Climate variability and impacts on east African livestock herders: the Maasai of Ngorongoro Conservation Area, Tanzania

Galvin, Kathleen A.; Thornton, Philip K.; Boone, Randall B.; Sunderland, Jennifer

doi:10.2989/10220110409485850

Cited by 68 publications

(44 citation statements)

References 23 publications

(22 reference statements)

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“…Thus, ruminant livestock rearing depends mainly on natural pastures as the major and only source of food. Human population growth along with various land tenure and land-use changes have forced migration of pastoral livestock onto areas that are too small and infertile to sustain animal production (Galvin, Thornton, Boone & Sunderland, 2004). Although integrated crop and livestock production system is practised in the study area, generally areas with fertile soils are used for crop production while the marginal and bare lands are reserved for livestock production.…”

Section: Frequency (%)mentioning

confidence: 99%

Assessing the Impacts of Land Use and land cover change on Pastoral Livestock Farming in South-Eastern Burkina Faso

Kima

Okhimamhe²,

Kiema³

2016

ENRR

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Conversion of pastures to cropland is one of the most important issues facing livestock farming in Burkina Faso. This study examined the impact of land use/cover change on pastoral livestock farming in Boulgou province between 1980 and 2013. Landsat satellite images (1989, 2001 and 2013) and socio-economic data were analysed. The interpretation of the classified Landsat images revealed an increase in cropland from 20.5% in 1989 to 36.7% in 2013. This resulted mainly from the conversion of woody savannah and shrub and grass savannah to cropland. Pastoral livestock farmers reported that the major drivers of vegetation loss were drought (95.1 %), population growth (91.8%), cropland increase (91.4%), extraction of fuel wood (69.8%) and increase in livestock population (65.4). These changes affect livestock farming through reduction of pasture, poor access to water and reduction of livestock mobility routes according to the farmers. This calls for regional and national policies to protect grazing areas in Burkina Faso that are similar to policies being implemented for forest and other types of vegetation cover in other countries. For such pastoral policies to be successful, issues concerning the mobility of livestock farmers must be enshrined into such policies and this study is an example of information source for these policies.

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Section: Frequency (%)mentioning

confidence: 99%

Assessing the Impacts of Land Use and land cover change on Pastoral Livestock Farming in South-Eastern Burkina Faso

Kima

Okhimamhe²,

Kiema³

2016

ENRR

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“…Maasai communities in northern Tanzania are increasingly faced with a number of challenges related to (among other things) loss of land ownership due to establishment of new conservation and adminstrative areas and also increase of agricultural activities to meet their increasing food demands (Galvin et al 2001;Galvin et al 2004;Msoffe et al 2011). Global climate change is a significant additional stress to these communities.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Climate change perception and impacts on cattle production in pastoral communities of northern Tanzania

2018

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This study examines pastoralists' perception on climate change and impacts on cattle production from ten study villages of Monduli District in Tanzania. This study drew empirical data from 130 cattle owners and 81 participants from focus group discussions in the study villages. Descriptive statistics and thematic analysis were used to analyze the data respectively. Findings from this study indicate that pastoralists are well aware of the general climate trends in their location, its variability and the impacts of extreme weather events on cattle production. The main climate changes perceived by pastoralists include more erratic and reduced amounts of rainfall, rise in temperature and prolonged and frequent periods of drought. Pastoralists mainly view population pressure and tree cutting as the major causes of climate change. Further, this study found that there are no existing climate risk programmes and early warning systems across the district. Importantly, pastoralists reported the negative impacts of climate change on cattle production. The severe recurrent drought periods result in shortage of forage and water, leading to cattle starvation and malnutrition. Pastoralists reported massive cattle deaths and outbreaks of diseases such as contagious bovine pleuropneumonia and tick-borne diseases. Further, reduction in milk production and poor livestock market prices were also reported as negative impacts on cattle production. Given the range of negative impacts of current climate change and extreme weather events on cattle production, the implications of climate change must be taken into account to ensure longer-term survival and sustainability of pastoralist communities through strengthening of climate risk awareness programs and early warning systems across the district. Further, this study recommends that government and non-governmental organizations should improve institutional support to pastoralists in order to help them deal with the negative impacts of climate change on livestock production.

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“…Only a few of the respondents were concerned about drought as being a threat to livestock production in south western Uganda. The experience of pastoralists in south western Uganda regarding drought is apparently different from those of their counterparts in northern Kenya (Gufu, 2001) and Ngorongoro conservation area inTanzania (Galvin et al, 2004) where drought is a major constraint to livestock production. Among the respondents who cited drought as a major concern, majority of them were from communities located further north of Lake Mburo National Park.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 94%

Diseases affecting livestock production mediate landscape scale of a changing pasture regime in Lake Mburo Conservation Area, Uganda

Nina

Mugisha

Basuta

et al. 2014

IJBR

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This study investigated whether spatial disparities in pastoral herd sizes across rangelands from Lake Mburo National Park (LMNP) boundary was responsible for a changing pasture regime. A midst growing concern that cattle diseases associated with wild ungulates outside the protected areas impose limitations on pastoralist household income, the affected communities respond by overstocking as an adaption to disease risks. Therefore, increasing cattle stock holding among pastoralists living at the park boundary was suspected to be facilitating the disappearance of forests in Lake Mburo Conservation Area (LMCA). We applied ecosystem approach in a cross-sectional survey design to assess whether impact of diseases transmitted at the nexus of wildlife and livestock play intermediary role in the emerging spatial pattern of pasture regimes in LMCA. Paired sample t-test was used to examine the mean differences of animal populations between managed and unmanaged pasture and interpreted with Geo-eye satellite data of a typical landscape of savanna ecosystem of LMCA. The results revealed a significant difference (p < 0.05) in the distribution of wild species of animals between managed and unmanaged pasture. Spatial variation in population abundance of wild animals between distance zones was also reflected in the distribution of average household stockholding as well as cattle mortalities along a distance gradient from LMNP boundary. These findings could guide evidence based monitoring of long term effects of changing pasture regimes on pastoralist livelihood systems around LMCA. For example, future research should consider complementarities and overlap of the diets of wild ungulates and cattle at the nexus of wildlife and livestock interface. This will provide an understanding of how wildlife presence in rangelands can lead to either favorable or adverse changes in the fauna as far as the domestic livestock species of cattle and small ruminants are concerned.

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Climate variability and impacts on east African livestock herders: the Maasai of Ngorongoro Conservation Area, Tanzania

Cited by 68 publications

References 23 publications

Assessing the Impacts of Land Use and land cover change on Pastoral Livestock Farming in South-Eastern Burkina Faso

Assessing the Impacts of Land Use and land cover change on Pastoral Livestock Farming in South-Eastern Burkina Faso

Climate change perception and impacts on cattle production in pastoral communities of northern Tanzania

Diseases affecting livestock production mediate landscape scale of a changing pasture regime in Lake Mburo Conservation Area, Uganda

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