Michael Morris

Confronting Drought in Africa’s Drylands

In response to a series of humanitarian crises, especially the drought-induced emergencies that occurred in the Horn of Africa in 2011 and the Sahel in 2012, national governments and the international development community have scaled up efforts to tackle the challenge of vulnerability in drylands through initiatives such as the global alliance for resilience (AGIR) - Sahel and West Africa and the global alliance for action for drought resilience and growth. This book focuses on what should be the focus of the next generation of interventions aimed at enhancing the resilience of dryland populations in the face of demographic, economic, environmental, and climatic change. As competition for resources intensifies, conflicts over land, water, and feed are likely to multiply, reducing the ability of governments, development agencies, and local communities to manage the impacts of droughts and other shocks. In this context, building resilience to droughts and other shocks is of paramount importance. This book focuses on the medium-term prospects for increasing the resilience to drought and other shocks of people living in dryland areas of East and West Africa. Over the longer run, structural transformation of the economy may generate opportunities for new livelihood activities that are less vulnerable to the impacts of droughts and other shocks. In the short to medium term, however, the key policy question concerns the extent to which current livelihoods can be made more resilient. In that context, this book examines two main areas of intervention, which are considered complementary: improving current livelihood activities; and strengthening social protection programs including safety nets.