SIPRI has been awarded a three-year grant from the Swedish Research Council for Sustainable Development (FORMAS) to conduct research that investigates the changing livelihood conditions around the Omo-Turkana Basin—a lake basin which supports over 5 million people.
Dr Amiera Sawas, SIPRI researcher, will lead a multidisciplinary research team with individuals from institutes in Ethiopia, Kenya, Germany, Sweden and the United Kingdom who will document changing livelihood conditions and monitor impacts of renewable energy projects on peace and security.
The project seeks to develop tools to build policymakers’ and implementers’ capacities to implement conflict-sensitive renewables development.
As well as academic partners, the project includes civil society, governmental and multi-lateral partners, including: Carbon Initiative for Development (Ci-Dev); Energimyndigheten (Swedish Energy Agency); Turkana Pastoralist Development Organisation (TUPADO).
Research team
Dr Catherine Biira (Institute For Regional Integration and Development, Catholic University of Eastern Africa); Immo Eulenberger (Max Planck Institute); Professor Egara Kabaji (University of Turkana); Dr Florian Krampe (SIPRI); Dr Naho Mirumachi (King’s College London); Dr Jed Stevenson (University College London).
About the Omo-Turkana Basin
Situated in the borderlands of Southern Ethiopia, Northern Kenya, Eastern Uganda and Southern Sudan, the Omo-Turkana basin has been transforming due to a combination of factors—including climate change and development—and there are increasing concerns about what this means for economic and human security. At the same time, there has been an expansion of renewables projects, seeking to provide sustainable energy access to citizens