Kenya's Turkana people facing climate catastrophe

By David McKenzie, CNN

November 29, 2011 -- Updated 1654 GMT (0054 HKT)

Fishermen bringing in their catch from Lake Turkana, the largest permanent desert lake in the world.

Over the past 40 years, say scientists, the lake has receded dramatically. In another few decades it might be reduced to a few puddles.

Fishermen complain that the quantities of their catch and size of fish have shrunk over the years.

The hills in the Turkana basin have been a boon to paleontologists who have found evidence of humans earliest origins in the fossil record.

Turkana are living in traditional homesteads like in fewer numbers as they move into urban areas to find work.

The Turkana's tradition pastoral life is under threat by climate change.

Herd sizes have been reduced dramatically for the Turkana as rains come less frequently and less predictably.

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Climate change in Kenya

Climate change in Kenya

Climate change in Kenya

Climate change in Kenya

Climate change in Kenya

Climate change in Kenya

Climate change in Kenya

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STORY HIGHLIGHTS

• Conservationist Richard Leakey has been working in Kenya's Turkana Basin for years
• Leakey says fishermen have seen evidence of climate change in the water as levels recede
• Potentially catastrophic as entire region is dependent on the lake for food and economic survival

Lake Turkana, Kenya (CNN) -- Richard Leakey has spent a lifetime exploring Kenya's Turkana Basin searching for the origins of man.
Each layer of sediment, says the paleoanthropologist and founder of the Turkana Basin Institute, helps to tell the narrative of human evolution.
"You get the whole story of life represented going back from the present right back to the beginnings of an ape that has two legs as opposed to four," Leakey said.
"So the whole story of humanity you can actually trace to the Turkana Basin."
But Leakey says these ancient hills tell another story, a history of climactic changes that gave rise to some species and led to the extinction of others.

These are real issues that you can see and feel and almost touch that may make people understand that we are on the edge of a precipice and we are going over
Richard Leakey, Turkana Basin Institute

With climate change, he says, this history could be repeated.
"The future of humanity is not going to be in the sediments, it is going to be in our minds and our thinking and unfortunately what we find here is that evidence," Leakey said.
"What we find here that is scientifically provable, immutable facts doesn't necessarily get absorbed for the moment by the political class who simply don't want to know the ugly truth that the world is a mess."
On the shores of Lake Turkana -- the largest desert lake in the world -- they don't need to know the science of climate change.
For more than 1,000 years, fishermen have been bringing in their catch, but, in less than a generation, they have witnessed disturbing changes.
"When I was young this lake was full, says Lazarao Maraka, a local fisherman.
"The water just keeps going down. We used to get big fish every day, now they are tiny."

Turkana's climate catastrophe

Maraka has reason to worry. Sometimes it is hard to see the effects of climate change, but not at Lake Turkana.
Global human impact on Earth
Thirty years ago the area was covered with water. Now, it is just sand and gravel. And scientists believe that in just a few decades it will be reduced to a couple of puddles.
Upriver dam projects could further hasten the retreat, a potential catastrophe for the entire region that depends on the lake for food and economic survival.
"I think the prospect of many of these half million people living around the lake today of having to relocate to cities and to slums and to abandon their culture, abandon their ancestral land, become paupers in their own land, I think it is very real," Leakey says.
"I think the way of life is gone...I have no doubt about that at all. I think if you came back here or my grandchildren came back in 50 years we wouldn't recognize what we are talking about today."
Leakey's Turkana Basin Institute is trying to understand how climate change is affecting the Turkana.
More: Could big cities lead fight against climate change?

If there is no lake or no fish, then the people will not survive around this lake. This lake is the Turkana's life.
Lazaro Maraka, local fisherman

Sometimes the best thing to do is listen. The Turkana say the rains are less frequent and the droughts come more often.
The unpredictable weather and vanishing pasture has decimated their herds.
Climate change does affect the Turkana people, says Ikal Angelei from the Turkana Basin Institute.
"With the increase of drought it has made the communities unable to adapt to the changes, because it happens so often," Angelei said.
Leakey says that anyone skeptical about climate change should visit the Turkana Basin.
"Coming to a place like this, I think you actually show people what happens. These are real issues that you can see and feel and almost touch that may make people understand that we are on the edge of a precipice and we are going over," he said.
"We have accelerated a process and it is based on the belief that somehow we can maintain control. I think our carbon dioxide emissions are out of control."
Even with the changes around Lake Turkana, fishermen like Lazaro Maraka still try to eke out a living the only way they know how.
He worries what will be left for his son Eroo if the lake continues to recede.
"If there is no lake or no fish, then the people will not survive around this lake. This lake is the Turkana's life," Maraka says.
This place has helped unlock humanity's past. Today, it could also be providing a window on its future.

Cairo calm as voters await results

By the CNN Wire Staff

November 30, 2011 -- Updated 1721 GMT (0121 HKT)

Egyptians await results of parliamentary elections, the first since President Mubarak was overthrown in February.

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

• The Muslim Brotherhood and the Al Noor Salafi Muslim Party claim a lead
• Some Egyptians voted for the first time; results are not likely until Thursday
• Clashes Tuesday lasted into early Wednesday
• These clashes began between protesters and vendors, witnesses say

Cairo (CNN) -- Tahrir Square was peaceful Wednesday as Egyptians awaited initial results of parliamentary elections, a break from the clashes that have gripped Cairo for much of the past two weeks.
The Muslim Brotherhood and the Al Noor Salafi Muslim Party claimed a lead in ballot counting, but no official results were expected until Thursday at the earliest.
Voting took place Monday and Tuesday, the first elections since President Hosni Mubarak was overthrown in February.
It is the first time some Egyptians -- young and old -- have ever cast ballots. Citizens are picking members of the lower house of parliament, which will be tasked with drafting a new constitution after three decades of Mubarak's rule.
Some voters and human rights activists expressed hope that their votes will actually count, though some boycotted the elections saying they don't trust the voting will be free and fair.
There were reports of some illegal campaigning taking place.

Voters optimistic in Egypt

Economy struggles amid Egyptian turmoil

Ali Al Dali, an official monitor for the Egyptian Association of Human Rights, said eight cases of vote-buying had been documented in Alexandria, and police had been notified. About 45% of eligible voters in the city had cast ballots, he said.
By nightfall Tuesday night, new clashes erupted in Tahrir Square. The unrest stretched into early Wednesday.
At least 88 people were hurt, 28 of them seriously enough to go to a hospital, a Health Ministry official, Dr. Adel Adawi, told the state-run newspaper Al-Ahram. The rest were treated at makeshift clinics in the square, Adawi said, but hospitals expected more people to be brought in.
The victims were hit by rocks, glass bottles, birdshot and Molotov cocktails, Dr. Hisham Shiha, another Health Ministry official, told CNN. At least a dozen gunshots rang out across the plaza, and ambulances darted in and out of the square as the fighting continued.
Tahrir Square was the epicenter of the protests that drove Mubarak from power and the demonstrations in recent days against the military council that succeeded him.
Witnesses said Tuesday's melee began with fights between vendors and protesters who threw rocks and attacked their kiosks with sticks. The protesters complained some vendors were giving demonstrations a bad image by selling marijuana, said Mina Hagras, one of the demonstrators who has been camped in the square.
"This is not the spirit of the revolutionaries or the square," Hagras said. "They warned them. They did not stop. So they took matters in their own hands and beat them up. Now, state TV is saying all the protesters in (the) square are thugs and drug users. This is not fair."
But Mohamed Shafei, whose sandwich stand was destroyed in the brawl, said the protesters turned on the vendors indiscriminately and confiscating their goods.
"Yes, there were several vendors selling hashish and pills, but not all of us are the same," Shafei said as he carried the remains of his kiosk. He added that the vendors were "retaliating."
Elections for Egypt's lower house of parliament are scheduled to take place in three stages, based on geography. The last of the three stages is set to take place in January.
Upper house elections will run between January and March.
Presidential elections will be held by June, according to the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces, Egypt's acting ruling body. Military leaders have said they will hand over power to a new government when one is elected, but many Egyptians say they don't trust the council and fear the military will cling to power.
Over the past two weeks, at least 42 people have been killed in clashes as protesters called for an immediate end to military rule. An additional 3,250 have been wounded, according to the Health Ministry.

Britain evacuates all embassy staff after Iran protesters storm compounds

By the CNN Wire Staff

November 30, 2011 -- Updated 1720 GMT (0120 HKT)

Iranian protesters storm British embassy

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

• Britain has closed its embassy in Tehran and evacuated all staff after an attack Tuesday
• Britain has also ordered the immediate closure of the Iranian Embassy in London, Hague says
• Germany recalls its ambassador to Iran for consultations in Berlin
• Iran's Foreign Ministry expresses regret for the British Embassy incursion

London (CNN) -- Britain has closed its embassy in Iran and evacuated all its staff from that country following the attack on the embassy compound in Tehran Tuesday, British Foreign Secretary William Hague said Wednesday.
Iran has also been ordered to close its embassy in London immediately, with its staff given 48 hours to leave, Hague said in a strongly worded statement to the UK Parliament.
Protesters stormed Britain's embassy and a separate compound Tuesday in Iran's capital, sparking outrage in the United Kingdom. The buildings should have been guarded by Iranian security officers.
Some demonstrators proceeded to vandalize and loot the homes of staff and the ambassador's residence, destroy furniture, steal their property and set fire to the main embassy office building, Hague said.
"This is a breach of international responsibilities of which any nation should be ashamed," Hague said.
While relations between Britain and Iran have been strained in recent times, he said, "We should be absolutely clear that no difficulty in relations can ever excuse in any way or under any circumstances the failure to protect diplomatic staff and diplomatic premises.
"Iran is a country where opposition leaders are under house arrest, more than 500 people have been executed so far this year and where genuine protest is ruthlessly stamped on.
"The idea that the Iranian authorities could not have protected our embassy or that this assault could have taken place without some degree of regime consent is fanciful."

Obama: Iran embassy riots unacceptable

The majority of about 200 demonstrators who overran the city center embassy compound were members of a student Basij militia organization, he said, which is "controlled by elements of the Iranian regime."
Hague thanked those European and Arab nations that offered assistance to British Embassy staff following the incident. British citizens still in Iran will be supported by other EU missions there, he said.
The United Nations Security Council, the United States, Germany, Poland, Russia and France have all expressed their concern over the incursion, which went against international law, he said.
Protesters who raided the British Embassy and the other British compound were demanding that the British ambassador be sent home immediately.
The incident has worried some other nations with diplomatic staff in Tehran.
Norway is closing its embassy there temporarily "because of a general assessment of the security situation in Iran," Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hilde Steinfeld said Wednesday. A statement said the embassy would reopen Thursday.
German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle has decided to recall the German ambassador to Iran for consultations in Berlin, his office said.
Ireland's Foreign Office urged Iran to reconsider its decision to expel the British ambassador to Tehran and said it should bring those responsible for the embassy incursion to justice.
If this does not happen, it said, "there are likely to be serious consequences for Iran's relations with the EU and the wider international community."
The EU Foreign Affairs Council will address the matter on Thursday, said Bernard Valero, spokesman for the French Foreign Ministry.
Tuesday's demonstration in Tehran followed an Iranian Parliament vote Sunday to expel the British ambassador and reduce diplomatic relations with the United Kingdom in retaliation for its new sanctions against Iran, according to IRNA, the country's official news agency.
The rally began quietly outside the embassy, but some participants stormed the building, breaking down the door. Among other things, they replaced the British flag with an Iranian one.
Speaker Ali Larijani was quoted on the Iranian Parliament's official website as saying that while Iranians should act legally, the decision to expel the British envoy was a response to Britain's own behavior.
"The gathering of the Iranian people in front of the British embassy was a reflection of the nation's public opinion caused by British actions," he said, according to the website.
Alaedin Boroujerdi, the lawmaker who introduced the expulsion bill, told the semi-official Fars News Agency on Wednesday that while Iran is glad to see the last of the British diplomats, "The consequences of closing down Iran's embassy in the UK will be London's responsibility."
Britain cut all financial ties with Iran last week over concerns about its nuclear program, the first time it has cut an entire country's banking sector off from British finance.
Iran's Foreign Ministry expressed its regret for the student protest, saying on its website that it had "turned into an out of control demonstration." The ministry said it would "take action through legal channels" against those who stormed the embassy building.
"A number of" protesters who broke into both places have been arrested, IRNA said, quoting the nation's deputy commander of security forces.
Hague warned Tuesday of "serious consequences" for the raids.
British Prime Minister David Cameron described the incursion as "outrageous and indefensible" and demanded that Iran immediately ensure the safety of all British Embassy personnel.
Iranian security forces are responsible for guarding the embassy under international law, he said.
"The failure of the Iranian government to defend British staff and property was a disgrace," the prime minister said.
"The Iranian government must recognize that there will be serious consequences for failing to protect our staff," Cameron said. "We will consider what these measures should be in the coming days."
Last week's sanctions ordered British credit and financial institutions to end their business relationships and transactions with all Iranian banks, their branches and subsidiaries.
The move came after an International Atomic Energy Agency report highlighted new concerns about "the possible military dimensions of Iran's nuclear program," the British Treasury statement said last week.
Iran insists its nuclear program is peaceful and has called the U.N. watchdog's report "unbalanced" and "politically motivated."

CNN's Elizabeth Joseph, Antonia Mortensen, Claudia Rebaza, Shirzad Bozorgmehr and Mitra Mobasherat contributed to this report.