What value for pastoral livelihoods? An economic valuation of development alternatives for ephemeral wetlands in eastern Mauritania

Abstract

Pastoralism in Africa faces new challenges in an era of climate change, despite some improvements in policy and legislative frameworks as well as sporadic investment in pastoral development. There are concerns that pastoralism will not be sustainable in a climate-affected world, and this is seeing the return of policies to settle pastoralists and introduce modern cropping. Pastoralism is not yet understood as a specialisation to take advantage of instability and variability, and as a result, the trend has continued towards replacing pastoralism as a livelihood strategy rather than investing in it. It is in this context that a study conducted in eastern Mauritania between 1999 and 2001 is presented here to demonstrate the economic value of ephemeral wetlands as multi-use resources for pastoralism, agriculture and biodiversity. At the time the study was conducted, governments and aid agencies across the Sahel were targeting wetlands as areas of high development potential to combat poverty and increase food security, converting them from multi-use resources to single-use, arable resources. The study assesses the benefits of multiple-use systems compared to such single-use systems through economic valuation of production from the respective systems. Arable agriculture, livestock rearing and botanical and other natural resources are valued in the case of multiple-use systems and compared to arable production from single-use systems. Multiple-use systems are found to out-perform single-use systems based on annual production values, when opportunity costs and the replacement costs of wetland resources are taken into account. The results also show that the multi-use systems are better adapted to a highly variable climate than single-use arable systems that are highly vulnerable to rainfall fluctuations. This has implications for production in a climate-constrained world where diversification and investment in pastoralism as a strategy for managing variability in drylands will be increasingly important. The methodology used to value the wetlands remains relevant 15 years later, as governments, aid agencies and international organisations develop policies to guide pastoralism in dryland systems that are becoming increasingly variable and unpredictable in the face of climate change.

Grazing with trees

“…These are of particular value to rural communities who suffer through seasons of drought, allowing them to sell these products to generate income when traditional crops are failing. In eastern Mauritania, for example, many forestry products still grow in harsh conditions, including fruits (Ziziphus mauritiana), pods of Acacia nilotica and gum Arabic (Acacia senegal) (Shine and Dunford, 2016).…”

Valuing Environmental Benefit Streams in the Dryland Ecosystems of Sub-Saharan Africa

“…Examples include irrigation schemes constructed in the East African pastoral rangelands [104][105][106]. Also in northern Nigeria [107][108][109][110], the Inner Niger delta in Mali [111][112][113][114] and parts of Mauritania [115,116]. A recent study in the arid lands of Kenya [48] demonstrated that irrigated agriculture could generate a value of US$0-4 per unit of water applied, whereas extensive production could generate US$13-22 and other domestic uses up to US$90.…”

Rangeland water requirement satisfaction index under rainfall variability and predicting future rainfall scenarios: implication for availability of feed resources

“…According to IPCC (2007) report, an increasing surface temperature by about 0.2-0.3°C over the last 25 years result in reduction of rainfall and a lot of plant species from the earth. Hence, mean annual rainfall variability and increasing temperatures will have impacts on the quality and quantity of pastures (Thornton et al 2009) also reduce the grazing capacities of most rangelands (Shine and Dunford 2016), which is a critical constraints on livestock performance in the arid and semiarid ecosystems.…”

“…However, under the ever increasing environmental changes, the impact of rainfall variability on the productivity and vegetation dynamics of rangelands and availability of water both for human and livestock are the great challenges that the pastoral communities are facing at present in semi-arid areas of Ethiopia (Kassahun et al 2008). As a result, the carrying capacities of most rangelands in arid and semi-arid ecosystems do not sustain livestock production (IPCC 2014; Shine and Dunford 2016).…”