Networking and support platform in order to assist pastoralists and their communities
EAPIT works in particular for the benefit of the pastoralists and small farmers in East Africa (Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda), Somalia, Sudan and Ethiopia Pastoralists rely on rangelands and livestock for their livelihoods and as such are severely exposed to the impact of climate change. Pastoralist societies in Sud
an, Somalia, Ethiopia and East Africa (Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda) face more demands on their way of life than at any previous time. Population growth, loss of herding lands to farmers, ranchers, game parks, and urban growth, increased commoditization of the livestock economy, out-migration by poor pastoralists, and dis-locations brought about by drought, famine, and civil war are increasing throughout the region and as such pastoralists become more and more vulnerable. These problems are intensified as international development programs encourage privatization and individuation of formerly communally held resources. Despite these challenges, livestock pastoralism has been surprisingly resilient as pastoralists have shown a wide variety of adaptations to change, including periodic oscillation between pastoralism and farming, as well as hunting and gathering, and more recently, wage labor. This group aims aims to raise awareness and build capacity in managing the wildlife / livestock interface through a balance between active conservation of the ecosystem, in partnership with building and sustaining appropriate enterprises for the resident communities, in particular through regenerative grazing, enhancing livelihoods of pastoralists through improved livestock husbandry and marketing, scaling up of improved livestock production enterprises, as well as improving grazing for and management of the wildlife resource across the region.
