Drought has long been a characteristic feature of Africa’s drylands. Pastoralists who live in these regions prepare for and manage such times of scarcity in diverse ways, deploying their networks, skills and multiple forms of information to strategically navigate a rapidly evolving situation. Their capacities are often greatly obstructed – by disasters themselves, due to conflicts or other insecurities, and due to long-term historical marginalisation, negative perceptions or narratives and associated restrictive policies.
To overcome these challenges, early warning systems and a range of anticipatory and risk management activivities have been set up to help dryland communities better prepare for and manage such environmental and climate shocks. While these have had a broadly positive impacts, they still struggle to mitigate the impacts of the recurring shocks, like drought in Eastern Africa, that are becoming more common.
Drawing on research at the International Livestock Research Institute co-funded by the Supporting Pastoralism and Agriculture in Recurrent and Protracted Crises (SPARC) Programme and the Jameel Observatory for Food Security Early Action, the authors of this brief argue that these early actions must be better rooted in the knowledge systems of the local communities in drylands.
Pastoral responses to worsening conditions tend not to be mechanistic or inflexible, like many of the actions stimulated via early warning systems, but are rather enmeshed within far-reaching socio-economic networks, highly flexible and open to many different outcomes.
For greater impact, it is important that anticipatory actions find ways of centring and supporting these existing forms of drought preparation and mitigation, which are all made possible by deeply rooted local knowledge systems.
This brief highlights the need for a more tailored approach to anticipatory action in dryland contexts, explicitly oriented toward pastoral economies and livelihoods. It discusses policy implications relating to three key themes: variability and contextual specificity, flexibility and cross learning.
For anticipatory action to properly support pastoralist-led drought mitigation, broader early action protocols must better account for locally-specific needs and contexts – Samuel Derbyshire
Bringing pastoralists’ knowledge into anticipatory action must go beyond acknowledging the knowledge to really harnessing it in early action responses to a crisis – Tahira Mohamed