Pastoralism & Extractives (page 2)
Energy economies and climate change in the drylands
Pastoralists use livestock to transform biomass into foods and goods. Business interests are increasingly competing with pastoralism for natural resources in the drylands that have long been considered marginal but have become a new frontier, also in the search for new sources of energy. The combination of high potential for renewable energy and low population […]
Pastoralism & large-scale green energy projects
Pastoralism-and-large-scale-REnewable-energy-and-green-hydrogen-projects A study commissioned by the Heinrich Böll Foundation and Brot für die Welt, Germany, looks at how large-scale solar- and wind-power and green-hydrogen projects affects pastoralists. It seeks to highlight this growing challenge so that: i) policymakers and civil society can shape the expansion of producing renewables in the drylands so that it does […]
Sugar estates destroy Bodi pastoralism in Ethiopia
The article “Sugar industrialization and distress selling of livestock among the Bodi pastoralists in Ethiopia’s Lower Omo Valley” by Fana Gebresenbet, published in Pastoralism 11:22 (2021), shows that the Bodi, a small agropastoral community in southern Ethiopia, are experiencing collective impoverishment and are selling their livestock out of distress. This is due to the rapid […]
Land investment reconfiguring Eastern Africa’s pastoral drylands
The rush for land and resources in sub-Saharan Africa is often happening alongside regional projects to upgrade and expand infrastructure. The urgency to unlock untapped economic potential has generated heated debate around the social and environmental impacts, as well as consequences for livelihoods, rights and benefit sharing. More than ever before, the gaze of global […]
Impact of resettling Maasai from Olkaria on herd productivity
Projects such as dams, conservancies, and geothermal energy production necessitate the relocation of project-affected persons. Resettlement often causes loss of livelihoods. In 2014, Kenya Electricity Generating Company Limited (KenGen) displaced 155 Maasai pastoralist households to create space for expansion of the existing geothermal electricity generation plants at Olkaria. The pastoralists were moved to an area […]