Tag Archives: IRIN

Biodiversity / Drylands / East Africa / Environment / Ethiopia / ILRI / Kenya / PA / Pastoralism / PLE / Tanzania / Vulnerability / Wildlife

‘Green land grabs’: Livestock herders access to rangelands is being lost for conservation purposes

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Serengeti tree (photo credit: Jeff Haskins). ‘In the great plains of northern Tanzania, close to the world-famous Serengeti National Park, a bitter row has broken out over an attempt to designate 1,500sqkm of Loliondo District as a game-controlled area. ‘The Maasai herdsmen in the area say their cattle cannot survive without access to traditional dry-season … Continue reading »

Agri-Health / Animal Diseases / CRP4 / Disease Control / Emerging Diseases / ILRI / MarketOpps / PA / Project / Report / Zoonotic Diseases

New findings of human-animal disease burden carried by world’s poor–IRIN and Reuters

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This transmission electron micrograph (TEM) depicted a number of Nipah virus virions that had been isolated from a patient’s cerebrospinal fluid. Nipah virus, related but not identical to Hendra virus, was initially isolated in 1999 upon examining samples from an outbreak of encephalitis and respiratory illness among adult men in Malaysia and Singapore (image credit: Microbe … Continue reading »

Drought / Drylands / Event / Food security / Mali / Niger / PA / Pastoralism / Vulnerability / West Africa

Recurrent drought can encourage, not kill, pastoralism

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Pastoralists take their livestock to sell at a market in Moussoro, Bahr El Ghazal Province, in northern Chad. In 2012 countries across the Sahel region are once again facing a serious food crisis. This ecologically fragile region is becoming increasingly vulnerable to insufficient rainfall, and fluctuating animal and food prices that are affecting millions of pastoral … Continue reading »

Agriculture / Article / Climate Change / Drylands / East Africa / Kenya / Livelihoods / LivestockFutures / PA / Pastoralism / PLE / Vulnerability / Women

Women playing key role in pastoralist livelihood diversification

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Maasai women in Kenya. Women are playing a key role in pastoralists’ diversification (picture credit: Konrad Glogowski on Flickr).  A feature story carried by IRIN this week highlights how women are playing an increasingly important role in pastoralist livelihoods diversification in Kenya. ‘Along a small seasonal stream in Ewaso Nyiro village in Narok, southwestern Kenya, Leleseina … Continue reading »

Drought / Drylands / East Africa / Ethiopia / Food security / Kenya / PA / Pastoralism / Somalia / Vulnerability

Climatic conditions linked to Horn’s 2011 drought persist–could spell another food crisis

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Somali dust storm (image on Flickr by Frank Keillor). ‘The climatic conditions linked to the drought in the Horn in 2011 have persisted, and some early warning officials say the aid community should brace themselves for a possible re-run of last year’s food crisis. . . . ‘According to the Famine Early Warning Systems Network … Continue reading »

Africa / Asia / CRP11 / Drought / Drylands / Food security / ILRI / Impact Assessment / Kenya / LivestockFutures / PA / Pastoralism / PLE / Vulnerability

Drought responses–New briefing paper on lessons still to learn

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‘Maasai herding’, painting by Kahare Miano (photo credit: ILRI/Dave Elsworth). A new 19-page briefing paper provides a synthesis of key lessons learnt from evaluations of relief and recovery responses to past slow-onset disasters—particularly drought, and food and livelihoods insecurity. The paper is intended for people working in relief and recovery operations for slow-onset disasters—those who … Continue reading »

Drought / East Africa / Ethiopia / Kenya / Nutrition (human) / PA / Pastoralism / Somalia / Vulnerability

When rains next fail to fall in the Horn of Africa, will we have failed again, too?

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Launch of the Humanitarian Appeal 2011 (photo on Flickr by United Nations Information Service / Jean-Marc Ferre). ‘Humanitarian agencies and donors agreed at an emergency meeting in Rome on 25 July that the response to the crisis must address the immediate needs of the desperate population and help build resilience to avert similar crises in the … Continue reading »

Climate Change / Drought / East Africa / Ethiopia / ILRI / Kenya / LivestockFutures / PA / Pastoralism / PLE / Somalia / Southern Africa / Vulnerability

Coping with weather variability–urgent in Africa whether or not it is due to climate change

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The worst drought in 60 or so years is biting deeper into countries in the Horn of Africa; artists from around the world painted canvases illustrating the human impact of climate change in their countries; 16 of these canvases were being exhibited at the UN Climate Negotiations in Poznan, Poland, in Dec 2008 (image credit: … Continue reading »

Drought / East Africa / Ethiopia / ILRI / Kenya / PA / PLE / Report / Somalia / Vulnerability

Massive livestock deaths in drought-ravaged Horn of Africa increase conflicts and close schools

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Food shortages are affecting some 10 million people in the drought-ravaged Horn of Africa in July 2011;  Oxfam reports that in some parts of Kenya and Ethiopia, 60 percent or more of the livestock herds have perished (image credit: UNHCR and USAID). >>> The humanitarian news service IRIN reports yesterday on the severe drought ravaging the … Continue reading »

Burundi / Central Africa / East Africa / Ethiopia / Food security / Kenya / PA / Rwanda / Somalia / Uganda

As pump prices rise, so do the costs of basic foodstuffs across eastern and central Africa

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Skyrocketing fuel and food prices are making Kenyans suffer; an undernourished child at the Kenya Coast drinks store-bought ‘maziwa lala’ (sour milk) (photo credit: ILRI/Elsworth). A policy brief published earlier this year by the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) reports the following. ‘Three years after the 2007–08 food crisis, the prices of basic food items … Continue reading »