Photo by angelokarabo053 on Unsplash
This post was first published by Uppsala University.
New research from Uppsala University looks at water access in extremely arid parts of sub-Saharan Africa among nomadic livestock farmers. With a time dimension looking at short and long term effects, the research shows that increased water access can help farmers in the short term, but have negative consequences for their livelihoods in the longer term. The paper has been published in Nature Climate Change and a short summary is available on Uppsala University website. Read the full article here.
““When you increase access to water in arid areas, often as an urgent emergency measure, it becomes easier for livestock owners to stay there longer. However, that in turn increases the demand for water and pasture for their animals, to a level that isn’t there, and that risks having a severe impact on the population and reducing their resilience to drought and climate change,” says Giuliano Di Baldassarre, Professor of Environmental Analysis at Uppsala University.”
