People Who Once Had 40 Cattle Are Left Only with Fences: Coping with Persistent Drought in Awash, Ethiopia

Laura Camfield (), Jennifer Leavy (), Senait Endale () and Tilahun Tefera ()
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Laura Camfield: University of East Anglia
Senait Endale: Addis Ababa University
Tilahun Tefera: Haramaya University

The European Journal of Development Research, 2020, vol. 32, issue 4, No 5, 889-905

Abstract: Abstract How to support those responding to environmental change in resource-constrained environments is central to literature on climate change adaption. Our research explores a gap in this literature relating to the negotiation of intra-household relations and resource access across different types of household in contexts of social and environmental transition. Using the example of the semi-arid Awash region in North-Eastern Ethiopia, which has experienced drought and alien plant invasion over the past decade, we explore how men and women use changes in household structures and relationships to adapt more effectively. We draw evidence from life histories with 35 pastoralists across three rural, peri-urban and urban communities. Using Dorward et al.’s taxonomy, we find Afar people are not only ‘stepping up’, but also ‘stepping out’: shifting from pastoralism into agriculture and salaried employment. As this often involves splitting households across multiple locations, we look at how these reconfigured households support pastoralists’ wellbeing.

Keywords: Livelihoods; Life histories; Pastoralism; Drought; Adaptation; Ethiopia (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
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DOI: 10.1057/s41287-019-00245-z

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