Sustainable adaptation under adverse development? - Climate Change Adaptation and Development: Transforming Paradigms and Practices - page 185

five respondents. They also described how other households in the community
had lost all their livestock and had to move in with relatives. Those who still
had many livestock (including camels to carry goods), and sons to lead the herds
to several places, were seen as relatively less vulnerable. Women (especially if
pregnant) and children were considered most vulnerable because they were
often unable to migrate with the animals. Several informants described how
children fell ill due to poor nutrition. In Mille, several informants had also lost
animals, but remittances and salary were more common as coping strategies in
addition to migrating with the livestock. Some households had received food
aid, although this was not commonly mentioned as a coping strategy.
Even if some people managed relatively better, animal losses were high also
among the better-off households, who lost livestock to weakness and disease
while migrating. Thus, although vulnerability was socially differentiated, animal
loss appeared near universal, threatening the foundations of the pastoralist
system. For example, a Mille herder (of average wealth) reported: 'Before [the
environmental changes] I had 50 camels, 200 goats and 30 cattle. Now I am left
with 2 camels and 20 goats.'
The in-depth interviews revealed that declining herds were often associated
with closely interlinked processes of changes in climatic and rangeland
conditions. More severe weather events, in particular less rain and higher
temperatures that led to droughts, were seen as directly contributing to the
decline in pasture production and water availability.
Analysis of precipitation between 1971 and 2011 (Viste et al. 2012) shows that
although there is no overall trend of declining rainfall for the Afar region, recent
years have been some of the driest of the past 40 years, and spring droughts
have occurred more frequently during the past decade. An Uwwa pastoralist
recounted: 'I have noticed how the environment is getting drier. Drought used
to be every 8 years - now it is one after the other. It means we have to migrate all
the time.' This indicates that even if overall precipitation may not be decreasing,
higher temperatures may increase evapotranspiration and hence aridity.
According to Mille respondents, increasingly hot summers are also leading
to less regeneration of trees. Trees are used as alternative sources of fodder
for browsing livestock (camels, goats and sheep) in times of drought. Some
indigenous tree species which are important sources of food and fodder during
drought, such as Dobera glabra , are now threatened in many areas (Tsegaye et al.
2007). Dam-induced floods and cutting trees for charcoal were also reported to
lead to a decline in trees. Uwwa informants were similarly concerned that the
combined effects of drought and cutting of trees seem to have led to preferred
tree species being replaced by invasive species that are not valuable as fodder
(e.g. Prosopis juliflora ), supporting previous observations by Shiferaw et al. (2004).
These environmental factors have been compounded by developmental and
political processes, undermining pastoral livelihoods and strategies to manage
environmental variability and producing a harsh vulnerability context. In Mille,
our key informants mentioned conflict with the neighbouring Issa groups and