Drought and recovery: Livestock dynamics among the Ngisonyoka Turkana of Kenya

From 1980–1985, the Turkana District of Kenya experienced both drought and above average rainfall. The effects of a 2-year drought on the livestock population of the nomadic pastoral Ngisonyoka are discussed. Detailed data on mortality rates and offtake are presented for the animals of four herd owners, and the recovery process is followed for the 5-year period for one herd owner. It is concluded that during the drought, 63% of the cattle, 45% of the camels, and 55% of the small stock left the sample herds. The livestock population of one herd had recovered to pre-drought levels 3 years after the drought.     

Absentee herd owners and part-time pastoralists: The political economy of resource use in northern Kenya

The prevalence of absentee herd ownership in Africa's pastoral areas is increasing. Its presence has important implications both for local resource management systems and for research programs that address pastoral ecology and related topics. This paper examines patterns of absentee herd ownership in the Baringo District of northern Kenya. This region has been the source of much debate regarding herder mismanagement of range lands. Three categories of absentee herd owners are discussed in the paper: (1) ranchers, (2) livestock traders, and (3) townsmen. It is suggested that the blame for some of the apparent resource mismanagement in the region may lie more with actors in these categories than with the pastoralists themselves. Data collected during an 18-month period in 1980–1981 on pastoral ecology, grazing patterns, and tenure institutions are presented in support of the argument. The paper concludes with a comparative analysis of contemporary resource management strategies in pastoral Africa, emphasizing that: (1) the Baringo case is not an isolated anomaly, and (2) a new orientation toward pastoral studies is warranted.     

Plio-Pleistocene facies environments from the KBS Member, Koobi Fora Formation: implications for climate controls on the development of lake-margin hominin habitats in the northeast Turkana Basin (northwest Kenya)

Climate change is hypothesized as a cause of major events of Plio-Pleistocene East African hominin evolution, but the vertically discontinuous and laterally confined nature of the relevant geological records has led to difficulties with assessing probable links between the two. High-resolution sedimentary sequences from lacustrine settings can provide comprehensive data of environmental changes and detailed correlations with well-established orbital and marine records of climate. Hominin-bearing deposits from Koobi Fora Ridge localities in the northeast Turkana Basin of Kenya are an archive of Plio-Pleistocene lake-margin sedimentation though significant developmental junctures of northern African climates, East African environments, and hominin evolution. This study examines alluvial channel and floodplain, nearshore lacustrine, and offshore lacustrine facies environments for the approximately 136-m-thick KBS Member (Koobi Fora Formation) exposed at the Koobi Fora Ridge. Aspects of the facies environments record information on the changing hydrosedimentary dynamics of the lake margin and give insights into potential climatic controls. Seasonal/yearly climate changes are represented by the varve-like laminations in offshore mudstones and the slickensides, dish-shaped fractures, and other paleosol features overprinted on floodplain strata. Vertical shifts between facies environments, however, are interpreted to indicate lake-level fluctuations deriving from longer-term, dry-wet periods in monsoonal rainfall. Recurrence periods for the inferred lake-level changes range from about 10,000 to 50,000 years, and several are consistent with the average estimated timescales of orbital precession ( approximately 20,000 years) and obliquity ( approximately 40,000 years). KBS Member facies environments from the Koobi Fora Ridge document the development of lake-margin hominin habitats in the northeast Turkana Basin. Environmental changes in these habitats may be a result of monsoonal rainfall variations that derive from orbital insolation and/or glacial forcing.     

The community resource management area mechanism: a strategy to manage African forest resources for REDD+

Climate change poses a significant threat to Africa, and deforestation rates have increased in recent years. Mitigation initiatives such as REDD+ are widely considered as potentially efficient ways to generate emission reductions (or removals), conserve or sustainably manage forests, and bring benefits to communities, but effective implementation models are lacking. This paper presents the case of Ghana''s Community Resource Management Area (CREMA) mechanism, an innovative natural resource governance and landscape-level planning tool that authorizes communities to manage their natural resources for economic and livelihood benefits. This paper argues that while the CREMA was originally developed to facilitate community-based wildlife management and habitat protection, it offers a promising community-based structure and process for managing African forest resources for REDD+. At a theoretical level, it conforms to the ecological, socio-cultural and economic factors that drive resource-users’ decision process and practices. And from a practical mitigation standpoint, the CREMA has the potential to help solve many of the key challenges for REDD+ in Africa, including definition of boundaries, smallholder aggregation, free prior and informed consent, ensuring permanence, preventing leakage, clarifying land tenure and carbon rights, as well as enabling equitable benefit-sharing arrangements. Ultimately, CREMA''s potential as a forest management and climate change mitigation strategy that generates livelihood benefits for smallholder farmers and forest users will depend upon the willingness of African governments to support the mechanism and give it full legislative backing, and the motivation of communities to adopt the CREMA and integrate democratic decision-making and planning with their traditional values and natural resource management systems.     

Value of information in natural resource management: technical developments and application to pink‐footed geese

The “value of information” (VOI) is a generic term for the increase in value resulting from better information to guide management, or alternatively, the value foregone under uncertainty about the impacts of management (Yokota and Thompson, Medical Decision Making 2004; 24 : 287). The value of information can be characterized in terms of several metrics, including the expected value of perfect information and the expected value of partial information. We extend the technical framework for the value of information by further developing the relationship between value metrics for partial and perfect information and describing patterns of their performance. We use two different expressions for the expected value of partial information to highlight its relationship to the expected value of perfect information. We also develop the expected value of partial information for hierarchical uncertainties. We highlight patterns in the value of information for the Svalbard population of the pink‐footed goose (Anser brachyrhynchus), a population that is subject to uncertainty in both reproduction and survival functions. The framework for valuing information is seen as having widespread potential in resource decision making, and serves as a motivation for resource monitoring, assessment, and collaboration.     

Changing Access to Labor,Pastures, and Knowledge: The Extensification of Grazing Management in Sudano-Sahelian West Africa

The broader ecological and social contexts within which livestock husbandry of Sudano-Sahelian West Africa operates have changed significantly over the past thirty years. This study concerns how: (1) these broader trends have affected the quantity and quality of labor investments into livestock herding; and (2) the ecological and animal nutritional implications of observed variation in labor investments into herding. The study was conducted in a 500 km² area of western Niger using a combination of qualitative interviews of herders and herd managers, household composition surveys, herd composition monitoring, grazing management monitoring and georeferenced vegetation and livestock grazing itinerary data. Statistical analyses were performed using a two-staged approach: (1) analysis of the factors affecting the allocation of labor to herding at the level of the managing household; and (2) analysis of the effect of herd characteristics, season, microgeography and herders’ social position on herders’ effort and the nutritional and ecological impacts of these efforts. The results of these analyses support the conclusion that the changing regional context of livestock husbandry leads to a reduction in labor (quantity and quality) investment or an “extensification” of herding with significant implications for livestock productivity and the environment.

The role of erythropoietin and its receptor in growth,survival and therapeutic response of human tumor cells: From clinic to bench — a critical review

Recombinant human erythropoietin (rhEPO) has been used clinically to alleviate cancer- and chemotherapy-related anemia. However, recent clinical trials have reported that rhEPO also may adversely impact disease progression and survival. The expression of functional EPO receptors (EPOR) has been demonstrated in many human cancer cells where, at least in vitro, rhEPO can stimulate cell growth and survival and may induce resistance to selected therapies.