Natural resource management and biodiversity conservation in the dry lands of Eastern and Central Africa

Dry lands biodiversity can be conserved by supporting the livelihoods of pastoralists’ who manage this biodiversity. Socio economic indicators such as food aid dependency and the increasing proportion of people no longer active in pastoralism, suggest economies are under pressure from various internal and external drivers such as climate change and human population growth. When left unaddressed, these pressures lead to poverty or alternative land uses, with diverse effects on biodiversity and pastoral livelihoods such as privatization of lands and encroachment of agriculture, processes leading to exclusion in the arid zone.