Social-ecological typologies to climate variability among pastoralists in Namwala district - Zambia.
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Date
2018-02
Authors
Mweemba, Liberty
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
World Journal of Sociology and Anthropology
Abstract
Agriculture in Zambia has the potential to enhance economic growth and reduce poverty. Despite
its huge potential, the development of the livestock sector has been stifled by a number of
barriers, among them climate variability. The case of Namwala District in Southern Zambia
illustrates how pastoralists have developed multiple resilience strategies to climate variability,
livestock diseases and altered flooding of the Kafue River between two dams. The study was
exploratory in nature and used both qualitative and quantitative data to allow for descriptions of
given geographical phenomena. Results showed that population in cattle have increased
resulting into reduced area available for grazing per cow with respect to access to water and
pasture regimes. This implies that the Kafue Flats is prone to overgrazing in view of combined
increased floodplain agriculture, successive droughts and increase in the number of cattle. Thus,
climate variability and ecological dynamics have continued to threaten the resilience of
pastoralists. However, despite vulnerability to climatic variability (droughts and floods) and cattle
diseases, poor nutrition and husbandry practices, the pastoral typologies in Namwala have
survived, demonstrating resilience, dynamic and self-organizing adaptive behaviour in a rural
society. It was concluded that pastoralists have built up sufficient adaptive capacity to live with
change and uncertainties. Therefore, resilience building in pastoral social-ecological typology
and management of common property resources like the Kafue Flood Plain in Namwala, demands
preserving and nurturing existing social, economic and ecological components that enable
pastoralists to renew and reorganize livelihoods.
Keywords: Climate variability, Namwala, Pastoralists, Resilience, Social-ecological typologies, Vulnerability
Description
Journal Article
Keywords
Climate Variability--Zambia. , Agriculture--Climate change--Zambia. , Social-ecological typologies. , Pastoralists.