Pastoralist livelihood

Pastoralist livelihood

Generally, pastoralism is defined as a form of subsistence farming involving the keeping of domestic animals. It is a form of nomadic livelihood, primarily practised in the arid and semi-arid rangelands in the tropics. With the advances in agricultural systems, social stigma inflicted amongst nomadic people and climate change, the number of pastoralists is significantly declining. However, the economic contribution of pastoralism is recognized not only because of its contribution to livestock supply to both domestic and international markets; however, as a nutritional source to the nomadic communities.  There are various types of pastoralists, depending on the animals they keep. For example, the Zulu and Maasai from Africa keep cattle, Bedouin Arabs from the Middle East keep sheep and goats, those from Central Asia keep horses and Yaks, and reindeer by the pastoralists of Norway. With the increased complications in their form of lifestyle due to the various mentioned both social and environmental changes, this paper aims to explore the effects these changes cause on their lifestyle. Despite explaining the extent to which people’s lifestyle has become unstable environmental changes determine the likely plausible future for the arid and semi-arid ecosystems.

The effects of social and environmental change on pastoralism in semi-arid environments

Environmental changes in the rainfall and temperature patterns have resulted in changes in the pastoral systems of the pastoralists in the arid and semi-arid regions. Drought due to prolonged periods of lack of rainfall causes a lack of adequate water and pasture for the animals, hence the death of many animals. In a survey done in Tanzania on impacts of drought by Assouma, Hiernaux, Lecomte, Ickowicz, Bernoux,  and Vayssières, (2019) showed that approximately 200 cattle could die at once.  The drought does not affect just the animals, but the people as well due to the low production of milk and meat, which they rely on for their nutritional needs. Economically, it results in a drop in livestock prices due to the poor health of these animals. Drought is not their sole environmental worry but also soil erosion during the periods of short rains and diseases acquired from new grazing grounds as well (Niamir-Fuller, & Huber-Sannwald, 2020). Erosion makes it impossible for quality pastures to grow on the fields again whereas diseases such as the East Coast Fever that occur in the rainy seasons and the Bovine cerebral theileriosis prone in the dry seasons result in massive animal deaths.

Among the social changes posing a challenge to the pastoralists are issues such as loss of land ownership to administrative purposes such as an increase in agricultural lands and the establishment of conservation areas. This is as observed among the Maasai community in Northern Tanzania. Combined with the rise in population within the pastoral communities, fewer pastoral lands result in stress among the pastoralists due to an increase in conflicts amongst them as each strain to sustain his livestock. Also, they face a lot of social stigma due to their perceived failure to adopt urbanization as well as their association with the disease Tuberculosis (Sima, Belachew & Abebe, 2017). All these factors put together negatively affect the pastoralist communities by both their psychological impacts and also loss in livestock.

Extent of unsustainability

In response to an effort by the United Nations to put together integrated assessments and analyses on the sustainability of pastoralism and rangelands, a case study done in 2019 revealed the neglect and existing gaps in the knowledge on the sustainability of the two. Published academic data on pastoralism and rangelands represented only 0.001% of the total peer-reviewed literature available online (Davies & Hagelberg, 2019). From the available research, the level of lack of sustainability among the pastoralist communities in the arid and semi-arid regions has been established and found wanting. For instance, it is becoming increasingly clear that the communities are now unable to implement the same strategies they had been using to recover from drought-related shocks; hence their adaptive capacity is more strained (Pavanello, 2019). With the communities being more restricted in terms of access to key natural resources due to national policies such as the use of former pastoral lands for the creation of conservation areas. Also, to the increase in their limit in mobility, pastoralism is becoming more unsustainable; they remain the most vulnerable communities globally.

Likely plausible future for semi arid and arid ecosystems

The resilience of the arid and semi-arid ecosystems to not just drought but fire and grazing alike have been highlighted in various recent researches. Davis (2017) noted scholars are increasing doubt on the claim of desertification becoming a growing problem in these regions. This was as per her findings on her research on the desertification in Morocco. In which she noted many scholars are increasingly aware of the fact that there is a lack of substantial evidence on the claims of desertification not just in Morocco, but in various arid and semi-arid regions (Davis, 2017). They claimed desertification was a crisis narrative many governments make to attract international aid. In reality, the conditions experienced in these arid and semi-arid are nothing but a paradigm shift in an attempt for ecological balance.

Nonetheless, we cannot ignore the fact that climate change will likely exert many difficulties in the management of arid ecosystems. While regional forecasts remain a challenge, trends can be derived from general patterns, and with this knowledge, wet areas are anticipated to grow wetter, and the dry regions, drier (Assouma, Hiernaux, Lecomte, Ickowicz, Bernoux,  & Vayssières, 2019). More intense rainfall activities with no increase in its quantity, higher temperatures and increased carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere could mitigate various changes in the arid and semi-arid regions. Among them, varied soil water content hence reduced above-ground water production, and a potential change in the vegetative species, favouring woody shrubs (Tietjen & Jeltsch, 2017). While pastoralism is considered the prime activity in these regions, the changes would render the arid and semi-arid areas unfavourable for their’ habitation.  There is a growing recognition, however, of the role the pastoralist’s activities play in the contribution to the degradation process. Thus, the emphasis for the communities to embrace conservative practices, including sensitization and the impact on the environment.

In conclusion, both social and environmental changes have been impacting and affecting the lives of the pastoralists continue to change their lives. And with the conditions in the arid and semi-arid regions anticipated to get no better, policies to protect these vulnerable communities need to be put in place and implemented to protect their welfare. This community needs protection from the effects of both social and environmental change and especially, the gruelling consequences of desertification.