainy season has become shorter and dryer and the short rainy season has become longer and wetter, while overall annual rainfall remains at low levels.
During these droughts, the Turkana ethnic group who were mostly pastoralist were pushed closer to the lake. They gradually adapted their lifestyles to depend upon fishing, despite it previously being a livelihood looked down upon. Now the lives of the people in this area depend directly on fish or fishing. Fishing now forms a core part of local livelihoods, and fish are sold regionally – among other places, in Nairobi,, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Sudan and Uganda.
Hydropower and irrigation developments underway on the Omo River, upstream in Ethiopia, portend ecological collapse of the lake and fisheries, and threaten the delicate survival means of already resource-scarce communities

AUTHOR: Maurizio Di Pietro (Italy)

Working as a volunteer for some NGOs (Amici dei Bambini, Save the Children, amka), I had the chance to dedicate myself to photographic projects in Marocco, Sri Lanka, Guatemala, Israel and West Bank.
Since 2014 I have been trained in photography by “WSP Photography” in Rome. During this time I have produced “Special Life”, a project which has been published by the “Superabili” magazine. I am now working on a personal project that explores my family, and a project about the Special Olympics