On 18 February, Jameel Observatory regional research lead Samuel Derbyshire contributed to a GASL Webinar aiming to synthesize evidence to promote pastoral and grazing livestock systems. He synthesized key messages from SPARC and Observatory supported research that was recently published in a special issue of the ‘Disasters’ jounal and in a report on ‘the drylands of tomorrow.’
His first point was around the “Mega-Project” model where research shows that:
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Sustainable prosperity and peace in drylands rarely emerge from sweeping, externally driven mega-projects.
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Positive change is more likely to result from incremental, locally grounded investments.
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Supporting pastoralist livelihoods “as they are” — rather than attempting to replace or radically transform them — is often more effective.
His second point was around the ways that “progress” in drylands is measured where we argues that the use of standardized indicators (income, asset accumulation, poverty), while useful for cross-context comparison can obscure local realities, may misdiagnose problems in pastoral contexts, and may overlook how success is locally defined – for example, through social relationships and reciprocity, collective capacities and adaptive abilities.
His third point was around the importance of collective institutions that are central to resilience in drylands. These include shared management of rangelands, water, and pasture; systems of redistribution and mutual support; and governance arrangements for managing variability and instability. He argued that failing to invest in or support these collective institutions can weaken resilience. Research (including work from northern Kenya) shows that ignoring local collective systems — for example in water infrastructure — can undermine effective resource management.
His fourth point was around recognizing flexibility and dynamism. He argued that pastoralism is often treated as a uniform or static system, but in reality, it is highly diverse across contexts, it is economically entangled with wider markets and livelihoods, and it changes seasonally and over time. Similarly, indigenous knowledge is not a fixed set of traditions. It is dynamic, adaptive and continuously reinterpreted and reformulated.
Effective support for pastoralism must therefore recognize:
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Improvisation rather than rigid routines
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Networks and relationships that enable adaptation
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The evolving nature of knowledge systems
His fifth point was aroun the need to challenge negative narratives. He emphasized the power of dominant narratives about drylands and pastoralism that often portray drylands as inherently fragile, chronically vulnerable, and structurally deficient. He indicated that shows that vulnerability typically stems from historical marginalization, long-term neglect, as well as structural and systemic policy failures. Pastoral livelihoods themselves, he concluded, are not inherently deficient. Policy needs to move beyond deficit-based narratives and instead build on existing strengths.
Reflecting across the five key messages, he argued for fundamental shifts in how drylands pastoralism is approached:
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Invest in pastoral systems rather than replace them.
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Measure progress through locally meaningful definitions of success.
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Strengthen collective institutions.
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Recognize flexibility and dynamism.
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Challenge deficit narratives that shape policy and funding.
In short, sustainable resilience in African drylands depends less on transformation through large external interventions and more on supporting locally grounded, adaptive pastoral systems embedded within broader policy frameworks.
More:
Watch the video recording of his presentation
Download the report: ‘The drylands of tomorrow: Pathways to prosperity, peace and resilience’
Read the Disasters special issue: ‘Resilience in protracted crises: Navigating uncertainty in the drylands’