This paper studies variation in risk assessment by pastoralists in the arid and semi-arid lands of southern Ethiopia and northern Kenya. Despite superficial homogeneity among east African pastoralists, we show that there exists considerable within-group heterogeneity in their assessment of...

This paper introduces a systematic but simple approach to classifying and ordering sources of risk faced by subject populations. By distinguishing between the incidence and severity of subjective risk perceptions, this method enhances understanding of the nature and variation of risks faced...

Climatic variability exerts tremendous influence on the livelihoods and well-being of pastoralists in the Horn of Africa. Recent advances in climate forecasting technologies have raised the intriguing prospect of reasonably accurate forecasts of coming seasons’ rainfall patterns. We explore...

This paper studies the causal mechanisms behind poverty traps, building on evidence of nonlinear wealth dynamics among a poor pastoralist population, the Boran from southern Ethiopia. In particular, it explores the roles of adverse weather shocks and individual ability to cope with such shocks...

This chapter explores these issues in the Hurri Hills area of Marsabit District, where externally imposed changes in governance have combined with a World Bank Global Environmental Facility (GEF) project to alter local patterns of natural resource management. In particular, in the process of...

This paper provides an overview of the state of the livestock marketing channel in southern Ethiopia and northern Kenya, based mainly on secondary data, examines the relevant literature dealing with risk in livestock markets in sub-Saharan Africa, determines critical livestock marketing research...

The superficial homogeneity of pastoral populations in the east African rangelands has long prompted policies and projects based on stylized understandings of the threats facing these peoples. This paper uses the results of a participatory risk mapping exercise conducted among herders in the...