Drylands and pastoralism blogs
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Remembering Adam Thiam
23 March 2021IIED senior fellow Ced Hesse reflects on the character and achievements of his friend and former colleague Adam Thiam.
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The Sahelian Great Green Wall: start with local solutions
4 February 2021The regreening of the Sahel region through a 'Great Green Wall' appears to be an ambitious plan to roll back the ‘advancing deserts’ of the Sahara. However, the expertise and interests of local farmers and pastoralists inhabiting the drylands seem to be absent (yet again) from this strategy
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Farmer-herder conflict: open your eyes, change the narrative, find solutions
10 November 2020New research uproots deep-set trend to help understand increasing violence in dryland Africa through the lens of ‘farmer-herder conflict’
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Climate change, conflict, migration, and land grabs: 35 years of village life in Mali
19 March 2020Camilla Toulmin’s book spanning the last 35 years explores the many forces and pressures facing people and their families in Dlonguébougou, Mali
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How can we incorporate local knowledge into climate planning and policy? …Maps!
17 January 2020In Kenya, participatory mapping makes it possible for indigenous knowledge to be included in planning and policy where for too long it was excluded, showing technology can bring people’s voices to power
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Beyond survival – rethinking safety nets for pastoralists in Ethiopia
4 October 2018Pastoralists in Ethiopia are adapting to climatic and political stresses and finding livelihood alternatives. But challenges they face remain poorly understood by policymakers
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Notes from the field – Dlonguebougou, Mali
11 April 2017Returning to the village in Mali she first studied 35 years ago, senior fellow Camilla Toulmin finds three changes remarkable
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Rainfall, grazing, families and land in Dlonguebougou
9 November 2016As part of research recording 35 years of change in one village in Mali, IIED senior fellow Camilla Toulmin highlights five key observations from a recent field visit
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How oceans dried out the Sahel
21 October 2016Alessandra Giannini challenges the view that local people were to blame for drought in the Sahel in the 1970s and 1980s – and explains how climate models now show the cause lies in the oceans
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The end of desertification?
29 September 2016Droughts in the Horn of Africa and the Sahel introduced the idea of desertification to a worldwide audience. However it can be argued that the concept of desertification has ceased to be analytically useful and distorts our understanding of social-environmental systems and their resilience. For better policy and governance, we need to reconsider the scientific justification for attempts to manage drylands by combating desertification
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Does climate change cause conflicts in the Sahel?
13 September 2016The Sahel is often recognised as a hotspot of violent conflict. As climate change becomes a leading global political issue, an emerging and increasingly powerful policy narrative presents global warming as a major driver. But how valid is this argument?
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Four challenges facing Mali amid efforts to rebuild
21 June 2016Mali's peace process aims to build a stable, secure future for the country. It has been slow-moving and many people fear it will fall apart unless it picks up political momentum. In addition, many communities face a range of challenges. A new research project aims to document the challenges and progress over the forthcoming year
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Local climate adaptation: bridging the funding gap
9 July 2015Communities often know how to adapt to changes in the climate and extreme weather events but they lack access and control over the funds which could help them put these solutions into practice
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The things that make me proud
22 June 2015Outgoing director Camilla Toulmin looks back at her early work on drylands and the three achievements while leading IIED that have made her most proud
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The economics of local adaptation in the dryland ecosystems of Isiolo County
22 April 2015Investments to support pastoralists in Northern Kenya to adapt to the changing climate pay immediate dividends – but the benefits are even greater if the indirect impacts can also be taken into account
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Camilla Toulmin to step down in 2015
29 October 2014IIED director Camilla Toulmin writes about her decision to step down after ten years, and outlines how the institute will search for her successor
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Hama Arba Diallo: the universal man
10 October 2014Youba Sokona pays tribute to his fellow Least Developed Countries Independent Expert Group member Hama Arba Diallo, who passed away in late September
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Eight insights from 30 years of visits to a village in Mali
18 July 2014Over the past three decades IIED director Camilla Toulmin has visited Dlonguebougou, a village in drought-prone central Mali, every two to three years. She charts the changes she has seen
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Celebrating the drylands
17 June 2014Understanding and collaboration on the drylands teaches us much about adapting to climate change
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Kenya: The importance of cross-border dialogue in the drylands
19 March 2014A meeting between two pastoralist groups has reduced tensions over grazing land and could lead to a cross-county platform for negotiating access to resources during droughts
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Mixing meteorology with traditions to improve climate forecasts for pastoralists
19 March 2014Tanzanian meteorologists and traditional weather forecasters in pastoralist communities are working together to develop a unified system of climate information.
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Community maps reveal rich resources of land policymakers think is empty
25 April 2013Misperceptions of the drylands as barren and empty are leading to their mismanagement. An IIED mapping project aims to create a clearer picture of their value to pastoralists.
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Behind the headlines in Mali
18 January 2013As French and Malian combat soldiers fight al-Qaeda-linked groups in Mali, the director of IIED reflects on her experiences of life in a village near Diabaly, close to the conflict.
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Why following the herd can be good for Kenyan media
11 October 2012Kenya’s pastoralists have an image problem. Their negative depiction by the Kenyan media ignores their knowledge and skills, which have led them to become a cornerstone of the country’s economy.
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What’s in a narrative? In policy, everything or nothing
28 September 2012Narrative 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.