ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses six related themes that should matter for the future of pastoralism in the Horn of Africa. Perhaps no other livelihood system has suffered more from biased language and narratives than pastoralism. The Horn of Africa region has experienced many political changes during the past 20 years, including increased political and administrative decentralization and multiparty politics, but not all of these transitions have had the positive impacts on rural communities, including herders, that had been anticipated. Although mobile pastoralism requires extensive land areas and relatively low human population densities to operate, population growth in pastoral towns and settlements encroaches on rangelands and constrains mobility. The growth in small towns and the importance of education suggest new opportunities for diversification, both for unskilled and skilled labour, trade, and business investments. It has been more than 20 years since range ecology research fueled the equilibrium versus disequilibrium debates about dryland ecosystems.
