Cattle drinking water in Kenya (Photo by Curt Carnemark/World Bank)

Satellite-based insurance for livestock has been developed in Kenya to measure the country’s “greenness,” safeguarding herders against droughts and other effects of climate change.

Slated to begin in early 2010, Kenya will be the first developing nation to set up a satellite insurance mechanism.

Specialists will study satellite images measuring the greenness of vegetation in the northern Marsabit region. If there is a shift to brown, pastoralists who rely on the land will be paid for the deaths of their livestock predicted to follow such a vegetative transition.

Up until now, the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) has provided such herders with hay or animal vaccines in the event of a drought. Such a system has proven inefficient and expensive.

Read more … (MediaGlobal/Voice of the global south)