The IBLI program expanded to southern Ethiopia in February 2012 and will initially target 2,700 pastoralists there who are also experiencing severe drought. Photo by Peter Little.

In January 2010, John McPeak, Associate Professor and Vice-Chair, Department of Public Administration and International Affairs at Syracuse University of  and leader of the LCC CRSP’s RIVERS and MLPI-2 projects, helped to launch the first-ever Index-Based Livestock Insurance (IBLI) scheme in Kenya. Facing extreme drought conditions, livestock keepers may soon receive their first payments, reports SciDev Net. read more »

Abdille Muhamed with his dead cow in Garse Koftu village, 120km from Wajir in northeastern Kenya. Photo by Jaspreet Kindra/IRIN.

“In the Horn of Africa, droughts are natural but famines are man made,” says Emory anthropologist Peter Little, who studies the politics, economy and ecology of the region and leads the Livestock-Climate Change CRSP CHAINS project. “The famine in Somalia is an unfortunate intersection of failed rain, politics and conflict.”

Drought occurs every five or six years in the Horn of Africa. In Somalia, which has lacked the control of a central government over much of the country since a civil war in 1991, the effects of the current drought have been greatly compounded by fighting, Little says.

The U.N. has declared famine in two regions of south Somalia where the Islamist group Al-Shabaab has been fighting to maintain control. “A phenomenal number of people have been displaced,” Little says. “People have been forced out of farming and livestock areas and have clustered around towns where there is a little bit of security.”

Fighting disrupts markets and trading, and complicates delivery of food aid. In an attempt to escape the situation in recent months, more than 350,000 Somalis have poured into northeastern Kenya’s Dadaab refugee camp, which was designed to hold fewer than 100,000 people.

The CHAINS project’s Garissa District site (in northeastern Kenya) borders southern Somalia and the Dadaab refugee camp.  “From colleagues in Nairobi, it seems that the U.S. Agency for International Development  and  the World Bank probably will be pushing for increased development resources(rather than just relief funds) for the region once the current humanitarian crisis subsides,” Little says.

Read more at www.emory/esciencecommons.edu

Related Story: Peter Little, CHAINS Project Leader, Debunks Pastoralism Myths

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.

Margaret Syomiti Muteng’e, Egerton University (Kenya), “Introduction and evaluation of fodder-block technology and cactus-Atriplex spp. Alley Cropping System as alternative Feed Resources for Climate Change Adaptation in Dryland regions of Kenya”

Margaret hopes her science can help to better the lives of women in Kenya. "In some communities of Kenya, women are not allowed to under-take any economic activity, and/or even to own a cow!! They are only allowed to keep goats, normally termed as "poor woman's cow". I would like to pursue research addressing commercialization of livestock technologies with regards to women and children," she says.

Margaret’s interest in livestock began during childhood and was inspired by her grandmother, a farmer in Kenya’s Kwale district. “When a hyena killed my grandmother’s fattest goat, she brought all the others into the house to sleep beside her,” Margaret remembers. When she watched her grandfather’s drought-weakened cattle sink in a river from their poor condition, she became determined to become an animal scientist, “to prevent animals from dying,” she explains. Margaret’s goal with her current research is to establish agribusiness enterprises, especially targeting women entrepreneurs that manufacture fodder-blocks and drought-resilient feed resources for sale to rural livestock keepers. Her research will explore expanding the use of underutilized, drought-tolerant fodder crops like cactus and salt bush. Like the smallholders she serves with her research, Syomiti has worked exceedingly hard to achieve her career goals so far. “Professionally, I feel like a conqueror—and nothing shakes me,” says Syomiti, a mother of four who recently graduated with her MSc. “I look at a difficult situation and say, ‘Like Obama, yes I can.’ You have to encourage yourself if you don’t find it elsewhere. I started this career journey, and I’m going to succeed.” Margaret is also a 2010 AWARD Fellow. A project of the CGIAR Gender & Diversity Program, AWARD Fellowships were given to 180 African women scientists to strengthen research and leadership skills in agricultural science, empowering them to contribute more effectively to poverty alleviation and food security (www.awardfellowships.org).

Judith Kusimba Chemuliti, University of Nairobi (Kenya), “Ex ante analysis of carbon tree trading as an alternative livelihood means for pastoralists in southwestern rangelands in TransMara district, Kenya.”

Judith's research is motivated "by a desire to assist livestock keepers particularly those living in areas where the effects of environmental degradation and impact of climate change are real threats to livelihoods," she says.

Judith has a master’s degree in veterinary public health and as worked for the Kenya Agricultural Research Institute’s Trypanosomosis Research Centre since 2000. There, her research work has focused on the epidemiology of livestock diseases. “I have studied the epidemiology and interaction of tick-borne diseases and trypanosomosis in southwestern Kenya; examined animal health and production constraints in camels in the Kajiado district where the animals were introduced as a food security tool for Maasai pastoralists, and studied patterns of veterinary drug use in Narok and TransMara districts,” she explains. Judith was raised by her single mother (her father passed away when she was only five), who supported the family, in part, through a small poultry business she ran out of the backyard. “Life was particularly tough when disease outbreaks occurred as we would lose almost all our chickens,” says Judith, “As a child, I always felt there was something I could do to stop the chickens from dying. I would ask mom so many question concerning animals and diseases. This is how my interest in animals and livestock began.” Today, Judith still advises women’s groups in her home village, providing technical advice on livestock production and animal health. For her LCC CRSP Fellowship, Judith plans to investigate the potential for pastoralists to adopt tree planting for carbon trading as an alternative to sustaining livelihoods through livestock production. “The potential benefits of tree planting in the rangelands are enormous and will not only improve farmer incomes through sale of carbon credits, but contribute to the restoration of environmental health of the ecosystem,” says Judith.

Dr. Mark Opiyo Nanyingi, University of Nairobi (Kenya), “Spatial and temporal epidemiological investigation of disease surveillance mechanisms in response to climate change in Kenya”

Mark Nanyingi is one of six new Livestock-Climate Change CRSP International Gradaute Student Fellows. When he's not pursuing his education, Mark enjoys karaoke, traveling, and mountaineering. Here he is pictured on Mount Kenya.

Mark has been a veterinarian since 2004, working in both the field and in the lab with the Wellcome Trust, the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI), and for the Kenyan Veterinary Department. Mark was born and raised on the shores of Lake Victoria in Western Kenya where he helped to tend his grandfather’s cattle, which provided school fees for him and his siblings through the sale of milk. Mark’s childhood inspired in him a keen interest in the impact of climate change on livestock diseases. He plans to document the impact of climate change on livestock reproductive performance and the strategies and adaptations pastoralists are employing to cope with changes in livestock disease patterns. This information will contribute to improvements in livestock breeding and genetics.

“Any time you get in the same room a group of scientists, with a group of community members, with people that work in the civil society, there is kind of a magic that takes place,” says Robin Reid, in the opening seconds of the trailer for “Pastoralist Voices on Climate Change,” a documentary produced and directed by Joana Roque Depinho.

Roque De Pinho is a post-doctoral researcher at Instituto Superior de Ciências Sociais e Políticas, in Lisbon, Portugal. She also co-wrote, co-directed, and co-produced the award-winning documentary “Through our Eyes: A Maasai Photographic Journey” with Lindsey Simpson, who also works on the Voices project. Both women are graduates of Colorado State University. The film team also includes Nicholas Tapia, a CSU videographer and alumni.

The Pastoralist Voices documentary is produced in conjunction with the Livestock-Climate Change Collaborative Research Support Program’s Pastoral Transformations to Resilient Futures: Understanding Climate from the Ground Up (PTRF) project led by Dr. Kathleen Galvin and Robin Reid, from CSU. The Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research’s (CGIAR) Research Program on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS) has also lent support to the film.

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Data on factors that affect a region’s vulnerability to climate change (poverty, hunger, agricultural resource, etc.) are often dispersed and difficult to find. To aid researchers who study livestock systems and climate change, we have gathered the latest maps and datasets on factors such as poverty, hunger, and land use for seven countries: Nepal, Bangladesh, Tajikistan, Senegal, Mali, Ethiopia, and Kenya. This collection is far from comprehensive; however, a search is conducted every month to update the collection with new material.

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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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