Overall, participants in this study understood and attributed worsening climatic conditions to:

• Ordinary cyclicality – a bad year must be followed by a good one
• Supernatural forces
• Degradations brought to the land.

However, for some informants in Turkana County, often confronted with the harshest drought conditions in the area with dry seasons extending over many years, the assumption that the climate is not changing but is only going through cyclical phases is slowly disappearing.

The immediate, short- and long-term effects of climate change have forced pastoralists to consider a number of adaptation mechanisms to drought. These strategies range from environmental action, social support-seeking, planning for drought, and consideration of alternative sources of livelihood.