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INTERNATIONALSEMINARONDROUGHTANDAGRICULTURE

PREDICT,PLAN,PREPARE:STOPDROUGHTBECOMINGAFAMINE

FAO,19JUNE2017

SESSION2:CONNECTINGFARMERSTOTECHNOLOGIES–CHANGINGTHREATSTOOPPORTUNITIES

2.SATELLITEASSISTEDPASTORALISTRESOURCEMANAGEMENT

PRESENTEDBYMR.TEWELDEBRHANHAILUABRHA

PROJECTCONCERNINTERNATIONAL(PCI)–WWW.PCIGLOBAL.ORG

A confluence of factors are creating a growing demand for innovative solutions to address communityresilience generally and climate change adaptationmore specifically. Pastoralists across the continent aredesperately seeking alternatives to traditional methods for finding pasture. In order to understand thedemand,it’simportanttoknowcurrentconventionsandthechallengestheypresent.IndigenousKnowledge(IK)isadominanttoolofagrarianandpastoralcommunitiesaroundtheworldformakingcriticaldecisionsonplanting,herdmigration,assetconservationandnaturalresourcemanagement.

In2006ProjectConcernInternational(PCI)teamleadbyChrisBessenecker,waspostedtoEthiopiatohelprespondtoaprolongeddroughtintheSomaliregion.Whiledrivingacrossaparchedexpanseoftheaffectedareas,theteamencounteredamanandhisfamilyandtheiremaciatedherd.ChrisBesseneckerwassocurioustoknowwhat themanwasdoing there, the teamstoppedandasked.Themanshared that theyhad justtraveledfor14daystoarriveatthatverylocationbasedonverbalassurancesthattherewaspasturethere.WhatthePCIteamrealized,andthemoment,waswitnessingwastheplacewheretheman’sanimalswouldsoondieandhismeagerlivelihoodlost.

OvertimeChrisBessenecker,PCIVPforstrategicinitiative,cametodiscoverthatmostofAfrica’spastoralistmakethesesameconsequentialdecisionseachyear,decisionsthatcanmeanthedifferenceofsurvivalordestitution,evenlifeanddeath.Andtheyusethesamebasicmethods-scouts,wordofmouthandindigenousknowledge.Methodsthatarebecomingincreasinglyunreliableduetoclimatechangeandshiftingecologicalpatterns.Yet23thousandmilesabovethemsitsageostationarysatellitethat’stakinghighresolutionphotosevery15minuteswhichallowsonetomeasuresomethingcallednormalizeddifferencevegetation index–whichisjustafancywordforphotosynthesis.

The challenge was how do one the get normalized difference vegetation index information from thegeostationarysatellitedowntosomeofthemostremotepopulationsonearthanddoitcontinuouslybecausepastoralistsaren’tfarmers–theyareinterestedinforecastsbutwhat’shappeningonthegroundnow.

Therefore,thatwheretheideastarted–aconsiderableproblemaffectingmillionsofpeople,aconceptuallysimplesolutionofbringingtogetherspacetechnologyandindigenouscultureforsocialgoodbutonewhichhadneverbeentestedandfromanexecutionstandpointwouldpresentconsiderablechallenges.Todothatwould take partnerships: USAID had just set up the Development Innovations Ventures office specificallydesignedtofunduntestedideasthatcouldpotentially impactmillions. TheygavePCI$100,000totryandproveitcouldwork.WFPhadsupportedthedevelopmentofawebbasedplatforminEthiopiaforgovernment

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policymakerstoanalyzedrought.Whileithadsatellitedataitwasn’tinaformatorevencontemplatedforpastoralists.ThisplatformedwasdevelopedbyasmallDutchcompanycalledHoefslootSpatialsolutions(HSS)whowasintriguedwiththeproblemtheteaminPCIweretryingtosolveandwantedtosupportthebackendofit.Andthenthecommunitythemselveshadcriticalinsightsintotheirowntraditionalgrazinggroundstobemappedwhichhadneverbeendonebefore.ThenPCIcallit-SAPARMwhichstandsforSatelliteAssistedPastoralResourceManagement.SAPARMisan innovationwell suited to respondto theneedsofmultiplestakeholders.

UndertheStageIbaselineforSAPARM,almost70%ofpastoralistreportingusingIKformigrationdecision-making.Therearemultiplereasonsforthis,includinglong-standingtraditionsaswellasamoderatedegreeofreliabilityovergenerations.InspiteoftheheavyrelianceonIKanditsimportanceasamanagementtool,ithassignificantlimitswithregardtoreliability,whichisacknowledgedbypastoraliststhemselves.

ThepotentialofSAPARMtoreduceoreliminatethesedeficiencies,withoutassumingunacceptableburdens,risksorcosts,isinherentlylogicalandeasytograspbypastoralistsbasedonourexperience.WhatisnotableisthatSAPARMdoesn’tseektoreplacetheconventionalapproachestomigrationdecision-making,butworksinsynergywiththemmakingthemmoreeffective.

Inthepilot,fundedbytheUSAIDDevLab,herddeathswerecutinhalf.AndtheGooglesteppedinwithseedmoney, then a larger award fromUSAID, andnowanother $1million fromGoogle. SAPARM is, not onlydemonstrate the complementarity between indigenous knowledge scientific methods but also a greatlydemonstratedpublicprivatepartnership.