Livelihood Diversification as Coping Strategy for Climate Change Affected Pastoralist Communities in Liban Zone of Rthiopian Somali Regional State (ESRS): The Case ofFiltu and Dollo-ado Districts.
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Date
2015-06
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Addis Ababa University
Abstract
Climate change is one of the vital issues which pose unprecedented cha llenges mankind is fac ing
nowadays. The im pact of climate change is seen throughout Ethiopia but the degree varies from
region to region. The pastorali st areas are the most vu lnerable place that the impact of changeattributed
problems is felt great ly. The objective of this research is to assess the effect of cl imate
change on the pastoralist livelihood system and exam ine li velihood di versifi cation as a coping
strategy for pastora list communities in Liban zone of Ethiopian Somali regional state.
The data of the research was collected from the field by using both qual itative and quantitative
techniques. The qualitative techniques employed are PRA tools such as key informan t
interviews, focus group di scuss ions and fi eld observat ions whi le the qu ant itat ive tool used was
household survey from 85 pastoral households from four sub-di stri cts selected by employing
appropri ate sampling procedure proportionatel y. Besides, relevant secondary data from books,
journals, scholar papers, and government and non government publications have been used to
supplement th e prim ary data. Then, the data was managed by using descriptive stati stics.
Frequencies, mean and cross tabu lat ion were the methods that has been employed for the data
analysis and presented in a form of graph s, tab les and charts.
The find ings of the research indicate that frequent droughts, low rai nfa ll , increasing temperature,
flood s, li vestock di sease as the main climate change-related problems experi enced by the
pastora li st household s. The study ident ifi ed that there was li vestock holding reduction due to the
recurrent droughts, li vestock di seases and high off-take in the area. It also shows that the most
vulnerab le segments of the community are children, women, elders and di sab led people. Fu rther,
the results show that pastorali st communities use wide range of local strategies to cope with
climate change. Rain-fed crop cu ltivation is pract iced as a complementary strategy though it is
not viable due to the low rain fa ll in the area. The results also indicate th at livelihood
diversification of both natural and non-natural li ve lihood act ivities are practiced in whi ch the
non-natural is promising in enhancing the adaptive capacit ies of the pastora li st communities.
Finall y, the study found out that the in stitut ional responses are ori ented towards emergency
assistance throu gh asset protection schemes. The study recommends that future intervention
needs to consider the new emerging trends as new pathways and treat pastoral development as
integral part of urban development rather than pure rural deve lopment in order to increase the
ada pti ve capacity of the pastoral community th rough long-term li ve lihood diversifi cation
programs in th e area.
Keywords: Climate Change, Livelihood Diversification, Adaptive Capacity
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Keywords
Climate Change, Livelihood Diversification, Adaptive Capacity