Newly Evolving Pastoral and Post-pastoral Rangelands of Eastern Africa

Over the past two decades, the rangelands of Eastern Africa have experienced sweeping changes associated with growing human populations, shifting land use, expanding livestock marketing and trade, and greater investment by domestic and global capital. These trends have coincided with several large shocks that were turning points for how rangeland inhabitants make a living. As livelihoods in the region’s rangelands transform in seemingly paradoxical directions, away from customary pastoralist production systems, greater insight is required of how these transformations might affect poverty and vulnerability. This article reviews the state of what is known regarding directions of livelihood change in the rangelands of Eastern Africa, drawing on case studies of structural change in five settings in the region. It considers the implications of long-term change, as well as the emergence of very different livelihood mixes in pastoral rangelands, for efforts to reduce poverty and vulnerability in these places

Changes in the drylands of Eastern Africa: a review of evidence and data and their implications for efforts to strengthening resilience

Includes Final report, March 2016Changes in the drylands of eastern Africa These reports detail evidence and data of long-term changes in the drylands of eastern Africa and the implications of these for efforts to strengthen resilience within pastoral systems. The region covered includes Ethiopia, South Sudan, Uganda, Kenya, and Somalia. The reports were prepared for a study commissioned by the DFID East Africa Research Hub, and its aims were three-fold: 1. To synthesise evidence across scholarly and available materials on poverty, vulnerability, livelihoods and change in eastern Africa’s drylands; 2. To catalogue national and sub-national datasets on poverty, vulnerability, livelihoods and resilience; and 3. To identify and report on priority, long-term evidence-gaps as well as recommendations on future research and data collection. Led by Dr. Jeremy Lind and Professor Rachel Sabates-Wheeler, the studies are based on a review of over 400 scholarly and grey literature reports, as well as assessment of over 100 data-sets from the region. The main report details the overall findings of the evidence synthesis and mapping of data-sets. A technical note provides in-depth findings of the evidence synthesis and data mapping exercise as well as the methodology that was used. The technical note can be read alongside a catalogue of the evidence that was reviewed and data-sets. A case study report assesses evidence and data of long-term change in five pastoral systems in the region: the Somali zone of Ethiopia, the Borana Plateau in southern Ethiopia, the South Rift Valley in Kenya, the Karamoja region of Uganda, and Bahr al Ghazal in South Sudan.Dfi