Vulnerability of Southern Afar pastoralists to climate variability and change, Ethiopia

Abstract

The present study was carried out in the Southern Afar region in Ethiopia to assess the vulnerability of pastoral communities to climate change and variability. A household questionnaire survey was employed to collect data at a household level. A total of 250 pastoral households were sampled using stratified random sampling. The results revealed that 28.8% of the pastoral households were highly vulnerable. Most of the households (53.6%) were moderately vulnerable. Only 17.6% of the households were capable of coping even though there would be a high probability of moving from less vulnerable to a moderate or high vulnerability level in the future if no appropriate adaptive measures would be taken by decision-makers. Policies with emphasis on empowerment of women, such as improving their access to and control over resources through a better institutional set-up; improving irrigation facilities and skills; expanding the participation of pastoral households on irrigation farming; creating opportunities for non-farm income; and improving access to credits, markets, health and veterinary services, are expected to enhance pastoralists’ resilience.

Vulnerability of rural households to climate-induced shocks in Lokka Abaya district, Sidama zone, southern Ethiopia

“…This was generally higher than the national average family size. Similar results were reported by Fenta, Jordaan & Melka ( 2019 ) in their study in the southern Afar region, Ethiopia. The results indicated that productive age category of the family members of male-headed households was better than female-headed households.…”

“…This indicates that relatively female-headed households had poor access to education compared to men who could increase their vulnerability to climate change and variability. Studies indicated that illiterate people are more likely dependent on climate sensitive livelihoods and reluctant to adopt climate change adaptation measures (Fenta et al 2019;Haile, Alemu & Kundhlande 2005).…”

Tsetse Invasion as an Emerging Threat to Socioecological Resilience of Pastoral Communities in Karamoja, Uganda

“…These services help pastoral and agro-pastoral households maintain healthy herds [75]. Furthermore, institutional setup, including improving irrigation facilities and skills and expanding the participation of pastoral households in irrigation farming, increases pastoral resilience [76]. Additionally, creating opportunities for non-farming income and improving access to credit, integration into markets, health and veterinary services expands pastoral resilience.…”

“…These practices, in addition to ethno-veterinary practices, positively improve household resilience to shocks [77]. The components as discussed by Fent et al and Muricho et al fall within the broad spectra of absorptive, adaptive and transformative capacities necessary to influence resilience [76,77].…”

Herding through Uncertainties – Principles and Practices. Exploring the Interfaces of Pastoralists and Uncertainty. Results from a Literature Review

“…In most cases crop farming activities undertaken by pastoralists complement rather than substitute for livestock production. Farming schemes amongst pastoralists are often aimed at producing animal feed through agriculture, and eventually feed processing, storage, and marketing develop accordingly (Little, 2013;Mburu et al, 2017;Fenta et al, 2018). The practice of diversifying agricultural output to produce animal feed is common in agro-pastoral systems in Europe; in large parts of Sardinia and the Pyrenees, the demise of crop farming has provided opportunities for producing forage for animals on farmlands (Barrachina, 2007;Meloni and Farinella, 2015;Ragkos et al, 2018).…”