Secure and Sustainable Pastoralism for Cimate-Resilient Livelihoods and Sustainable Food Systems

Lead Organization:

Reseau des Organisations d’Eleveurs et de Pasteurs de l’Afrique Billital Maroobe

Partner Organizations:

International Land Coalition, Réseau Billital Maroobé,ECOWAS, Eco-Sahel Mali, Africa Rangelands and Pastoralism Initiative, ROPPA, TI Hanane, Mboscuda, and FAO

Community of Practice:

West Africa

Countries:

Burkina Faso, Mali, and Niger

Duration:

3/2025—3/2028

Overview:

Pastoralism has proven to be an effective strategy for adapting to climate variations and producing nutrient-dense animal-source foods in areas where crops cannot grow. However, pastoralists face challenges such as land appropriation, restriction of movement, and lack of recognition as a sustainable livelihood. Despite these challenges, pastoralism contributes significantly to African countries’ economies, particularly in the arid regions of Sahelian West Africa. Pastoral land use systems in West Africa rely on shared resource use, mobility, and crop-livestock integration, which support ecosystem services, biodiversity, and carbon capture, storing up to 34% of terrestrial carbon (Bai and Cotrufo, 2022)

To address the challenges faced by pastoralists and promote the scaling up of their agroecological practices, it is crucial to improve land and rangeland management, secure access to land and territory, and resolve conflicts over land resources. Land governance and management play a central role in sustainable development, including food systems and the well-being of communities and ecosystems. The International Land Coalition (ILC) is a network that promotes people-centered land governance and recognizes the importance of enhancing access and securing collective tenure for pastoralists. The ILC works through multi-stakeholder platforms at national, regional, and global levels, such as the South Asia Pastoral Alliance, Central Asia Pastoralist Alliance, and Rangelands Initiative Africa.

The project aims to identify key pasto-ecological strategies and practices, analyze their deployment in contexts of increasing climatic and socio-economic stressors, and explore the necessary conditions for scaling up these practices. It will also develop case studies to position pastoralism as an agroecological solution. The project will collaborate with organizations and initiatives such as the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI), ECOWAS, Eco-Sahel Mali, Africa Rangelands and Pastoralism Initiative, ROPPA, TI Hanane, Mboscuda, and FAO to enhance engagement with government institutions and development partners.

Key initiatives that have worked on similar issues include the Africa Rangelands and Pastoralism Initiative, which focuses on making rangelands more secure in East and West Africa, and the Sustainable Rangeland Management Project (SRMP) in Tanzania, supported by ILC and its partners. These initiatives aim to improve land governance, land use planning, and livelihoods of pastoral communities. The Participatory Rangeland Management (PRM) project in Kenya and Tanzania has also impacted the lives and livelihoods of rangeland users through community engagement in income-generating activities.

In the West Africa region, the lead applicant Reseau Billital Maroobe (RBM) has implemented various initiatives that promote pastoralist empowerment and resilience, including data management systems, social safety net models, and projects to assist pastoralist families facing crises. RBM’s program “”Peaceful pastoral cross-border mobility and social stability in the Sahel”” aligns with ECOWAS policies and supports the strengthening of coordination in the Sahel region.

By collaborating with these organizations, networks, and initiatives, the project seeks to promote the recognition and scaling up of pastoralism as a climate-smart agroecological practice. This will contribute to resilience, climate adaptation, peace, and prosperity in the region.

Grant Aims:

By collaborating with the partner organizations, networks, and initiatives, the project seeks to promote the recognition and scaling up of pastoralism as a climate-smart agroecological practice. This will contribute to resilience, climate adaptation, peace, and prosperity in the region.

Outputs and Outcomes:

Expected outcomes:

  • Pasto-ecological practices, strategies and knowledge of pastoralists are documented as case studies, supported through visual documentation and land use and resource maps where possible
  • The collective power of pastoralists in agroecology for climate action is strengthened, and the capacities of pastoralist civil society organizations in supporting participatory rangeland management and improved land governance are harnessed.
  • Visibility and recognition of the diverse cultural heritage and knowledge, land use and rangelands management and the significant contribution of pastoralism as a climate solution is enhanced.
  • Pastoralist participation in public policy discourse and decision-making processes for rangeland governance, agroecology and climate actions is developed nationally and regionally

Project outputs:

Output 1. Assessment and mapping of pastoralist agro ecological practices for sustainable and resilient livelihoods and climate action. 

Activities: 

  • Identify and document agro ecological practices implemented by pastoralists through shared land use and mobility, especially at the intersection of crop and livestock farming.
  • Production of 3 country research reports and 3 policy briefs.
  • Dissemination of research findings at the regional level through a  national dialogue with land actors/administrators/farmers and pastoralists and policymakers, media engagement and presentations 
  • Development of tools tailored to scale pastoralists’ agroecological practices through improved land management and governance for climate-resilient communities by supplementing documentation of pastoral livelihood strategies with photos and videos, as well as maps of tenure, rangelands user rights and governance, including shifts and challenges in their implementations. 

 Output 2. Promotion of a community of practice for socializing results, cross-learning, advocacy and policy engagement.

Activities:

  • Expand and strengthen platforms at the national and regional levels to accelerate local and regional food systems transformations related to pastoral development resource use and access.
  • Organize a capacity-building workshop to strengthen national-level agroecology efforts, land governance, and pastoral platforms/associations/institutions and stakeholders for effective advocacy to enhance pastoralism integration in agroecology as also a climate action with a strong emphasis on the tenure rights critical to attaining it.
  • Organize donor and stakeholder engagements to showcase impacts and explore collaboration for project continuity in the long term.
  •  Organize a regional learning exchange of land governance, pastoralism, and agroecology for climate action.

Output 3. Advocate effective policies and strategies to scale pastoralists’ agroecological practices through improved land management and governance for climate change adaptation and resilience.

  • Develop outreach materials and advocacy messages drawing on insights from the case study documentation and mapping work.
  • Organize and high-level policy dialogues with local and national policymakers to address barriers in integrating pastoralism as an agroecological practice and land tenure rights as legal frameworks in the climate change discourse for increased political will, and call for the implementation of transhumance protocol.
  • Support the participation of pastoralists from the region in policy forums to deliberate and advance the implementations of the African Union’s Framework and Guidelines on Land Policy in Africa and the Policy Framework on Pastoralism, the ECOWAS Transhumance Protocol, and the National Pastoral Charter and Facilitate pastoralists’ participation in regional and global climate policy spaces such as the UNFCCC, UNCCD, Africa Climate Week