Skip to main content

Advertisement

SpringerLink
Log in

From cattle to camels: trajectories of livelihood adaptation and social-ecological resilience in a Kenyan pastoralist community

  • Original Article
  • Published:
Regional Environmental Change Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

In drylands across the globe, natural resource-dependent societies are experiencing rapid rates of environmental change as well as transforming social, economic, and political contexts. When novel adaptation strategies are adopted in response to changing climatic and environmental conditions, outcomes are often contingent on individual households’ adaptive capacities as well as broader environmental, social, economic, and political contexts. Understanding the heterogeneous and context-dependent outcomes of adaptation strategies is critical information for dryland sustainability policy, and is a burgeoning focus in climate adaptation science. We evaluated the 30-year process of novel adoption of camel husbandry by a group of Kenyan pastoralists, using a five-stage analytical approach that disaggregated dynamics in three ways: at the level of each individual who adopted camel husbandry; at the processual level by distinguishing assets that influenced decision-making, enactment, and streams of livelihood benefits; and at the temporal level by assessing changes in broader social-ecological contexts that occurred over the 30-year period. Our study revealed that adaptation unfolded as a heterogeneous, multi-phase process, contingent on individuals’ different sources of adaptive capacity utilized at different junctures in their adaptation experience, as well as on temporal shifts in the broader social-ecological context. Synthesizing the findings using a multi-dimensional vulnerability framework, we concluded that because of inequality in access to assets among households and a concomitant weakening of social norms of reciprocity and social cohesion, the livelihood adaptation is generating contradictory effects on household-level and community-level resilience.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4
Fig. 5

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • AAA (1998) "Code of ethics of the American Anthropological Association." Retrieved 15 march, 2006, from http://www.aaanet.org/profdev/ethics/upload/ethicscode1998.pdf

  • Adamson GCD, Hannaford MJ, Rohland EJ (2018) Re-thinking the present: the role of a historical focus in climate change adaptation research. Glob Environ Chang 48:195–205. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gloenvcha.2017.12.003

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Adger WN (2003) Social capital, collective action, and adaptation to climate change. Econ Geogr 79(4):387–404. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1944-8287.2003.tb00220.x

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Adger WN, Arnell NW, Tompkins EL (2005) Successful adaptation to climate change across scales. Glob Environ Chang 15(2):77–86. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gloenvcha.2004.12.005

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Adger WN, Barnett J, Brown K, Marshall N, O'Brien K (2012) Cultural dimensions of climate change impacts and adaptation. Nat Clim Chang 3:112–117. https://doi.org/10.1038/nclimate1666

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Adger WN, Dessai S, Goulden M, Hulme M, Lorenzoni I, Nelson DR, Naess LO, Wolf J, Wreford A (2009) Are there social limits to adaptation to climate change? Clim Chang 93(3):335–354. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10584-008-9520-z

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Agrawal A (2010) Local institutions and adaptation to climate change. In: Mearns R, Norton A (eds) Social dimensions of climate change: equity and vulnerability in a warming world. The World Bank, Washington, DC, pp 173–197

    Google Scholar 

  • Agrawal A, Perrin N (2009) Climate adaptation, local institutions and rural livelihoods. In: Adger NW, Lorenzoni I, O'Brien KL (eds) Adapting to climate change: thresholds, values, governance. Cambridge University Press, New York, NY, pp 350–367

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Amaru S, Chhetri NB (2013) Climate adaptation: institutional response to environmental constraints, and the need for increased flexibility, participation, and integration of approaches. Appl Geogr 39:128–139. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apgeog.2012.12.006

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Artur L, Hilhorst D (2012) Everyday realities of climate change adaptation in Mozambique. Glob Environ Chang 22(2):529–536. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gloenvcha.2011.11.013

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bagchi DK, Blaikie P, Cameron J, Chattopadhyay M, Gyawali N, Seddon D (1998) Conceptual and methodological challenges in the study of livelihood trajectories: case-studies in eastern India and western Nepal. J Int Dev 10(4):453–468. https://doi.org/10.1002/(SICI)1099-1328(199806)10:4<453::AID-JID538>3.0.CO;2-Q

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Barrett CB, Reardon T, Webb P (2001) Nonfarm income diversification and household livelihood strategies in rural africa: concepts, dynamics, and policy implications. Food Policy 26(4):315–331. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0306-9192(01)00014-8

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bebbington A (1999) Capitals and capabilities: a framework for analyzing peasant viability, rural livelihoods and poverty. World Dev 27(12):2021–2044. https://doi.org/10.1016/s0305-750x(99)00104-7

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bennett NJ, Blythe J, Tyler S, Ban NC (2016) Communities and change in the anthropocene: understanding social-ecological vulnerability and planning adaptations to multiple interacting exposures. Reg Environ Chang 16(4):907–926. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10113-015-0839-5

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bernard HR (2017) Research methods in anthropology: qualitative and quantitative approaches, 6th edn. Rowman & Littlefield, New York, NY

    Google Scholar 

  • Biggs EM, Bruce E, Boruff B, Duncan JMA, Horsley J, Pauli N, McNeill K, Neef A, Van Ogtrop F, Curnow J, Haworth B, Duce S, Imanari Y (2015) Sustainable development and the water–energy–food nexus: a perspective on livelihoods. Environ Sci Pol 54:389–397. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envsci.2015.08.002

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bishop E (2007) Schooling and the encouragement of farming amongst pastoralists in Tanzania. Nomadic Peoples 11(2):9–29

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bollig M (1992) East pokot camel husbandry. Nomadic peoples 31:34–50

    Google Scholar 

  • Carney D (2003) Sustainable livelihoods approaches: Progress and possibilities for change. Department for International Development London

  • Carr ER, Thompson MC (2014) Gender and climate change adaptation in agrarian settings: current thinking, new directions, and research frontiers. Geogr Compass 8(3):182–197. https://doi.org/10.1111/gec3.12121

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cecchi G, Wint W, Shaw A, Marletta A, Mattioli R, Robinson T (2010) Geographic distribution and environmental characterization of livestock production systems in eastern africa. Agric Ecosyst Environ 135(1):98–110. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.agee.2009.08.011

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Chambers R, Conway G (1992) Sustainable rural livelihoods: practical concepts for the 21st century. Institute of Development Studies (UK)

  • Chapin FS III, Carpenter SR, Kofinas GP, Folke C, Abel N, Clark WC, Olsson P, Smith D, Walker B (2010) Ecosystem stewardship: sustainability strategies for a rapidly changing planet. Trends Ecol Evol 25(4):241–249

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cinner JE, Huchery C, Hicks CC, Daw TM, Marshall N, Wamukota A, Allison EH (2015) Changes in adaptive capacity of Kenyan fishing communities. Nat Clim Chang 5:872–876. https://doi.org/10.1038/nclimate2690

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Colloff MJ, Martín-López B, Lavorel S, Locatelli B, Gorddard R, Longaretti P-Y, Walters G, van Kerkhoff L, Wyborn C, Coreau A, Wise RM, Dunlop M, Degeorges P, Grantham H, Overton IC, Williams RD, Doherty MD, Capon T, Sanderson T, Murphy HT (2017) An integrative research framework for enabling transformative adaptation. Environ Sci Pol 68:87–96. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envsci.2016.11.007

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Coulthard S (2008) Adapting to environmental change in artisanal fisheries—insights from a south Indian lagoon. Glob Environ Chang 18(3):479–489. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gloenvcha.2008.04.003

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Crane TA (2010) Of models and meanings: cultural resilience in social&#8211;ecological systems. Ecol Soc 15(4):19. https://doi.org/10.5751/ES-03683-150419

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dearing JA, Braimoh AK, Reenberg A, Turner BL, van der Leeuw S (2010) Complex land systems: the need for long time perspectives to assess their future. Ecol Soc 15(4). https://doi.org/10.5751/ES-03645-150421

  • Dilling L, Daly ME, Travis WR, Wilhelmi OV, Klein RA (2015) The dynamics of vulnerability: why adapting to climate variability will not always prepare us for climate change. Wiley Interdiscip Rev Clim Chang 6(4):413–425

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dougill AJ, Fraser ED, Reed MS (2010) Anticipating vulnerability to climate change in dryland pastoral systems: using dynamic systems models for the kalahari. Ecol Soc 15(2)

  • Duvat VKE, Magnan AK, Wise RM, Hay JE, Fazey I, Hinkel J, Stojanovic T, Yamano H, Ballu V (2017) Trajectories of exposure and vulnerability of small islands to climate change. Wiley Interdiscip Rev Clim Chang 8(6):e478.-n/a. https://doi.org/10.1002/wcc.478

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Eakin HC, Lemos MC, Nelson DR (2014) Differentiating capacities as a means to sustainable climate change adaptation. Glob Environ Chang 27:1–8. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gloenvcha.2014.04.013

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Elhadi YA, Nyariki DM, Wasonga OV (2015) Role of camel milk in pastoral livelihoods in Kenya: contribution to household diet and income. Pastoralism 5(1):8. https://doi.org/10.1186/s13570-015-0028-7

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ellis F (1998) Household strategies and rural livelihood diversification. J Dev Stud 35(1):1–38. https://doi.org/10.1080/00220389808422553

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Engle NL (2011) Adaptive capacity and its assessment. Glob Environ Chang 21(2):647–656. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gloenvcha.2011.01.019

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fawcett D, Pearce T, Ford JD, Archer L (2017) Operationalizing longitudinal approaches to climate change vulnerability assessment. Glob Environ Chang 45:79–88. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gloenvcha.2017.05.002

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Faye B, Bonnet P (2012). Camel sciences and economy in the world: Current situation and perspectives. Paper presented at the proc. 3rd ISOCARD conference. Keynote presentations. 29th January-1st February

  • Faye B, Chaibou M, Vias G (2012) Integrated impact of climate change and socioeconomic development on the evolution of camel farming systems. Br J Environ Clim Change 2(3):227–244

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fernández-Giménez ME, Batkhishig B, Batbuyan B, Ulambayar T (2015) Lessons from the dzud: community-based rangeland management increases the adaptive capacity of Mongolian herders to winter disasters. World Dev 68:48–65. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.worlddev.2014.11.015

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ford JD, McDowell G, Shirley J, Pitre M, Siewierski R, Gough W, Duerden F, Pearce T, Adams P, Statham S (2013) The dynamic multiscale nature of climate change vulnerability: an inuit harvesting example. Ann Assoc Am Geogr 103(5):1193–1211. https://doi.org/10.1080/00045608.2013.776880

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Franz TE, Caylor KK, Nordbotten JM, Rodriguez-Itubre RI, Celia MA (2010) An ecohydrological approach to predicting regional woody species distribution patterns in dryland ecosystems. Adv Water Resour 33:215–230. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.advwatres.2009.12.003

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fraser ED, Dougill AJ, Hubacek K, Quinn CH, Sendzimir J, Termansen M (2011) Assessing vulnerability to climate change in dryland livelihood systems: conceptual challenges and interdisciplinary solutions. Ecol Soc 16(3):3

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fraser EDG (2007) Travelling in antique lands: using past famines to develop an adaptability/resilience framework to identify food systems vulnerable to climate change. Clim Chang 83(4):495–514. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10584-007-9240-9

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fratkin EM (2004) Ariaal pastoralists of Kenya: studying pastoralism, drought, and development in Africa’s arid lands. Pearson Education, Inc., Boston

    Google Scholar 

  • Galvin KA (2009) Transitions: pastoralists living with change. Annu Rev Anthropol 38:185–198

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Galvin KA, Reid RS, Behnke RH, Hobbs NT (2008) Fragmentation in semi-arid and arid landscapes: consequences for human and natural landscapes. Springer, Dordrecht

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • German LA, Unks R, King E (2017) Green appropriations through shifting contours of authority and property on a pastoralist commons. J Peasant Stud 44(3):631–657. https://doi.org/10.1080/03066150.2016.1176562

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Goldman MJ, Riosmena F (2013) Adaptive capacity in Tanzanian Maasailand: changing strategies to cope with drought in fragmented landscapes. Glob Environ Chang 23(3):588–597. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gloenvcha.2013.02.010

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Herren UJ (1990) Socioeconomic stratification and small stock production in mukogodo division, kenya Research in Economic Anthropology 12(111–148)

  • Herren UJ (1991) “Droughts have different tails”: response to crises in mukogodo division, north Central Kenya, 1950s-1980s. Disasters 15(2):93–107

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Hinkel J (2011) “Indicators of vulnerability and adaptive capacity”: towards a clarification of the science–policy interface. Glob Environ Chang 21(1):198–208. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gloenvcha.2010.08.002

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hobbs NT, Galvin KA, Stokes CJ, Lackett JM, Ash AJ, Boone RB, Reid RS, Thornton PK (2008) Fragmentation of rangelands: implications for humans, animals, and landscapes. Global Environmental Change-Human and Policy Dimensions 18(4):776–785. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gloenvcha.2008.07.011

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Homann S, Rischkowsky B, Steinbach J, Kirk M, Mathias E (2008) Towards endogenous livestock development: Borana pastoralists' responses to environmental and institutional changes. Hum Ecol 36(4):503–520

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hülsebusch C, Kaufmann B (2002) Camel breeds and breeding in northern Kenya–an account of local camel breeds of northern Kenya and camel breeding management of turkana, rendille, gabra and Somali pastoralists. Kenya Agricultural Research Institute, Nairobi, Kenya

    Google Scholar 

  • Jane KN, Mwangi JG, Nkurumwa AO (2013) Climate change challenges and adaptation strategies among the pastoralits of laikipia county Kenya. Int J Agric Ext 1(1):20–30

    Google Scholar 

  • Kagunyu AW, Wanjohi J (2014) Camel rearing replacing cattle production among the borana community in Isiolo county of northern Kenya as climate variability bites. Pastoralism 4(1):13. https://doi.org/10.1186/s13570-014-0013-6

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kates RW, Travis WR, Wilbanks TJ (2012) Transformational adaptation when incremental adaptations to climate change are insufficient. Proc Natl Acad Sci 109(19):7156–7161. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1115521109

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kaye-Zwiebel E, King E (2014) Kenyan pastoralist societies in transition: varying perceptions of the value of ecosystem services. Ecol Soc 19(3):17. https://doi.org/10.5751/es-06753-190317

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • King EG (2008) The dynamics of sansevieria intermedia in degraded kenyan drylands: regime shift or resilience mechanism? Proceedings of the VIIIth International Rangeland Congress, Hohhot, China

    Google Scholar 

  • Krätli S (2008) Cattle breeding, complexity and mobility in a structurally unpredictable environment: the wodaabe herders of Niger. Nomadic Peoples 12(1):11–41. https://doi.org/10.3167/np.2008.120102

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lesorogol CK (2008) Contesting the commons: Privatizing pastoral lands in kenya. University of Michigan Press, Ann Arbor, MI

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Letai J, Lind J (2013) Squeezed from all sides: changing resource tenure and pastoralist innovation on the Laikipia Plateau, Kenya. In: Catley A, Lind J, Scoones I (eds) Pastoralism and development in Africa: dynamic change at the margins. Routledge, New York, pp 164–176

    Google Scholar 

  • Li W, Huntsinger L (2011) China’s grassland contract policy and its impacts on herder ability to benefit in Inner Mongolia: tragic feedbacks. Ecol Soc 16(2). https://doi.org/10.5751/ES-03969-160201

  • López-i-Gelats F, Contreras Paco JL, Huilcas Huayra R, Siguas Robles OD, Quispe Peña EC, Bartolomé Filella J (2015) Adaptation strategies of Andean pastoralist households to both climate and non-climate changes. Hum Ecol 43(2):267–282. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10745-015-9731-7

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • López-i-Gelats F, Fraser EDG, Morton JF, Rivera-Ferre MG (2016) What drives the vulnerability of pastoralists to global environmental change? A qualitative meta-analysis. Glob Environ Chang 39:258–274. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gloenvcha.2016.05.011

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Maru YT, Stafford Smith M, Sparrow A, Pinho PF, Dube OP (2014) A linked vulnerability and resilience framework for adaptation pathways in remote disadvantaged communities. Glob Environ Chang 28:337–350. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gloenvcha.2013.12.007

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • McDowell JZ, Hess JJ (2012) Accessing adaptation: multiple stressors on livelihoods in the bolivian highlands under a changing climate. Glob Environ Chang 22(2):342–352. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gloenvcha.2011.11.002

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • McLean JE (2015) Beyond the pentagon prison of sustainable livelihood approaches and towards livelihood trajectories approaches. Asia Pacific Viewpoint 56(3):380–391. https://doi.org/10.1111/apv.12097

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • McPeak JG, Doss CR (2006) Are household production decisions cooperative? Evidence on pastoral migration and milk sales from northern Kenya. Am J Agric Econ 88(3):525–541. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-8276.2006.00877.x

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Nelson DR, Adger WN, Brown K (2007) Adaptation to environmental change: contributions of a resilience framework. Annu Rev Environ Resour 32:395–419. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev.energy.32.051807.090348

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Nelson DR, de Souza Filho FDA, Finan TJ, Ferreira S (2014) Trajectories of adaptation: a retrospectus for future dynamics social-ecological systems in transition Springer, pp 121–136

  • Nelson DR, Lemos MC, Eakin H, Lo Y-J (2016) The limits of poverty reduction in support of climate change adaptation. Environ Res Lett 11(9):094011. https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/11/9/094011

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Niamir-Fuller M (1998) The resilience of pastoral herding in sahelian africa. In: Berkes F, Folke C (Eds) Linking social and ecological systems: Management practices and social mechanisms for building resilience Cambridge University Press, New York, pp 250–284

  • Nielsen JØ, Reenberg A (2010) Cultural barriers to climate change adaptation: a case study from northern Burkina Faso. Glob Environ Chang 20(1):142–152. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gloenvcha.2009.10.002

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Nori M, Davies J (2007) Change of wind or wind of change. Climate change, adaptation and pastoralism, WISP, IUCN: Nairobi

  • NVivo qualitative data analysis Software Version 10 (2012). QSR International Pty Ltd.,

  • O'Brien KL, Wolf J (2010) A values-based approach to vulnerability and adaptation to climate change. Wiley Interdiscip Rev Clim Chang 1(2):232–242. https://doi.org/10.1002/wcc.30

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Özesmi U, Özesmi SL (2004) Ecological models based on people’s knowledge: a multi-step fuzzy cognitive mapping approach. Ecol Model 176(1):43–64. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolmodel.2003.10.027

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Papageorgiou E, Kontogianni A (2012) Using fuzzy cognitive mapping in environmental decision making and management: a methodological primer and an application. In: Young S (ed) International perspectives on global environmental change. InTech, pp 427–450

  • Popa F, Guillermin M, Dedeurwaerdere T (2015) A pragmatist approach to transdisciplinarity in sustainability research: from complex systems theory to reflexive science. Futures 65:45–56. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.futures.2014.02.002

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Prober SM, Colloff MJ, Abel N, Crimp S, Doherty MD, Dunlop M, Eldridge DJ, Gorddard R, Lavorel S, Metcalfe DJ, Murphy HT, Ryan P, Williams KJ (2017) Informing climate adaptation pathways in multi-use woodland landscapes using the values-rules-knowledge framework. Agric Ecosyst Environ 241:39–53. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.agee.2017.02.021

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Quinn CH, Ziervogel G, Taylor A, Takama T, Thomalla F (2011) Coping with multiple stresses in rural South Africa. Ecol Soc 16(3). https://doi.org/10.5751/ES-04216-160302

  • Ravera F, Iniesta-Arandia I, Martín-López B, Pascual U, Bose P (2016) Gender perspectives in resilience, vulnerability and adaptation to global environmental change. Ambio 45(3):235–247. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13280-016-0842-1

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Reenberg A, Birch-Thomsen T, Mertz O, Fog B, Christiansen S (2008) Adaptation of human coping strategies in a small island society in the SW Pacific—50 years of change in the coupled human–environment system on Bellona, Solomon Islands. Hum Ecol 36(6):807–819. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10745-008-9199-9

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ribot J (2010) Vulnerability does not fall from the sky: toward multiscale, pro-poor climate policy. In: Mearns R, Norton A (eds) Social dimensions of climate change: equity and vulnerability in a warming world. The World Bank, Washington, DC, pp 47–74

    Google Scholar 

  • Ribot JC, Peluso NL (2003) A theory of access. Rural Sociol 68(2):153–181

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Roncoli C (2006) Ethnographic and participatory approaches to research on farmers' responses to climate predictions. Clim Res 33(1):81–99

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Roncoli C, Crane T, Orlove B (2009) Fielding climate change in cultural anthropology. In: Crate SA, Nuttall M (eds) Anthropology and climate change: from encounters to actions. Routledge, New York, NY, pp 87–115

    Google Scholar 

  • Rutagwenda T, Lechner-Doll M, Kaske M V, Engelhardt W, Schultka W, Schwartz H (1989). Adaptation strategies of camels on a thornbush savannah pasture: comparison with other domestic Animals CIHEAM,

  • Sallu SM, Twyman C, Stringer LC (2010) Resilient or vulnerable livelihoods? Assessing livelihood dynamics and trajectories in rural Botswana. Ecol Soc 15(4)

  • Schwartz HJ, Dioli M (eds) (1992) The one-humped camel in eastern Africa. A pictorial guide to diseases, health care and management. Verlag Josef Margraf

  • Scoones I (1998) Sustainable rural livelihoods: a framework for analysis. University of Sussex, Brighton, UK

    Google Scholar 

  • Scoones I (2009) Livelihoods perspectives and rural development. J Peasant Stud 36(1):171–196. https://doi.org/10.1080/03066150902820503

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Scoones I (2015) Sustainable livelihoods and rural development. Practical Action Publishing Rugby, United Kingdom

  • Seifu E (2011) Analysis on the contributions of and constraints to camel production in Shinile and Jijiga zones, eastern Ethiopia. J Agr Environ Int Dev (JAEID) 103(3):213–224

    Google Scholar 

  • Sendzimir J, Reij CP, Magnuszewski P (2011) Rebuilding resilience in the sahel: regreening in the Maradi and Zinder regions of Niger. Ecol Soc 16(3):1

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Seo SN, McCarl BA, Mendelsohn R (2010) From beef cattle to sheep under global warming? An analysis of adaptation by livestock species choice in South America. Ecol Econ 69(12):2486–2494. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolecon.2010.07.025

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Simonet G, Fatorić S (2016) Does “adaptation to climate change” mean resignation or opportunity? Reg Environ Chang 16(3):789–799. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10113-015-0792-3

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Singh P, Nair A (2014) Livelihood vulnerability assessment to climate variability and change using fuzzy cognitive mapping approach. Clim Chang 127(3–4):475–491. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10584-014-1275-0

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Smit B, Wandel J (2006) Adaptation, adaptive capacity and vulnerability. Glob Environ Chang 16(3):282–292. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gloenvcha.2006.03.008

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sperling L (1987) The adoption of camels by Samburu cattle herders. Nomadic Peoples 23:1–17

  • Spielman DJ, Ekboir J, Davis K (2009) The art and science of innovation systems inquiry: applications to Sub-Saharan African agriculture. Technol Soc 31(4):399–405. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.techsoc.2009.10.004

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Tanner T, Lewis D, Wrathall D, Bronen R, Cradock-Henry N, Huq S, Lawless C, Nawrotzki R, Prasad V, Rahman MA, Alaniz R, King K, McNamara K, Nadiruzzaman M, Henly-Shepard S, Thomalla F (2014) Livelihood resilience in the face of climate change. Nat Clim Chang 5(23):23–26. https://doi.org/10.1038/nclimate2431

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Thornton P, Van de Steeg J, Notenbaert A, Herrero M (2009) The impacts of climate change on livestock and livestock systems in developing countries: a review of what we know and what we need to know. Agric Syst 101(3):113–127

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Triomphe B, Floquet A, Kamau G, Letty B, Vodouhe SD, Ng'ang'a T, Stevens J, van den Berg J, Selemna N, Bridier B, Crane T, Almekinders C, Waters-Bayer A, Hocdé H (2013) What does an inventory of recent innovation experiences tell us about agricultural innovation in Africa? J Agric Educ Ext 19(3):311–324. https://doi.org/10.1080/1389224X.2013.782181

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Unks RR (2017). Access, livelihood-vulnerability, and landscape-level vegetation change in Laikipia, Kenya. Unpublished dissertation, University of Georgia, Athens, GA

  • Valdivia C (2004) Andean livelihood strategies and the livestock portfolio. Cult Agric 26(1–2):69–79. https://doi.org/10.1525/cag.2004.26.1-2.69

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Vanwindekens FM, Stilmant D, Baret PV (2013) Development of a broadened cognitive mapping approach for analysing systems of practices in social–ecological systems. Ecol Model 250:352–362

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Voinov A, Kolagani N, McCall MK, Glynn PD, Kragt ME, Ostermann FO, Pierce SA, Ramu P (2016) Modelling with stakeholders – next generation. Environ Model Softw 77:196–220. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envsoft.2015.11.016

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Vollan B (2012) Pitfalls of externally initiated collective action: a case study from South Africa. World Dev 40(4):758–770. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.worlddev.2011.09.016

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Walker BH, Holling CS, Carpenter SR, Kinzig AP (2004) Resilience, adaptability and transformability in social-ecological systems. Ecol Soc 9(2):5 [online] URL: http://www.ecologyandsociety.org/vol9/iss2/art5

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Watson EE, Kochore HH, Dabasso BH (2016) Camels and climate resilience: adaptation in northern Kenya. Hum Ecol 44(6):701–713. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10745-016-9858-1

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wise RM, Fazey I, Stafford Smith M, Park SE, Eakin HC, Archer Van Garderen ERM, Campbell B (2014) Reconceptualising adaptation to climate change as part of pathways of change and response. Glob Environ Chang 28:325–336. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gloenvcha.2013.12.002

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zheng Y, Byg A, Thorsen BJ, Strange N (2014) A temporal dimension of household vulnerability in three rural communities in Lijiang, China. Hum Ecol 42(2):283–295. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10745-013-9633-5

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

We are very grateful to many Maasai and villagers of Koija for the kindness and hospitality. We especially thank George Naiputari and Makredi for their great help in relating with informants and the community, interviews’ logistics and translation, and for their support and interest.

Funding

This work was supported by the US National Science Foundation (Grant No. 1313659) and conducted under Government of Kenya Research Clearance Permit No: NACOSTI/P/15/3076/6235.

Author information

Author notes

  1. Elizabeth G. King

    Present address: Odum School of Ecology, University of Georgia, 140 E. Green Street, Athens, GA, 30602, USA

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Center for Integrative Conservation Research, University of Georgia, Athens, GA, 30602, USA

    Gabriele Volpato & Elizabeth G. King

  2. University of Gastronomic Sciences, 12042, Pollenzo/Bra (Cuneo), Italy

    Gabriele Volpato

  3. Warnell School of Forestry & Natural Resources, University of Georgia, Athens, GA, 30602, USA

    Elizabeth G. King

Authors
  1. Gabriele Volpato
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Elizabeth G. King
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Elizabeth G. King.

Additional information

Editor: Chinwe Ifejika Speranza

Publisher’s Note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Volpato, G., King, E.G. From cattle to camels: trajectories of livelihood adaptation and social-ecological resilience in a Kenyan pastoralist community. Reg Environ Change 19, 849–865 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10113-018-1438-z

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10113-018-1438-z

Keywords

Search

Navigation