New perspectives on climate-resilient drylands development

Living in some of the world’s most variable and unpredictable environments, people in the drylands have long learnt how to live with and harness this variability to support sustainable and productive economies, societies and ecosystems. Although drylands have their problems, these are often caused more by applying poor policies than by drylands' low, erratic and variable rainfall.

But the problem is not the dryness and variability themselves; it is how policy accommodates the variability and dryness. 

For too long, policymakers have ignored the experience and expertise of the people of the drylands with dire consequences. It is time for a new policy narrative – one that is based on a good understanding of dryland ecology and economics, that is built on local knowledge, informed participation and the wisdom of customary institutions and that aims for more equitable outcomes for the people who live there. 

From 2012 to 2016, IIED worked with partners to pull together evidence to help build this new narrative; to show that, with supportive policies, drylands can be sustainable and highly productive ecosystems where pastoralists manage uncertainty and maximise productivity. 

Funded by the Ford Foundation, we worked with China's University of Peking, India's Revitalizing Rainfed Agriculture and Rainfed Livestock Networks, and Kenya’s Ministry of State for Development of Northern Kenya and other Arid Lands to find new perspectives on climate-resilient drylands development.

This project researched the assumptions, arguments and evidence national governments and global institutions use to support drylands policy. Our findings included: 

• A report on the three-day workshop that reviewed the research findings and identified the key components of an overarching narrative and set of arguments to articulate a new perspective of climate resilient drylands development
• An in-depth analysis of China's rangeland management policies that have caused large-scale changes for pastoral societies and rangeland ecosystems
• A study of media perceptions and portrayals of pastoralists in Kenya, India and China, which identifies significant gaps and inter-country differences in the media's portrayal of pastoralists, and
• A series of policy briefs on India, Kenya, China and media coverage. 

We consolidated this work into a book, which helped us design a more progressive framework based on both sound scientific evidence and local experience.