Pastoralists need access to resources to adapt to climate change

Climate change will affect different groups in different ways. While many researchers predict that pastoralist groups could be the first to lose their livelihoods due to climate change, they could also be the best equipped to adapt. To respond effectively, they need access to strategic resources, particularly rangelands.

Researchpublished by the International Institute for Environment and Development, inthe UK, considers the strategies that pastoralists use to cope with the scarceand variable availability of key resources. The research then looks at theirrights to access resources and how climate change might affect these rights.

Pastoralism ispracticed on 25 percent of the world’s land area and supports 200 millionhouseholds worldwide. It contributes significantly to manynational economies and provides vital ecological services.

Pastoralists area minority group in many countries, however, and often occupy contested marginallands along national borders. This means they struggle to secure access to landand other important resources. Many political processes and developmentinterventions have also created challenges for pastoralists. For example,schemes that nationalise and privatise land have redefined their territoriesand affected how they use resources.

• Many governments view pastoralists as economicallyinefficient and socially backward and have accusedthem of damaging the environment.
• Many development policies and practiceshave focused on making nomadic pastoral communities stay in one place, forexample by trying to integrate pastoral economies into national markets.
• These policies have largely failed and haveweakened traditional pastoral systems.

In response, pastoralistshave historically relied on their mobility and ability to negotiate resource-userights with other communities. There is also an increasing awareness amongpolicymakers that pastoralism is environmentally sustainable. Despite this, fundingto support pastoralists is declining.  

Climate changeis likely to create further challenges for pastoralists. Most climate changemodels predict an increase in the extreme events associated with moreirregular, unpredictable weather, for example more frequent floods anddroughts. This will affect pastoralists, who depend on access to different eco-zones(for example arid lands and wet pastures) throughout the year. However, thismight also favour them, given their natural livelihood adaptability to thesefactors.

To helppastoralists make use of their skills to adapt to climate change, developmentinterventions must address the political factors that make them vulnerable.Rather than invest in costly technical solutions, it would be more effective tostrengthen pastoralists’ ability to claim their rights to resources.

Keyrecommendations include:

• ensure pastoral communities (and othergroups) have access to well-managed eco-zones at different times
• help them benefit from the expanding livestocktrade at regional and global levels, for example through better access totelecommunications, cross-border movements, animal health care, fair pricing(such as organic, environmental friendly or nutritional labelling), and bettercrop quality
• improve alternative income-generatingopportunities for pastoralists to reduce the pressure on pastoral lands
• minimisethe costs to pastoral communities of fossil fuel exploitation on their landswhile ensuring they benefit from any profits.

Changing social and economic relations within pastoralsocieties, and between pastoralists and other communities, will also play amajor role in the ability of pastoralist families to adapt to climate change.