Pastoral pathways: Ethiopian lessons for climate-change adaptation

The study report “Pastoral pathways: climate change adaptation lessons from Ethiopia” (2011, 52pp) by Siri Eriksen & Andrei Marin, was published by the Development Fund and the Department of International Environment & Development Studies at the Norwegian University of Life Sciences.

It seeks to increase knowledge and understanding of key themes of the Development Fund’s work in pastoral areas of Ethiopia and to raise awareness among planners and policymakers about the critical situation faced by pastoralists.

A starting point for understanding vulnerability and adaptation to climate change is to recognise that pastoralists are environmental custodians. When formulating development and adaptation strategies, policymakers need to consider the huge contribution that pastoralists can make economically, socially and environmentally. For example, the Afar, with their protective environmental management laws, have been able to manage and use the scarce resources and maintain their livelihoods in one of the hottest places on Earth. Pastoralists have considerable knowledge and experience in dealing with climatic variability, which is likely to increase with climate change.

In Ethiopia, some processes that exert the most severe stress on local livelihoods, undermining ability to face climatic change, are unintended consequences of development interventions. There is a disconnect between local pastoralist values and aspirations and national policy ambitions to modernise through crop farming. The resulting responses to climate change and other long-term changes exacerbate vulnerability, especially the enclosure and de facto privatisation of key communal drought resources.

The report gives recommendations for sustainable pastoral adaptation pathways.

Posted on 29 October 2022 in Pastoralism & Climate Change, Pastoralism & Natural Resources, Pastoralism, Mobility & Land Tenure, Pastoralist Livelihoods & Nutrition, Value of Pastoralism