Podcast: ‘Dynamic Drylands’ explores new ways of thinking about aid, development and resilience in the drylands of Africa and the Middle East
The drylands of Africa and the Middle East are home to hundreds of millions of farmers and herders, whose livestock form the bedrock of regional food security and many countries’ GDP. Yet while farmers and herders living in the drylands of Africa and the Middle East are used to dealing with uncertainty, their resilience is being tested by new and complex challenges.
In this one-off podcast mini-series, broadcaster Bola Mosuro talks to researchers, aid workers and herders about some of the new crises facing the drylands, and the dynamic ways in which people are responding to them. She asks: what does long-term resilience look like in these fast-changing places? How are pastoralists and farmers adapting and innovating? And what can governments, development organisations and businesses do to more effectively support them?
One thing is clear: the drylands are more dynamic than you might think.
This series is produced by Supporting Pastoralism and Agriculture in Recurrent and Protracted Crises (SPARC), a six-year research programme managed by Cowater, the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI), Mercy Corps and ODI and commissioned by the UK’s Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO). It is produced by Loftus Media. Episodes are approximately 30 minutes in length.