Drylands and pastoralism

With research, training and advocacy, we help build climate resilience, productivity and equity in the dryland areas of East Africa, Ethiopia, the Sahel and Sudan

Also related to

Decentralising Climate Funds

Climate finance

Illustration of the outline of a herder herding their flock in front of buildings, with the words "Pastoralism in development" underneath

Pastoralism in Development: a learning journey – free Massive Open Online Course (MOOC)

Crops and cattle

Climate change and conflict - reframing the debate

Began April 2022

A seated woman talks animatedly to colleagues.

Remembering Nicole Kenton

15 February 2023

Dryland Sustainable Landscapes Impact Programme

September 2022 - ongoing

Man and woman fill up jerry cans with water from a fountain

Water access in the drylands – what’s not working?

Claire Bedelian
11 November 2022

Man, wearing red and black and holding a stick, walks with cattle

Valuing a traditional lifestyle: how Maasai herders are being paid to protect nature and combat climate change

Jo Anderson
19 October 2022

Related collections

Learn more about focused areas of IIED's drylands and pastoralism work

Drylands: building climate resilience, productivity and equity

A programme of work showing how IIED is building capacity to act on the implications of climate change for equitable and climate resilient development in the drylands

Mobilising money to where it matters

A programme of work helping to initiate a positive shift in the quantity and quality of climate finance reaching the local level to support locally-led solutions that address climate change, poverty and biodiversity loss

Publications

View more Drylands and pastoralism publications

22016g.pdf

Case study on approaches for supporting pastoralist groups facing climate change effects in Tanzania

20911g.pdf

Pastoralism in Uganda

20906g.pdf

Pastoralism and pastoral policy in Ethiopia

17763IIED.pdf

How have decentralised natural resource management institutions evolved over 20 years?

10208IIED.pdf

Farmer-herder conflict in sub-Saharan Africa?

7309IIED.pdf

Effects of Male Out-Migration on Women's Management of Natural Resources in the Sudan, The

7316IIED.pdf

Fields, Fallow and Flexibility: Natural resource management in Ndam Mor Fademba, Senegal. Results of a Rapid Rural Appraisal

7384IIED.pdf

Managing Land Tenure and Resource Access in West Africa: Proceedings of a regional workshop held at Goree, Senegal, November 18-22 1996

12502IIED.pdf

Pastoral Livelihoods in Ethiopia

9024IIED.pdf

Overestimating Land Degradation, Underestimating Farmers in the Sahel

Two women draw water from a well

Land, investment and migration: a portrait of village life in Mali

Event on 17 June 2020

Camilla Toulmin holding her new book

Climate change, conflict, migration, and land grabs: 35 years of village life in Mali

Insight, 19 March 2020

Men present findings on a large map at the front of a community meeting

How can we incorporate local knowledge into climate planning and policy? …Maps!

Insight, 17 January 2020

A pastoral women in Ethiopia

Beyond survival – rethinking safety nets for pastoralists in Ethiopia

Insight, 04 October 2018

Millions of Kenyans depend on the Ewaso Ngiro river and its tributaries, but over-abstraction and changing weather patterns are reducing river flows (Photo: Denis Onyodi/Kenya Red Cross Society, Creative Commons via Flickr)

Building research capacity for sustainable water and food security in drylands of sub-Saharan Africa (BRECcIA)

Archived Project

Hindou Oumarou Ibrahim speaking the World Economic Forum in 2017 (Photo: Jakob Polacsek/World Economic Forum, Creative Commons via Flickr)

Q&A: getting indigenous women's voices heard on the SDGs

Article, 15 May 2018

Water is conserved at a devolved climate finance project site in Zanzibar

Responding to climate change in Tanzania by strengthening dryland governance and planning

Archived Project

A man herds goats amid the dust

Responding to climate change in Kenya by strengthening dryland governance and planning

Active Project

Dlonguebougou, is a village of 1,500 people in the commune of N'Koumandougou, on the northern edge in central Mali (Image: Google Maps)

Long-term change in the Malian Sahel: portrait of Dlonguebougou village

Archived Project

A sunset in rural Mali: a new day is dawning towards securing the land rights of rural communities (Photo: Kurt Paterson, Creative Commons via Flickr)

Q&A: How a new law in Mali is securing villagers' rights to land

Article, 10 August 2017