This report reviews the response to the drought in six arid and semi arid land districts in Kenya. The report first characterizes the severity of the drought and reviews how well its impacts were forecasted in the Early Warning Bulletins (EWB). Satellite imagery, detecting failures in rangeland up greening, revealed that the 2008-2009 drought had been most severe in Kajiado and Laikipia. These emergencies were not reflected by the EWB warning stages. Recommendations are given to improve the EWB forecasting capacity. The report provides a systematic report of 474 livestock based interventions carried out during the 2008-2009 drought in six arid and semi arid districts in Kenya. It reviews the timeliness, effectiveness, the livelihood implications and the appropriateness of these interventions and assesses to what extent local communities had been involved in their development and implementation. The report shows that the number of livestock related interventions and the funding associated to this has increased considerably compared to the interventions carried out during the 2000 drought. Some of the interventions were considered ineffective and inappropriate, and the report advises on which livestock related interventions to implement during drought.
