JIGJIGA, Ethiopia — In his late 60s, Abdi Ahmed gears up the strength for a new day as a nomad moving around with his cattle and 19 children. The pastoralist life, where he wanders eastern Ethiopia looking for water and grazing grounds for his livestock, is his only source of income to support the family. “Animal rearing is all I know,” Ahmed says. “I’m happy with it since it’s the way my father raised me. And it’s the only skill and knowledge I have for a living.” Over the years, Ahmed’s way of life has changed drastically as frequent droughts have taken a heavy toll on pastoralists in the Somali region of southeastern Ethiopia. Some have been forced to seek new jobs or side hustles as water or pasture become scarce. “In 2021, we faced one of the worst droughts. For 14 months, it didn’t rain at all,” Ahmed tells Mongabay. Many of his livestock died; from more than 100 head of cattle, Ahmed now has just 12. Abdi Ahmed, in his late 60s, continues his pastoral life in Guyo Kebele, Somali Region, supporting his 19 children through a lifetime of nomadic herding. Image by Solomon Yimer. As dry weather conditions intensify, studies suggest that mixing traditional knowledge with innovative strategies can help pastoralists adapt to droughts and floods in the region. Since time immemorial, pastoralists have depended on Indigenous strategies including mating calendars, herd mobility and diversification, traditional rotational grazing systems, and weather forecasting to prepare for drought conditions.…This article was originally published on Mongabay
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