International Institute for Environment and Development - Pastoralism

What’s in a narrative? In policy, everything or nothing

Mike Shanahan — Fri, 28 Sep 2012 09:38:38 +0000

Narrative means story, right? But not if you work on development policy, where narrative means something quite different: a framework for action, but one that can create problems if left to roll like a stone down a hill on its own.

I discussed narratives this week with my IIED colleague Ced Hesse and two other experts on land, livestock and livelihoods: Saverio Krätli and Jeremy Swift.

We wanted to understand the policy narratives that describe pastoralism in Kenya, India and China, three countries where policies work against the mobility that herding communities use to take advantage of water and pasture that are patchily distributed in space and time.

The dominant policy narrative casts pastoralism as a backward, irrational livelihood that takes place in fragile unproductive ecosystems and creates a catalogue of problems for non-pastoralists. The narrative frames pastoralism as something that should be replaced. The pastoralists themselves would of course disagree, and research suggests that they will have a critical role to play – if allowed to – as our climate changes.

With funding from the Ford Foundation, we had gathered with specialists from the three countries to consider how modified narratives could help policymakers see the benefits of mobile pastoralism and how the sector can support climate-resilient development. But first we had to be sure we all understood narratives.

A scholar called Emery Roe developed the concept of development policy narratives in 1991, and it was his work that we drew on in our conversation.

According to Roe, such narratives are strategic simplifications that help policymaking in the face of situations whose complexity can instil policy paralysis. They generate consensus around major policies and make political action possible.

As simplifications, narratives are fundamentally different from scientific theories. Science, like narratives, needs to spread to become accepted, but science operates within a formal system that validates its findings, through publication of evidence, peer-review and replication.

"Scientific facts are falsifiable," said Jeremy Swift. "Narratives are not. They escape the checks and balances of science."

Narratives need the support of scientific authority but at the same time need to avoid the complexity and conditional nature of scientific knowledge and this is why they exist. As Krätli pointed out: “scientific knowledge could never be as convincing as a good narrative.”

Narratives can be fairly relevant representations of the situation they are designed to address. But like wide-angle camera lenses that capture a huge range of variety, the scenarios they produce are increasingly distorted at the edges.

"For those parts of reality that happen to be at the edges of the narrative -- like nomadic pastoralism in global narratives about agricultural development, food security, climate change -- the distortion can be so strong that the simplifying power of the narrative can be turned on its head," said Krätli. "It generates order at the centre of its focus but disorder at the edge."

The idea that economies of scale are always good, for instance, might be true for agriculture in a uniform and stable environment. But when resources such as water and pasture become available in unpredictable concentrations -- as in the rangelands where pastoralists herd their livestock -- then investments designed to capture economies of scale and static production systems can be a bad idea.

For pastoralists though, mobility is what solves problems. It is part of a rational, well-defined economic strategy that ensures higher productivity than static herding.

The media have a big role to play in correcting the many misconceptions that policymakers have about mobile pastoralism. But there is also a need for a modified policy narrative, which is what the project underway now hopes to develop.

This modified narrative might show how governments can make sensible decisions in the face of climate change and population growth by investing in pastoralism and, critically, in pastoralists on their own terms. Its true test will be if it creates a positive outcome to the more conventional narrative – the story of how pastoralists fare in the future.

Food aid is needed desperately — but ultimately it's not the answer

Guest Author — Mon, 25 Jul 2011 14:44:22 +0000

The images of Africans affected by the drought in Somalia, Ethiopia and Kenya paint a grim picture — thousands of people are again in desperate need and are being provided with food aid to allow them to survive. But what the photographs fail to show is the reason why so many people have reached this state of destitution.

Sustainable way of living disrupted by modern world system

Underneath the high visibility famine lies an age-old and sustainable way of living that has been disrupted by a modern world system, and whose ability to adapt to the cycle of drought has been severely undermined.

An estimated 20 million people live in the dryland areas of the Horn of Africa; nomads, or pastoralists, who own livestock and feed themselves, their communities and the regional economy with milk, meat and other livestock products.

Pastoralists have lived in the harsh and erratic dryland environments of the Horn for centuries, surviving its regular and repeated cycle of droughts through their unique production strategy that depends on mobility.

While a farmer waits for the rain to arrive, a pastoralist moves to where the rain has already been — feeding their camels, cows, sheep or goats on the new grazing opportunities and accessing the water sources. Complex social systems that cross national borders, and the reserving of key areas of land for drought periods, have traditionally ensured that pastoralists have adapted to the extreme climatic variability they face.

Pastoralist land increasingly taken over by agriculture and commercial farms

But in recent decades vast areas of the pastoralist land in the Horn of Africa have been taken over by agriculture and large-scale commercial farms — often in the key strategic riverine areas previously reserved for times of drought. This has undermined the whole system and reduced yields of milk and meat.

When livestock are forced to stay in the same place, they also become more susceptible to disease. With the loss of so much of their grazing areas many pastoralists now prefer to herd camels, which can survive on the remaining degraded habitats, need less frequent watering and can also feed at night when it is cooler. The conflict and insecurity of the region further restricts livestock mobility and affects the long-distance livestock trade, particularly from Somalia.

In periods of drought, when milk yields are low, pastoralists will sell their livestock for grain, but as far as possible will always retain a core breeding stock for building up their herds when the situation improves. When food prices rocket and livestock prices plummet at the same time, many will lose all their assets. Without any social support they are forced to drop out of pastoralism altogether and become a drain on the state rather than a contribution to it.

Food aid: temporary solution

Food aid provides a temporary solution when drought hits, saving the lives of the pastoralists, but it often fails to save their livelihoods.

Fortunately there are a number of initiatives that seek to protect herds before they are decimated by drought — vaccinating livestock, providing temporary food and water for animals, or selling the animals for slaughter before their condition deteriorates. Development agencies are also making important progress in understanding and managing the cycle of drought — recognising that in the Horn of Africa pastoralists are always expecting, surviving or recovering from a drought.

When this drought is over the pastoralists who have not dropped out of the system will need support from national governments and the international community to rebuild their herds and secure the future of the production system on which so many depend. So while food aid is crucial in a crisis, more imaginative solutions are needed to stop the cycle repeating itself.

Helen de Jode is the editor of Modern and Mobile: The future of livestock production in Africa's drylands, published by IIED and SOS Sahel.

This blog was first published on guardian.co.uk

Diffa: Les premiers matins du monde (Arabic - English subtitles)

znnng — Tue, 14 Jun 2011 14:48:08 +0000

This video tells the stories of pastoralists in landlocked Niger in West Africa and how they have coped with increasing drought.

See also:

Pastoralism videos/Vidéos pastoralisme

Diffa; Les premiers matins du monde (Arabic - English subtitles)

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Diffa: Les premiers matins du monde (Fulani - English subtitles)

znnng — Tue, 14 Jun 2011 14:48:08 +0000

This video tells the stories of pastoralists in landlocked Niger in West Africa and how they have coped with increasing drought.

See also:

Pastoralism videos/Vidéos pastoralisme

Diffa; Les premiers matins du monde (Fulani - English subtitles)

General:

Themes:

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Diffa: Les premiers matins du monde (Hausa - English subtitles)

znnng — Tue, 14 Jun 2011 13:39:12 +0000

This video tells the stories of pastoralists in landlocked Niger in West Africa and how they have coped with increasing drought.

See also:

Pastoralism videos/Vidéos pastoralisme

Diffa; Les premiers matins du monde (Hausa - English subtitles)

General:

Themes:

Tags:

Pastoralism Journal: Research, Policy and Practice

Nicole Kenton — Fri, 04 Feb 2011 10:50:54 +0000

Pastoralism is a global phenomenon. From the semi-arid tropics to the Arctic, it is practiced in environments as varied as deserts and savannahs, marshes, high meadows, plains and tundra. By sourcing material worldwide, Pastoralism promotes the comparative analysis of this varied and widespread production system.

Why a new journal?

Scientific papers on pastoralism are currently scattered in a wide variety of journals, and there is no central forum where researchers, policy-makers and practitioners can confront each other’s ideas and discuss the implications of their work. Pastoralism now provides this forum - publishing interdisciplinary and peer-reviewed articles on extensive livestock production systems throughout the world.

The journal publishes research and field experience that influences policy and practice, to improve the welfare of pastoral people, better conserve the environments in which they live, and contribute to broad economic development. Pastoralism is committed to publishing material not just by researchers but also by administrators and field workers who would not normally contribute to a scientific journal.

Publications:

Pastoralism Journal Flyer

Pastoralism - Research, policy and practice, Vol 1 No 2

Pastoralism - Research, policy and practice, Vol 1 No 1

Project links:

Pastoralism Journal on SpringerOpen website

Pastoralism Journal on World Initiative for Sustainable Pastoralism (WISP) website

Themes:

Pastoralism

Background:

The first two issues (Volume 1, No. 1 and No. 2, 2010) were published by Practical Action Publishers (UK). From now on, the journal will be published by SpringerOpen (Germany). The journal will be open access online. The penetration of this journal into remote district offices, government research establishments and NGOs without internet access, will be ensured by free distribution of printed copies, made possible by funding support from the Institute for Environment and Development (IIED) and the World Initiative for Sustainable Pastoralism (WISP) at the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN).

The editors are Carol Kerven and Roy Behnke, at Odessa Centre UK which initiated and owns the journal.

Contact:

mailto:carol_kerven@msn.com

Diffa: the morning light

Camilla Toulmin — Tue, 08 Jun 2010 13:02:43 +0000

The ancient tradition of pastoral nomadism in landlocked Niger in West Africa is a source of huge cultural wealth in one of the poorest countries on earth. But with Niger’s eastern reaches suffering 35 years of drought — an entire generation’s worth — local pastoralists have faced a massive challenge. Diffa, les premiers matins du monde is a video that tells the stories of many of these pastoralists and how they have coped with increasing drought.

The work of Marie Monimart, Steve Anderson, and Isabelle Lemaire, this 10-minute film brings to life the challenges faced by different pastoral groups in Niger’s Diffa region, and what the future holds. We’re using video material increasingly to communicate ideas and inform the audiences we seek to reach, so do tell us what you think of this new film by leaving your comments below.

Diffa is a hot and arid region. Neighbouring Lake Chad has dried up over recent decades to a small fraction of its former size, due to less rainfall and water being diverted to irrigate fields of cotton. This has left destitute thousands of people reliant on the capture and smoking of fish around its margins. For some herders, however, the retreat of the lake’s shoreline has brought positive benefits, since what had formerly been underwater is now covered in thick pasture.

The highly mobile camel herders of the region do well on this grazing, and on the shrubs and bushes that are becoming established in the old lake bed. Mobile phones have given them access to market prices and informed them of where to find good water supplies across the region, while having part of their family settled in town gives them access to new knowledge and opportunities.

For others, the repeated droughts of recent decades have brought deeper poverty and they face great difficulty in getting back on their feet as viable herders. With the loss of their cattle, many have been forced to settle, with just a few head of sheep and goats. Mobility is essential to keeping a family’s livestock assets in good condition, and able to make best use of the patchy vegetation and water offered by this region.

So the outlook is poor for them, particularly given the projected changes in climate. These indicate that the region is set to get hotter as a result of global warming and, while it’s uncertain whether rainfall will increase or decline, it is likely to come in more intense storms. With dry spells becoming more intense, pastoral herders are going to need their mobility more than ever to ensure they can take advantage of good grazing wherever it occurs.

Luckily, the government of Niger has recognised in law the rightful need of pastoral herders to move about in search of water and grazing, unlike some governments who have tried to get herders to settle down and become ‘modern. IIED’s recently published book Modern and Mobile shows clearly why mobility makes sense in dry regions of the world, to minimise environmental stress and maximise use of a fleeting resource. Its numerous photos also demonstrate the remarkable ingenuity with which different groups adapt and innovate as a means to survive and prosper.

Camilla Toulmin, director IIED

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Further reading on dryland ecosystems, pastoral livelihoods and economies, and the impacts of climate change can be found in the following projects:

Pastoralism videos/Vidéos pastoralisme

Total Economic Value of pastoralism

Pastoral livelihoods and climate change

Supporting pastoral mobility in East and West Africa

Pastoral livelihoods and climate change

Nicole Kenton — Fri, 05 Feb 2010 19:12:45 +0000

Publications:

Climate change and pastoralists: Investing in people to respond to adversity by Ced Hesse and Lorenzo Cotula

Reports and papers:

Recherche sur les stratégies d'adaptation des groupes pasteurs de la région de Diffa, Niger oriental by Steve Anderson and Marie Monimart

Film and audio:

'Ngaynaaka: Herding Chaos'. A film documenting the economic exploitation of environmental unpredictability by Wodaabe herders in Niger. The film presents in the lives of two families the rationale underpinning their mobility patterns: the harvesting of unstable concentrations of nutrients on the range by carefully built teams of cattle versed in the ‘art’ of feeding selectively, and the proactive and systematic creation of economic value rather than mere survival.

A promotional 5 minute DVD trailer has been produced by Saverio Krätli in support to fund raising for the remaining part of the project: View trailer

View a selection of short videos exploring the impact of climate change on pastoralists

Themes:

Pastoralism

Regions:

Africa

Background:

Pastoralists live in a context of environmental uncertainty and have developed a diverse range of strategies, institutions and networks to exploit this unpredictability and risk to their advantage. Livestock mobility and the carefully controlled breeding of animals to feed selectively on the best quality pastures highly dispersed in time and space are two of the more critical strategies. Despite their proven value, these strategies are still poorly understood and integrated in policy design.In order to provide sound policy advice, it is critical now to gain a better understanding of these strategies in light of increasing climatic variability, growing competition for land, rising population and decentralisation.

Project objectives:

The project is working on two pieces of research.

First, a better understanding of how different categories of pastoral people in eastern Niger are adapting in practice to climate change. Field work has been completed documenting the differentiated impact of climate change on six different pastoral communities, the strategies they are using to respond and which of these are successful and why. Central to the research is also gaining an understanding of the role of politics and the extent to which Niger’s policy environment helps build the resilience of local communities to adapt to climate change and to what degree differences of gender, ethnicity and residence impact on communities’ capacities to adapt.

Second, the production of a film documenting the economic exploitation of environmental unpredictability by Wodaabe herders in Niger. The film presents in the lives of two families the rationale underpinning their mobility patterns: the harvesting of unstable concentrations of nutrients on the range by carefully built teams of cattle versed in the ‘art’ of feeding selectively, and the proactive and systematic creation of economic value rather than mere survival.
(view trailer: 'Herding Chaos' by Saverio Krätli)

Partners:

Secrétariat Permanent du Code Rural, Niger

Contact:

Ced Hesse

Highlight text:

An IIED project in Niger is looking at how pastoral people in eastern Niger are adapting to climate change and producing a film on how Wodaabe herders in Niger adapt to the environmental unpredictability of their daily lives.

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