Global COE Program - Kyoto University - In Search of Sustainable Humanosphere in Asia and Africa

 Although nomadic pastoralism has been treated and practiced as the most rational production system in the arid and semi-arid area of Asia and Africa for centuries, pastoralists have experienced dramatic environmental and socio-economic changes in the twentieth century. Frequent droughts, animal diseases, the loss of natural resources, human population growth, ethnic conflicts, political interference from both colonial and new independent governments, international and national development projects, and an encroaching market economy have all had a heavy impact on the circumstances of pastoralists.

 Based on the fieldwork with the Rendille pastoralists of Kenya, I examined how nomadic pastoralists in arid regions of East Africa have coped with complex natural and socio-economic changes and have improved their lives under the pressures of development. Data collected from 1998-2006 were analyzed and compared with previous studies of 1970s and 1980s from ecological and anthropological perspectives. The result shows that by maintaining the communal use of rangeland and water resources, reorganizing the dual residential system of settlement and herding camps, continuing high mobility of livestock at herding camps, and continuing the age system and distribution of labor in herding tasks, the Rendille have successfully maintained high mobility in their livestock herding practices. On the other hand, challenging new opportunities, such as developing new wells near permanent settlements and passing animals through settlements for water, have provided people living in the settlements with greater access to livestock products and improved the conditions for raising cattle. Furthermore, in recent years, cattle sales have allowed pastoralists to engage in the growing cash economy. The Rendille’s case study suggests that nomadic pastoralists have the ability to sustain their pastoral subsistence and to adapt to improve their lives. The ways in which they are challenging development models and developing new economic opportunities illustrate the changing dynamics of nomadic pastoralism in East Africa today.

My current Research Interests are follows:

1. Sustainable access-use-management of natural resources in arid and semi-arid area.
2. Long term climate change and human impact concern with desertification in arid area.
3. The adaptation strategy of nomadic pastoralists in a global age.

 I am now setting up a comprehensive and comparative study to examine the sustainability among various pastoral societies in Asia and Africa.

Photograph: Settling or moving, pastoralists are challenging new opportunities from the both.