Prelims - Managing Mobility in African Rangelands

Niamir‐Fuller, Maryam

doi:10.3362/9781780442761.000

Cited by 54 publications

(88 citation statements)

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“…This form of mobility is pursued primarily for livelihood purposes and is very strategic (McCabe 2006). Movement of livestock to areas with secure water and pasture resources is an effective strategy against droughts (Niamir-Fuller 2000) and has remained important for herders in northwestern Turkana County of Kenya.…”

Section: Adaptation Strategies Used By Interviewed Householdsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Drought Adaptation and Coping Strategies Among the Turkana Pastoralists of Northern Kenya

Opiyo

Wasonga

Nyangito

et al. 2015

Int J Disaster Risk Sci

211

103

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This study highlights drought characteristics and the many responses to drought stresses employed by Turkana pastoralists of northwestern Kenya. Multiple data sources, including socioeconomic interviews with 302 households, focus group discussions, and informal interviews with pastoralists were used to capture various aspects of drought and drought adaptation and coping practices. Standardized precipitation index derived from long-term rainfall data obtained from the Kenya Meteorological Service was used to quantify different degrees of drought intensity between 1950 and 2012. Results revealed that extreme drought events were increasingly frequent, and have impacted negatively on pastoral livelihoods. In order to adapt to or cope with climatic anomalies, households are using a variety of strategies. In addition to the traditional short-term coping mechanisms, the long-term adaptation strategies used include diversification of livelihood sources; livestock mobility to track forage and water resources; diversification of herd composition to benefit from the varied drought and disease tolerance, as well as fecundity of diverse livestock species; and sending children to school for formal education as a long term investment expected to pay back through income from employment. Policies and development interventions that reduce risks, diminish livelihood constraints, and expand opportunities for increased household resilience to drought are critical complements to the existing pastoral strategies.

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Section: Adaptation Strategies Used By Interviewed Householdsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Drought Adaptation and Coping Strategies Among the Turkana Pastoralists of Northern Kenya

Opiyo

Wasonga

Nyangito

et al. 2015

Int J Disaster Risk Sci

211

103

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

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“…Income sources are diversified by accepting wage labor in urban centers or by emigration of family members to the EU [7]. Most mobile pastoralists also experience a governmental preference for settlement [8][9][10]. As a consequence of these drivers, a general trend from mobile pastoralism towards more sedentarization and commercialization of pastoralism has been observed for Morocco during the last decades [11,12].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Adaptation to New Climate by an Old Strategy? Modeling Sedentary and Mobile Pastoralism in Semi-Arid Morocco

Freier

Finckh

Schneider

2014

Land

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Abstract:In a modeling study we examine vulnerability of income from mobile (transhumant) pastoralism and sedentary pastoralism to reduced mean annual precipitation (MAP) and droughts. The study is based on empirical data of a 3410 km 2 research region in southern, semi-arid Morocco. The land use decision model integrates a meta-model of the Environmental Policy Integrated Climate (EPIC) simulator to depict perennial and annual forage plant development. It also includes livestock dynamics and forward-looking decision making under uncertain weather. Mobile livestock in the model moves seasonally, sedentary livestock is restricted to pastures around settlements. For a reduction of MAP by 20%, our model shows for different experimental frequencies of droughts a significant decrease of total income from pastoralism by 8%-19% (p < 0.05). Looking separately at the two modes of pastoralism, pronounced income losses of 18%-44% (p < 0.05) show that sedentary pastoralism is much more vulnerable to dryer climate than mobile pastoralism, which is merely affected. Dedicating more pasture area and high quality fodder to mobile pastoralism significantly abates impacts from reduced MAP and droughts on total income by 11% (p < 0.05). Our results indicate that promotion of mobile pastoralism in semi-arid areas is a valuable option to increase resilience against climate change.

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“…Traditional pastoral institutions facilitated access to constantly shifting patches of natural resources (de Bruijn and van Djik 1995;Niamir-Fuller 1999). Colonial and postcolonial land policies, however, ignored pastoral rights and this, coupled with socially malleable rights to pastoral resources among pastoral groups, has made pastoral resources vulnerable to competing land uses, especially with the rapid growth of human populations since the 1950s (Guengant et al 2002).…”

Section: DL Coppock Et Almentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In Ethiopia, the Sahel, Afghanistan, Mongolia, and northern Mexico range livestock production is vitally important with respect to domestic supplies of live animals or animal products including hides, skins, and fiber (de Bruijn and van Djik 1995;Desta et al 2006;Niamir-Fuller 1999;Perramond 2010, Schloeder andJacobs 2010;Turner et al 2014;Zoljargal 2013). There is more variation with respect to the economic importance of range-related exports (Williams and Spycher 2003).…”

Section: Socioeconomic Trendsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Rangeland Systems in Developing Nations: Conceptual Advances and Societal Implications

Coppock

Fernández‐Giménez

Hiernaux

et al. 2017

Springer Series on Environmental Management

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Developing-country rangelands are vast and diverse. They are home to millions who are often poor, politically marginalized, and dependent on livestock for survival. Here we summarize our experiences from six case-study sites in subSaharan Africa, central Asia, and Latin America generally covering the past 25 years. We examine issues pertaining to population, natural resource management, climate, land use, livestock marketing, social conflict, and pastoral livelihoods. The six study sites differ with respect to human and livestock population dynamics and This chapter is dedicated to the memory of an exemplary international rangeland scientist, Thomas L. Thurow (1955Thurow ( -2016. the resulting pressures on natural resources. Environmental degradation, however, has been commonly observed. Climate change is also having diverse systemic effects often related to increasing aridity. As rangelands become more economically developed pastoral livelihoods may diversify, food security can improve, and commercial livestock production expands, but wealth stratification widens. Some significant upgrades in rural infrastructure and public service delivery have occurred; telecommunications are markedly improved overall due to widespread adoption of mobile phones. Pressures from grazing, farming, mining, and other land usescombined with drought-can ignite local conflicts over resources, although the intensity and scope of conflicts markedly varies across our case-study sites. Pastoralists and their herds have become more sedentary overall due to many factors, and this can undermine traditional risk-management tactics based on mobility. Remote rangelands still offer safe havens for insurgents, warlords, and criminals especially in countries where policing remains weak; the resulting civil strife can undermine commerce and public safety. There has been tremendous growth in knowledge concerning developing-country rangelands since 1990, but this has not often translated into improved environmental stewardship or an enhanced wellbeing for rangeland dwellers. Some examples of demonstrable impact are described, and these typically have involved longer-term investments in capacity building for pastoralists, local professionals, and other stakeholders. Research is shifting from ecologically centered to more human-centered issues; traditional academic approaches are often being augmented with participatory, community-based engagement. Building human or social capital in ways that are integrated with improved natural resource stewardship offers the greatest returns on research investment. Our future research and outreach priorities include work that fortifies pastoral governance, enhances livelihoods for a diverse array of rangeland residents, and improves land and livestock management in a comprehensive social-ecological systems approach. Keywords IntroductionIn this chapter we focus on rangelands of the developing world. By rangelands we refer to landscapes-largely unsuitable for sustained cultivation-providing forage, water, ...

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Prelims - Managing Mobility in African Rangelands

Cited by 54 publications

References 0 publications

Drought Adaptation and Coping Strategies Among the Turkana Pastoralists of Northern Kenya

Drought Adaptation and Coping Strategies Among the Turkana Pastoralists of Northern Kenya

Adaptation to New Climate by an Old Strategy? Modeling Sedentary and Mobile Pastoralism in Semi-Arid Morocco

Rangeland Systems in Developing Nations: Conceptual Advances and Societal Implications

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