Talk Series: Resources Across Disciplines - Fourth Lecture

Sacred Cattle, Sacred Forests: Religion, Climate Adaptation, and Security Risks in Kenya

What happens when climate adaptation policies overlook the religious and cultural values of the communities they are intended to support?

On 15 December, Dr. Joram Tarusarira will explore the relationship between religion, climate adaptation and security in Kenya, drawing on fieldwork with Maasai and Mijikenda communities.

Climate adaptation policies often focus on measurable factors such as rainfall, livestock numbers and environmental vulnerability. Yet for many communities, natural resources carry meanings that extend far beyond their economic or ecological value. Among Maasai pastoralists, cattle are closely connected to identity, lineage and religious traditions. For Mijikenda communities on the Kenyan coast, sacred kaya forests are places of ancestral significance, protected and governed through traditional structures of authority.

As climate change puts increasing pressure on these resources, communities face not only environmental and economic challenges but also threats to cultural practices and social relations. Interventions that overlook these dimensions can encounter resistance or contribute to tensions between communities, generations and authorities.

Drawing on these examples, the lecture will consider how religious and cultural values can contribute to more effective climate adaptation, ecological resilience and social peace.

About the speaker

Dr. Joram Tarusarira is a researcher at the University of Groningen whose work explores the intersections of religion, conflict, peacebuilding and environmental issues. He is one of the academic leads of the Conflict, Environment & Society research group at the Rudolf Agricola School for Sustainable Development.

Registration

Interested in joining the discussion? Please register by contacting one of the academic leads of the Conflict, Environment & Society research group, Dr Vanessa Tünsmeyer or Dr Joram Tarusarira.

Registration is required as room capacity is limited.

About the lecture series

This lecture is part of an interdisciplinary series of talks organised by the Conflict, Environment & Society research group of the Rudolf Agricola School for Sustainable Development. The series brings together researchers from different disciplines to explore how resources are understood and valued across environmental, economic, political and cultural contexts.

Previous talks in the series include:

• 15 September 2026: Capturing Regulation, Selling Off the Environment: Regulatory Failure and Infrastructure Violence in the Brazilian Mining Sector - Dr. Júlia Dos Anjos Marques.

• 13 October 2026: Collective Mapping as a Methodology for Human Rights in Times of Energy Transition: The Case of Lithium in the Salar de Atacama - PhD canditate Patricio Trincado Vera.

• 10 November 2026: Deeper Underground: On the Speculative Politics of Critical Mineral Production from Geothermal Resources - Dr. Ethemcan Turhan.