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

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.

“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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