Calm amid the crisis: Despite drought, herders and their animals from Somalia and Kenya converge on an Ethiopian watering hole in a systematic order. Photo by Peter Little.

By Carol Clark, Emory University

Emory anthropologist Peter Little was in southern Ethiopia last February, during the height of a major drought that continues to scorch the Horn of Africa. He is researching how climate change is affecting livestock herders in the region [with the Livestock-Climate Change CRSP CHAINS project]. During the past year, drought has killed about 20 percent of the cattle, or about 225,000 animals, within Ethiopia’s Borana pastoralist community.

At a watering hole, Little watched herders bring their animals in from northeastern Kenya and Somalia, where the effects of the drought are compounded by armed conflict. “I was amazed by the skill and discipline of these herders,” Little says. “They got thousands of thirsty animals to line up like schoolchildren. Some of the camels hadn’t had water for seven days.”

First the herders themselves approached the water’s edge with buckets and canteens. Then the goats were sent in an orderly procession to drink, followed by the cattle, and finally the camels.

“We could learn a lot from African pastoralists about how to collectively manage resources,” Little says. He contrasts their cooperative use of extremely limited water supplies to the inter-state battles fought over Atlanta’s Lake Lanier reservoir, and the ever-shrinking Colorado River.

Read more at www.emory/esciencecommons.edu

Related Story: Peter Little, CHAINS Project Leader, on the Drought in the Horn of Africa

Risk and Social Change in an African Rural Economy is the title of a new book by Livestock-Climate Change CRSP research partners John McPeak and Peter Little.   The book summarizes the results of a multi-year interdisciplinary research project in pastoral areas of Kenya and Ethiopia. The authors describe the ecology and social context in which pastoralism takes place, with a particular focus on the risks that confront people living in these drylands, and how these risks are often triggered by highly variable rainfall conditions, a symptom of climate change.

The authors go on to describe the livelihood strategies employed by pastoralists in these areas, with a focus on how well-being is tied to access to livestock and the cash economy. They conclude that the future development activities need to be built on the foundation of the livestock economy, instead of seeking to replace it.

John McPeak is an Associate Professor and Vice-Chair in the Department of Public Administration in the Maxwell School of Syracuse University; he is a member of the LCC CRSP’s MLPI-2 project in Mali and leads the RIVERS project in Senegal.  Peter D. Little is Professor of Anthropology and Director of the Program in Development Studies at Emory University; he leads the LCC CRSP CHAINS project, which takes place in Ethiopia and Kenya. Cheryl R. Doss, also a co-author, is Senior Lecturer in Global Affairs and Economics and the Director of Graduate Studies for the MA program in International Relations at Yale University.

Risk and Social Change in an African Rural Economy is available from Routledge.

The Adapting Livestock Systems to Climate Change Collaborative Research Support Program at Colorado State University has awarded a total of $720,000 to nine U.S. universities and their host-country partners in east Africa, west Africa and central Asia to improve the livelihoods of small-scale livestock producers. Two of the awards were given to researchers at Colorado State University.

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