Sustainable adaptation under adverse development? - Climate Change Adaptation and Development: Transforming Paradigms and Practices - page 183

More than 80 per cent of the population in the Afar region relies on livestock
(camels, cattle, goats, sheep and donkeys) for their main livelihood (Davies
2006; FDRE 2008), based on a mobile, flexible utilization of seasonal pastures
(Davies and Bennett 2009). The livestock and their products (meat, milk and
butter) are used for subsistence and trade.
Two districts were selected for data collection in Afar (see Figure 10.1 ): Mille
(pop. 79,000) and Uwwa (pop. 47,000). The two are similar in terms of pastoral
livelihoods and frequent exposure to drought, but Mille is close to the Awash
River and farming schemes, whereas Uwwa is situated on the drier plains. A
dam and plantation are large-scale development interventions prominent in
Mille, but there has been very little intervention or even non-governmental
organization (NGO) presence in Uwwa.
The Mille site is located on the banks of the river, upstream from a dam,
and is described by the Afar as kallo or 'wet', a riverside area that supports
agro-pastoralists as well as pastoralists. Interviews in Mille were conducted
in a relatively settled village with permanent housing, a characteristic partly
attributable to a banana plantation that was in operation during the Derg regime
(1974-1987). Mille illustrates some of the dramatic changes to the vulnerability
context caused by development schemes. Since the plantation closed, the local
people have been forced to migrate more with their animals than formerly. The
nearby Dubti and Ayssaita districts are also home to a large sugar-cane plantation
(60,000 ha) based on irrigation provided by the (2009) damming of the Awash
River at Tendaho. An unintended consequence of the dam has been dramatic
flooding that has threatened livestock, grazing, farmland and possessions (as in
2010 and in 2012). The Mille site is also exposed to conflict with the pastoralist
clan Issa Somali. While such conflicts are nothing new, they have intensified
recently - an issue increasingly affecting grazing, security and livelihoods in large
parts of south-eastern Afar and forming part of recent political developments in
Ethiopia (Ali 2008; Hagmann and Mulugeta 2008).
Uwwa is part of the vast semi-dry grazing lands ( duka'a ) in the west of the
region, where herds mass-migrate for pasture when the rains come. Interviews
in Uwwa were carried out in four villages. The population is much more
dispersed and mobile than in Mille, relying on pastoralism to a greater extent.
Four group discussions were conducted with elders (male), women,
administrators and youth (male and female) in each site. Topics covered were
extreme weather and other important events, long-term changes, development
and institutions, and social interactions. The overview acquired from group
discussions was complemented with in-depth information gathered in 20 key
informant interviews at each site. Respondents were selected with the help of
local key informants in order to represent a balanced range of socio-economic
characteristics (men/women, young/old, rich/poor, including households
regarded as vulnerable). The local interviews were carried out in 2010 during a
severe drought.