Participatory analysis of vulnerability to drought in three agro-pastoral communities in the West African Sahel

Drought is one of the major climatic hazards impacting on the various sectors including crop and livestock in the West African Sahel. Pastoral and agro-pastoral communities in the region are regularly affected by drought, with vulnerability differing with gender, age, wealth status (access to cropla...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Ayantunde, Augustine A., Turner, M.D., Kalilou, A.
Format: Journal Article
Language:Inglés
Published: Springer 2015
Subjects:
Online Access:https://hdl.handle.net/10568/68491
_version_ 1855531141031788544
author Ayantunde, Augustine A.
Turner, M.D.
Kalilou, A.
author_browse Ayantunde, Augustine A.
Kalilou, A.
Turner, M.D.
author_facet Ayantunde, Augustine A.
Turner, M.D.
Kalilou, A.
author_sort Ayantunde, Augustine A.
collection Repository of Agricultural Research Outputs (CGSpace)
description Drought is one of the major climatic hazards impacting on the various sectors including crop and livestock in the West African Sahel. Pastoral and agro-pastoral communities in the region are regularly affected by drought, with vulnerability differing with gender, age, wealth status (access to cropland and livestock endowment), geographic location, social networks, and previous exposure to drought. Effective interventions require regular monitoring of vulnerability to drought, for which various quantitative and qualitative approaches exist. Qualitative assessments of vulnerability rely on participatory approaches with emphasis on involvement of the local communities in the analysis of their vulnerability to climate-induced stresses. In this study, we used a participatory approach to assess the vulnerability of three agro-pastoral communities in Niger to drought. The specific objective of this study was to assess the strength and limitation of a participatory vulnerability approach using a case study. According to the respondents in all the study sites, the incidence of drought has become more frequent in the last three decades compared to previous decades (before 1970). The impacts of drought on livelihoods according to the participants included food shortage, famine, forced sale of livestock to buy grain, decimation of livestock herds, and massive exploitation of woody plant species. The main weakness of participatory vulnerability assessments is the scalability of findings, as they are often location-specific. Therefore, participatory assessment should be complemented with more rigorous quantitative approaches to enhance applicability of the results to other locations with similar contexts.
format Journal Article
id CGSpace68491
institution CGIAR Consortium
language Inglés
publishDate 2015
publishDateRange 2015
publishDateSort 2015
publisher Springer
publisherStr Springer
record_format dspace
spelling CGSpace684912025-12-08T10:11:39Z Participatory analysis of vulnerability to drought in three agro-pastoral communities in the West African Sahel Ayantunde, Augustine A. Turner, M.D. Kalilou, A. climate change livestock pastoralism Drought is one of the major climatic hazards impacting on the various sectors including crop and livestock in the West African Sahel. Pastoral and agro-pastoral communities in the region are regularly affected by drought, with vulnerability differing with gender, age, wealth status (access to cropland and livestock endowment), geographic location, social networks, and previous exposure to drought. Effective interventions require regular monitoring of vulnerability to drought, for which various quantitative and qualitative approaches exist. Qualitative assessments of vulnerability rely on participatory approaches with emphasis on involvement of the local communities in the analysis of their vulnerability to climate-induced stresses. In this study, we used a participatory approach to assess the vulnerability of three agro-pastoral communities in Niger to drought. The specific objective of this study was to assess the strength and limitation of a participatory vulnerability approach using a case study. According to the respondents in all the study sites, the incidence of drought has become more frequent in the last three decades compared to previous decades (before 1970). The impacts of drought on livelihoods according to the participants included food shortage, famine, forced sale of livestock to buy grain, decimation of livestock herds, and massive exploitation of woody plant species. The main weakness of participatory vulnerability assessments is the scalability of findings, as they are often location-specific. Therefore, participatory assessment should be complemented with more rigorous quantitative approaches to enhance applicability of the results to other locations with similar contexts. 2015-12 2015-10-13T12:07:50Z 2015-10-13T12:07:50Z Journal Article https://hdl.handle.net/10568/68491 en Open Access Springer Ayantunde, A.A., Turner, M.D. and Kalilou, A. 2015. Participatory analysis of vulnerability to drought in three agro-pastoral communities in the West African Sahel. Pastoralism: Research, Policy and Practice 5(13):1-11.
spellingShingle climate change
livestock
pastoralism
Ayantunde, Augustine A.
Turner, M.D.
Kalilou, A.
Participatory analysis of vulnerability to drought in three agro-pastoral communities in the West African Sahel
title Participatory analysis of vulnerability to drought in three agro-pastoral communities in the West African Sahel
title_full Participatory analysis of vulnerability to drought in three agro-pastoral communities in the West African Sahel
title_fullStr Participatory analysis of vulnerability to drought in three agro-pastoral communities in the West African Sahel
title_full_unstemmed Participatory analysis of vulnerability to drought in three agro-pastoral communities in the West African Sahel
title_short Participatory analysis of vulnerability to drought in three agro-pastoral communities in the West African Sahel
title_sort participatory analysis of vulnerability to drought in three agro pastoral communities in the west african sahel
topic climate change
livestock
pastoralism
url https://hdl.handle.net/10568/68491
work_keys_str_mv AT ayantundeaugustinea participatoryanalysisofvulnerabilitytodroughtinthreeagropastoralcommunitiesinthewestafricansahel
AT turnermd participatoryanalysisofvulnerabilitytodroughtinthreeagropastoralcommunitiesinthewestafricansahel
AT kaliloua participatoryanalysisofvulnerabilitytodroughtinthreeagropastoralcommunitiesinthewestafricansahel