Vol. 5 · No. 2 · 2001 · pp. 21-48 (28)

Leif Manger

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It is a long established fact in studies on African pastoralism that an understanding of pastoral adaptations cannot be limited to a man-land relationship seen in isolation, i.e. to focussing only on the direct relationships between the natural environment and human adaptation. We know that contemporary African pastoralism is also affected by factors beyond such immediate ecological relationships. African pastoralist communities are deeply affected by the general social, economic, political and ecological crisis in the continent. They are subject to forces which have an increasing influence on their ecosystems and which raise the vulnerability of local production systems. Understanding this crisis needs a perspective that takes into consideration broad socio-economic causes, as these are interlinked with factors such as demographic growth, agricultural stagnation, the incorporation of pastoral economies into the market economy, general insecurity arising from civil wars and conflicts, faulty national and international policies, as well as factors linked to climate and ecology. These processes have led to rapid sedentarisation and urbanisation, the breakdown of traditional structures, transformation of gender relations, degradation of natural resources and growing vulnerability of groups to ecological and economic stress (e.g. Bovin and Manger 1990, Ahmed and Abdel Ati 1996).