Increased access to water could pose a long-term threat to nomadic pastoralists.

Improving access to water in extremely arid regions of sub-Saharan Africa can help nomadic pastoralists in the short term. However, in the long term, this could have serious consequences for their livelihoods. This is demonstrated by new research from Uppsala University published in Climate change.

“When you increase access to water in drylands, often as an emergency measure, it becomes easier for pastoralists to stay there longer. However, this in turn increases the demand for water and pasture for their animals, to a level that is not sufficient. “There is none, and this risks having a serious impact on the population and reducing its resilience to drought and climate change,” says Giuliano Di Baldassarre, professor of environmental analysis at the University of ‘Uppsala.

Millions of farmers in sub-Saharan Africa are affected by drought, which often leads to water crises, famine and migration. Drought is particularly disastrous in arid areas, which typically experience large variations in precipitation, with short periods of rain followed by periods of drought lasting several months. The communities in these areas are mainly made up of nomadic herders. Seasonal herd movements are the traditional strategy used by nomadic pastoralists around the world to cope with drought.

In recent times, initiatives to improve water infrastructure in drylands have become more common. One of the strategies is to make deep wells and boreholes to extract water. This is often an emergency measure intended to save the lives of animals in the event of drought.

In a new study led by Uppsala University, researchers investigated the impact of new water sources on nomadic communities. They used qualitative anthropological research methods in large arid areas of various African countries, and quantitative methods, such as data analysis and socio-hydrological modeling, in Angola.

In their research, the researchers compared general conditions in drylands in terms of drought magnitude, access to water, soil conditions and population size. They looked at statistics from the years 1954 to 2018 on drilling, shallow and deep wells created, when they were done and for what purpose.

Most of the hydraulic infrastructure created had multiple functions and was intended for domestic use, livestock use and irrigation. In 2021, researchers followed eight nomadic communities in Angola and conducted in-depth interviews with 24 focus groups.

The study shows that when access to water improves, thanks to new wells and boreholes, water needs increase further. Humans and livestock need more water, and animals need more pasture.

“It is not possible to guarantee access to water and the problems of livestock breeders are likely to be even more serious if they settle more permanently in the same place. Our study shows that measures aimed solely at increasing water supplies, without effective management, risks threatening the resilience of nomadic communities to drought and climate change, at a time when drought is expected to worsen in many regions over the coming decades “, says Di Baldassarre.