Based on the field trip experience, I observed the people were faced with a lot of climate uncertainties ” extreme weather events” leading to the occurrence of drought and flood interchangeable over years. The decline of natural resources within rift could be as a result of climate and environmental change which have been intensify by human activities. Other identify problems were as follows;

1. The Maasai pastoralist lived with their cattle’s within the rift which gave room for water contamination and other related sanitation issues resulting to water related illness among the populace which could affect their productivities (output).
2. The increasing population (human and animals) over the years could cause conflict between the farmers and pastoralist due to shrinking land for farming (rain fed agriculture) and grazing over the years.
3. There evidence of sheet and rill erosion process which could affect the fertility and condition of arable land for rain fed agriculture.
4. Depreciation of the ecological services within the Maasai conservation area of the rift was observe and needs urgent attention.
5. Drought and flood have affected the livelihood, health and well begin of the Massai people of the rift.
6. The people are living in hamlet and in dispersed form of settlement which could be difficult for the Narok government to provide preventive measures against diseases like malaria and water relate problems to the people.
7. There is need to understand the past climate before the development of the rift, present micro climate and predict what the future micro climate will be within the rift system. These will give more light on the implications

• Long-term surface dynamics of Africa
• Geomorphology, regolith, georesources
• Structural Geology, tectonics, Source-to-Sink

Christine Adongo is currently an early stage researcher doing PhD at l’Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales (EHESS – Paris), and a member of Institut Interdisciplinaire d’Anthropologie du Contemporaire (IIAC). She attained both her bachelors and Masters degrees in Environmental science at Kenyatta University in Nairobi, Kenya. Broadly, her research interests encompass environment, natural resources, local landscapes, pastoral socio-ecological transition and livelihoods. More specifically, she has worked on natural resources conservation and livelihoods, focusing on the Kenya coastal sacred Kaya forests, and pastoral futures in northern Kenya in so far as climate change adaptation and WASH management at the local level in concerned. Her most work focuses on ‘green’ projects’ implementation (geothermal energy project in Kenya) and their socio-ecological and livelihood implications on the resilience of local pastoral landscape. Christine will use the mobility funds from GDR as a post-doctoral undertaking, to advance her fieldwork and facilitate the dissemination of her work on the contested futures of geothermal in the greater Olkaria geothermal area in Kenya’s rift valley.

Fluoride pollution in soil is often overlooked in comparison to heavy metals and organic pollutants, but it has negative impact to human health and plants when it exceeds the limits. Fluoride consumption beyond 1.5 mg/L in water can induce a variety of bone disorders, including tooth mottling and lesions of the endocrine glands, thyroid, liver and other organs to humans while on plants it causes necrosis and chlorosis. It is often overlooked because of its ability to affect humans and animal slowly compared to other pollutants like heavy metals. Once fluoride is accumulated in soils, it can appears in different forms and the soluble fluoride is up-taken by plants and finds its way into the food chain imposing health risks on higher trophic levels. The aim of this study was to investigate the spatial distribution of fluoride in cultivated and uncultivated soils and the effects of farming practices on fluoride availability and distribution along the slopes of Mount Meru – a volcanic mountain.

The study area lies in the rift valley zone and its waters is largely used for irrigated agriculture (horticultural crops) is rich in fluoride. Samples from cultivated land were collected from smallholder farms and samples from uncultivated land were collected from Arusha National Park. Soil and water samples were randomly collected from the study area and were analyzed for fluoride content. Results indicate that concentration of fluoride in water and soil samples are higher for cultivated land when compared to uncultivated land. Research is however, ongoing to understand the magnitude of contamination and distribution of fluoride along the landscape.

CONGO / NILE basins relationship and Tanganyika Lake watershed evolution.