Keynote Address: Rethinking Pastoralism and Sustainable Livelihoods Beyond 2030

Vice Chancellor,
Distinguished Guests,
Esteemed Scholars and Researchers,
Development Partners, Policymakers and Practitioners,
Community Leaders and Students,

Ladies and Gentlemen,
It is both an honour and a privilege to deliver this keynote address at the Second International Conference on Innovation, Resilience and Sustainable Development (IRSD-2025) here at Garissa University, under the timely and visionary theme: “Fostering Innovation, Resilience and Inclusive Development Beyond 2030.” My remarks today focus on one of the most difficult and urgent development challenges of our time: sustainable livelihoods, pastoralism and food security.

1 Pastoralism and Food Security

Let me begin by confronting some fundamental misconceptions: that pastoralism is backward, primitive, an obstacle to development, a problem to be solved. In reality, pastoralism is one of the oldest and most adaptive food systems in the world. It is a strategy perfectly engineered for climatic variability, optimal use of fragile ecosystems, mobility-based productivity and low-input, high-value production.

Pastoralists are custodians of rangelands and managers of biodiversity. They produce a significant share of Africa’s livestock and wildlife wealth. Yet, they remain among the poorest communities—especially in Kenya—are frequently caught in recurrent humanitarian crises, and bear some of the highest costs of the climate crisis, despite being among the least carbon-intensive producers on Earth.

Why is this the case?
For a long time, pastoralists have been failed by policy. National development policies continue to favour sedentarisation over mobility, prioritise crop production over livestock, and allow manageable droughts and floods to escalate into disasters.

2 Rethinking Sustainable Livelihoods

If we are serious about sustainable livelihoods beyond 2030, we must transform our development approach in pastoral regions in at least six fundamental ways:

1. (a) From Charity to Economic Empowerment
   No community will ever exit poverty through food aid alone. We must stop treating pastoralists as mere beneficiaries and recognise them as economic agents. This calls for deliberate investment in livestock value chains and climate-linked trade systems.
2. (b) From Stand-Alone Infrastructure to Ecosystem Thinking
   Development cannot continue to destroy the very systems that sustain livelihoods:
   • Boreholes without rangeland governance accelerate desertification.
   • Water infrastructure without proper management leads to overgrazing.
   • Unplanned settlements in wet grazing areas trigger rapid degradation.
   The future lies in secure communal land tenure, planned grazing, and water infrastructure guided by rangeland science.
3. (c) From Silos to Systems Thinking
   Pastoralism is a system, and our response must also be systemic. We need integration between land, livestock and water; between climate science and indigenous knowledge; between peace-building initiatives and pastoral economies.
4. (d) From Exclusion to Engagement
   No policy about pastoralists should be drafted without their meaningful participation. Resilience is built at community level. We must invest in community land institutions, grazing committees, water user associations, traditional peace systems, women’s councils and youth leadership structures.
5. (e) From the Margins to the Mainstream of Development
   Pastoralism must not remain at the margins of planning. It should be embedded in national development strategies, climate-finance frameworks, food security policies and regional integration programmes.
6. (f) From Familiar Agronomic Research to Pastoral Research Frontiers
   Institutions like Garissa University are strategic anchors in fragile regions. We must:
   • Develop faculties and centres dedicated to pastoralist issues, such as the Institute of Peace and Security Studies at Garissa University.
   • Produce policy-relevant research and document indigenous knowledge.
   • Challenge faulty assumptions and train problem-solvers, not just job-seekers.

3 Vision Beyond 2030

A future beyond 2030 should be one where pastoralist communities:

Thank you very much for your kind attention, and may God bless you all.