Pastoralists may benefit from new rangelands management approaches

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In times of severe drought her husband may have to take the cattle far away to look for pasture.

 

New rangelands management approaches improving resilience and economic benefits for Kenya’s pastoralists

by DORINE ODONGO

Excerpt

A study that evaluate the changing nature of pastoralists’ institutional arrangements in response to socio-economic and ecological changes over a period of 10 years, and assessed how these changing arrangements are contributing to value of ecosystem services benefits, shows that co-management is now a significant feature of current institutional arrangements in northern Kenya.

Three types of institutional arrangements including elders only, group ranch committees and community conservancy boards were reviewed. Results showed that management of the rangelands has changed over time and co-management is now positively influencing the economic benefits communities derive from these ecosystems and is enabling pastoralists to diversify their livelihoods as part of enhancing their resilience.

The study was carried out in Isiolo, Laikipia and Samburu.

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How economic resilience can be built in semi-arid regions

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Peul herders pump water from a well for their cow herd and families, Niassante Rural Community, Saint Louis Région, Senegal (photo credit: ILRI/Jo Cadilhon).

A triple whammy: avoiding a leak future for semi-arid regions

by DORINE ODONGO

This article was written by Helen Mountfort, Consortium Co-ordinator for Pathways to Resilience in Semi-Arid Economies (PRISE)

Building economic resilience in semi-arid regions: what role for the sustainable development goals?

As the world adopts the sustainable development goals (SDGs) to help drive the implementation of sustainable development, it is imperative that these must do more to consider how economic resilience can be built in semi-arid regions.

Semi-arid regions are among the areas that have been identified by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) as being particularly exposed and vulnerable to the impacts of climate change. Home to over 2.5billion people, highly variable arid and semi-arid systems are already affected by climate change, and will increasingly struggle to support the people who depend on them unless we can find ways to harness the resilience that is inherent to many of these systems.

The SDGs must consider several major challenges, for inclusive consideration of sustainable development

 

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Food availability in African households

 

What works where for whom? Estimating effects of interventions on food availability in African households

by DORINE ODONGO

At this week’s (3-6 March 2015) international conference on Integrated Systems Research for Sustainable Intensification in Smallholder Agriculture in Nigeria, Randall Ritzema, a systems analyst with the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI), gave a presentation explaining ‘what works where for which farm household‘ based on a study that assessed effects of different interventions on food availability across household distributions in East and West Africa.

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Gender and a market-based conservation approach

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Women waiting to fetch water as cattle drink from a water pan in Taita Taveta, Kenya (photo credit: ILRI/ Juliet Kariuki).

Women and environment: Understanding market-based conservation schemes from a gendered perspective

by DORINE ODONGO

A number of approaches have been adopted towards conservation of natural resources with a view of ensuring environmental sustainability especially in areas where crop and livestock agriculture is the main source of livelihoods. These approaches include payments for ecosystem services (PES), which is a market-based conservation approach with an incentive for farmers. But altering natural resource management practices affects how men and women carry out their agricultural activities and influences the welfare outcomes they get.

However, despite the recognition of gendered differences in resource access and use, gender inclusion in conservation research and implementation remains limited.

A new study by scientists from the University of Hohenheim and the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) explored the extent to which three market-based conservation schemes in Kenya integrate gender in design and implementation. The study was premised on the hypothesis that for a balanced outcome of its objectives and household welfare, a careful consideration of the intra-household implications of market-based conservation schemes is important.

Need for broader interventions

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