Listening to Women, Reclaiming Drylands for Livestock and Pastoralists

For over a century, drought-prone deserts and drylands with seasonal grasses have been viewed as desolate, forsaken spaces waiting to be developed into verdant, bountiful landscapes. Since the 1970s, the aim has been to green the grasslands by introducing thorny exotic plants. The focus was on drought relief through small or large irrigation projects and canals that dissected the lands. Later, this evolved into watershed programmes for soil and water conservation and a new concern with livestock management, banning grazing by small ruminants and encouraging intensive livestock systems centred around large ruminants and exotic cattle. Within these development perspectives, several unique qualities of the drylands remained invisible, including the lives and livelihoods of women farmers and pastoralists. Recently, new perspectives on drylands have emerged, valuing these lands for what they are rather than for what they are not. For centuries, drylands have nurtured and sustained lives and livelihoods. This article offers a fresh perspective on drylands, recognising their intrinsic value and the resilience of women’s livelihoods that revolve around livestock, ways of being and living that have the potential for sustaining communities and landscapes in an uncertain economic and climatic future.