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Documentary

Maurizio Di Pietro

Photographer

Maurizio Di Pietro

Turkana's Resilience

Turkana, in northwest Kenya, is the poorest and least developed county in the ASALs (Arid and Semi-Arid Lands). Almost the whole of the inhabitants of the Turkana district are pastoralists, so their survival depends entirely on livestock, natural resources for food and daily activities.
In the last few decades, due to climate change, the air temperature increased by about 3 degrees, while more frequent and prolonged droughts have reduced the natural resource base. Pasture resources for livestock have dramatically reduced, encouraging those closest to Lake Turkana to turn to fishing as an alternative livelihood.
The area is the fuse of violent conflict, indeed proliferation of illegal arms from southern Sudan and the reduction of natural resources has contributed to the escalation of insecurity along the area's shared borders with Ethiopia, Sudan, Uganda and other counties in Kenya as Pokot and Marsabit, causing the death of hundreds of people every year.

Maurizio Di Pietro

Born in Torino in 1974 and after completing a Bachelor’s Degree in Computer Science, Maurizio collaborated with some NGOs documenting their work through photographic projects in Morocco, Sri Lanka, Guatemala, and Cisgiordania. Maurizio studied at the WSP Photography School as part of his training, where he is currently working as a lecturer. Between 2016 and 2017, he worked on projects related to mental disabilities, and for several years afterward he focused on climate change in Kenya - for this work, he has received some awards such as the Lucie, and several national and international publications such as Der Spiegel and the Corriere della Sera. Maurizio prefers to work on social issues and long-term projects and occasionally publishes in national and international magazines.