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Pastoralists’ role in contemporary Africa typically goes underappreciated and misunderstood by development agencies, external observers, and policymakers. Yet, arid and semi-arid lands (ASAL), which are used predominantly for extensive livestock grazing, comprise nearly half of the continent’s land mass, while a substantial proportion of national economies are based on pastoralist activities. Pastoralists use these drylands to generate income for themselves through the use of livestock and for the coffers of national trade and revenue agencies. They are frequently among the continent’s most contested and lawless regions, providing sanctuary to armed rebel groups and exposing residents ...
This Element outlines the origins and evolution of an international award-winning development intervention, index-based livestock insurance (IBLI), which scaled from a small pilot project in Kenya to a design that underpins drought risk management products and policies across Africa. General insights are provided on i) the economics of poverty, risk management, and drylands development; ii) the evolving use of modern remote sensing and data science tools in development; iii) the science of scaling; and iv) the value and challenges of integrating research with operational implementation to tackle development and humanitarian challenges in some of the world's poorest regions. This title is also available as Open Access on Cambridge Core.
Based on cutting-edge research by an interdisciplinary team of academics and policy analysts, this insightful and timely book considers the role of great power competition in what has come to be known as gray zone conflict. Taking the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine as a backdrop for some of its critical evaluation, it also examines US and NATO approaches to the management of escalation in asymmetric conflicts, and proposes innovative tools for managing crises in the future.
This interdisciplinary volume provides a comprehensive and rich analysis of the century-long socio-ecological transformation of Lake Naivasha, Kenya. Major globalised processes of agricultural intensification, biodiversity conservation efforts, and natural-resource extraction have simultaneously manifested themselves in this one location. These processes have roots in the colonial period and have intensified in the past decades, after the establishment of the cut-flower industry and the geothermal-energy industry. The chapters in this volume exemplify the multiple, intertwined socio-environmental crises that consequently have played out in Naivasha in the past and the present, and that continue to shape its future.
This volume analyzes the political economy of the successes and failures of the agricultural reform programs in Sub Saharan Africa. It shows that in almost all cases reforms lead to a supply response but their sustainability in face of shocks depend on the consensus about the reform and the subsequent rent distribution.
This book explores climate services, including projections, descriptive information, analyses, assessments, and an overview of current trends. Due to the pressures now being put on the world’s climate, it is vital to gather and share reliable climate observation and projection data, which may be tailored for use by different groups. In other words, it is essential to offer climate services. But despite the growth in the use of these services, there are very few specialist publications on this topic. This book addresses that need. Apart from presenting studies and the results of research projects, the book also offers an overview of the wide range of means available for providing and using climate services. In addition, it features case studies that provide illustrative and inspiring examples of how climate services can be optimally deployed.
This timely Handbook collates a range of evidence from top scholars in the field to help readers understand who microfinance reaches, how it helps, and why clients come back. It offers updated views on important concepts that enable a broader framework for understanding poverty and the corresponding financial needs of poor households.
There has been broad agreement in recent years that decentralization is key in achieving democracy at local level. Examining the successes, failures, possibilities and limitations of efforts across rural Kenya, this book analyses the socioeconomic and institutional prerequisites for successful decentralization, and the role of community groups and producer organizations in reducing poverty and promoting empowerment. Original empirical studies explore the fundamental elements of coherent, inclusive and ultimately effective decentralization, and how these can be applied to efforts across the African continent and beyond.
This book uses two international frameworks—the Millennium Development Goals and the Hyogo Framework for Action, a program focused on disaster risk management—to study the key trends in the region in terms of disaster incidence, sources of vulnerability and social and economic challenges. As both frameworks draw to a close, international debate is taking place during the period 2012–2015 on their current progress. This book seeks to help readers understand the process better. The chapters are written by eight independent internationally based authors. Collectively, they have extensive regional experience in the areas of disaster risk management and climate change as well as working in academia, research, consultancy, the UN and international agencies, government and the NGO sector. The analysis presented benefits from their varied backgrounds in medicine, architecture, economics, engineering, planning, social studies, development studies and political science. Throughout the book, relevant examples, drawn from the region, are included to ‘earth’ the project in the harsh realities of risk and disaster impact.