Pastoralism, Conflict Management

and Early Warning System

Objectives
• Concept, type and causes of conflict
• Community based conflict management & Pastoralism
• Pastoralism and Early Warning systems
 What is Conflict? – Understanding
Conflict
There are different ways to come with a definition of conflict. When speaking of
conflict, what would immediately come into mind would most likely be how
differences and disagreements make such an occurrence to spring up.

What is conflict?
It can be described as a disagreement among groups or
individuals characterized by antagonism and hostility.

Conflict itself is neither good nor bad. When conflict is

addressed maturely with an eye to a positive resolution
it can, lead to growth among all the conflicting parties.
 Types of Conflict
• When looking for the source of a conflict, it's important to remember that the
different types of conflict reflect where the conflict originates (internally or
externally) and the number of people involved (personal or group).
• The prefix inter relates to external and intra to internal origination.

❑ Intrapersonal conflict is when you feel conflicted about your own thoughts or
actions.

❑ Interpersonal conflict exists between two people. The conflict is external to

each person and exists only between the two people.
❑ Intragroup conflict: conflict with in a group
❑ Intergroup conflict: relates to conflicts that happen between solidified groups
of people.
 Causes of conflict
• Conflict arises primarily due to three main sources of conflict

1. Economic conflict is brought about by a limited amount of resources. The

groups or individuals involved then comes into conflict to attain the most
of these resources.

2. Value conflict is concerned with the varied preferences and ideologies

that people have as their principles.

3. Power conflict -power is also evident as it involves an asserting of

influence to another.
Causes of Conflict among Pastoralists
Structural Causes
– Competition for scarce resources
– Traditional pastoral and cultural values
– Unreliable climate
– Poverty
Intermediate Causes of Conflict
– Systematic neglect
– Politicization of conflict and regional instability
– Modern weapons
– Interference by political leaders in development activities
– Weakening of traditional authority structures
– Commercial raiding
Immediate Triggers of Conflict
– Specific violent incidences
– Livestock theft
– Raid of one group on another
– Government military operations
– Inflammatory public speeches and inflammatory media
Impact of conflicts on pastoralists’
livelihoods
o Education
o Health care
o Death and injuries
o Time taken in managing conflicts
o Mobility of pastoralists
o Insecurity, trade and food
o Loss of livestock and trade
o Insecurity and access to water
 Conflict Management
There are five different management approaches to combat
conflicts.
1. Avoiding
• This is a type of conflict management strategy where there is an existence of
avoidance such that the avoiders ignore the conflict.
• It is a conscious effort to delay with the hope that the issue(s) would be
resolved over time. This can assume any sides of the coin in the sense that, the
problem can be solved as time passes or the longer the time to resolve the
issue, the more the conflict escalates.

2. Accommodation
• This kind of conflict management requires that the parties involved accept the
views of one another.
• Both or one is ready to give the other party/side what is needed.
 Conflict Management …
3. Compromising
• Parties have almost the same if not equal capacity to pull issues
further that will result in conflict. But both decided to give in by
accepting and agreeing to see how resolution can be established.
4. Collaborating
• Conflicting parties integrate ideas to find a common ground of
acceptance for everyone involved.
5. Competing
• This type of conflict management strategy often involves
individuals who are assertive and have the will power to fight till
they achieve their goal and the other losing.
 Community Based Conflict Management &
Pastoralism
• Pastoralist societies have had field armed men protect their livestock and their
people and then to return into a disorganized pattern of foraging.
• They are usually larger in size as compared to societies that practice hunting and
gathering alone.
• They at times move across borders in search of new lands for grazing. This often
brings tension, chaos, and conflict both for them and the national governments.

▪ Local context based conflict management is advised.

▪ The role of religious leaders, clan leaders and elders is enormous.
 Pastoralism and EWS
Early warning system incorporates three
important elements.
‘Early’ implies that time is an important factor in the
process of warning system.

‘Warning’ shows that the information is about impeding

danger.

‘System’ is refer to the different chains of institutional

concerns or parts that needs to do cooperatively. It
indicates the multiple discipline and users of early warning
activities.
• The definition of an early warning system should be
broad and flexible; broad enough as to allow for a
wide range of interpretations and flexible enough to
accommodate new hazards and the development of
new early warning system technologies.

➢ The levels of warning

outlook,
watch,
warning, and
alert.
o De-warning (optional)
 Early Warning Components
▪ EWS is the integration of four main steps/components/elements
1. Risk Knowledge: provides essential information to set
priorities for mitigation and prevention strategies and
designing early warning systems.
2. Monitoring and Predicting: provide timely estimates of the
potential risk faced by communities, economies and the
environment.
3. Disseminating Information: deliver warning messages
to the potentially affected locations to alert local and
regional governmental agencies. The messages need to be
reliable, synthetic and simple to be understood by
authorities and public.
4.Response: Coordination, good governance and appropriate
action plans are a key point in effective early warning.

❖ Failure of any part of the system will imply failure of the

whole system.
 Types of Hazards and EWS
Hazards can be associated with two types of events:
rapid/sudden-onset threats and slow-onset (or
“creeping”) threats.
Rapid/sudden-onset and slow-onset events will
provide different amounts of available warning
time/lead time.
Early warning system may be indigenous or conventional.
 As a cost-saving measure, and because some societal and
environmental changes have at least some characteristics in
common in a given region, hybrid warning systems are
developed
✓ to handle more than onehazard at a time (e.g.,
heavy rains, mudslides, displaced settlements) or
✓ to handle hazards that occur in a sequence (e.g., El Nino and
La Niña events; floods and droughts).

Unique EWS- for each specific hazard

Hybrid EWS- for common hazards
Generic EWS- for All Hazards
 All EWSs must address the Six WHs questions:
what, when, where, who, and why.

1. What is happening with respect to the

hazard(s) of concern?
2. Why is this threat in the first place, i.e.,
what are the underlying causes for potential
adverse and impacts?
3. When is it likely to impact (providing as
much lead time as possible to at risk
populations)
4. Where are the regions most at risk?
5. Who are the people most at risk, i.e., who
needs to be warned?
6. What should at risk populations do to
protect themselves?
Discussion
Is hiding of EWS
information ethical/fair?
Politics in Early Warning System
• There are at least two ways to look at the politics
of an early warning system:
❑ Political neutrality: vis-à-vis an early warning
system means that the government sets up and
funds the early warning systems and then leaves it
alone to fulfill its functions, letting the "political
cards fall where they may."
❑ Political interference: The government
sets up an early warning systems and then
shadows its decision making process in
order to intervene if theprocess
begins to work against its political
interests.
 Community based EWS
CBEWS is based on a "people-centered" approach.
The true essence and significance of CBEWS is
community empowerment.
• A local, ‘bottom-up’ approach to early warning, with the
active participation of local communities, enables a multi-
dimensional response to problems and needs.

• The language we use, timing of warning and the

communication channel should meet the needs of
every group in every vulnerable community.
INDIGENOUS EARLY WARNING
PRACTICES
 Local communities have their own indigenous knowledge
systems with regard to hazards such as drought, conflict
and disease epidemics.
 This knowledge is based on long years of observation of the
natural and social environment within which they live.

✓ Stars- Drought or onset of rain

✓ Entrals of slaughtered animals- drought, flood, conflict, epidemics
✓ Donkey ears- rainfall
✓ Dog howling- death of key figure
✓ Migration of birds- onset and/or cessation of rain
✓ Wind- Gain/loss of rain
 The 2015 DRR day was celebrated
“ Knowledge for Life.”
 It acknowledge the traditional EWS.
 Leaders of Indonesia’s Simeulue community received a
prestigious U.N. award for saving tens of thousands of lives
during the tsunami.
 Thanks to faith in their own knowledge of how the sea
behaves and the reaction of buffaloes ahead of the tsunami.

 How tsunami is created?????

Discussion
What type of indigenous EWS have
you observed in pastoral areas?
Are they reliable?
CONVENTIONAL EWS
 The Rio Declaration Principles 18 and 19 refer to states’
“duty to inform” including: the immediate notification of any
“disasters or other emergencies that are likely to produce sudden
harmful effects on the environment” and “prior and timely
notification and relevant information to potentially affected states
on activities that may have an effect.”

EWS has been monitoring and reporting on a weekly, monthly

and seasonal basis on hazards status using indicators such as
 • crops,
• livestock,
• vegetation,
• rainfall,
• livelihoods and
• disaster area assessment.
Pastoralism and Early Warning
systems
• Pastoral areas of the pastoral regions in are affected by
recurrent drought and other disaster at any given time. Then,
it has become a normal phenomenon that large proportion of
pastoral and agro-pastoral communities has become vulnerable
to different hazards.
✓ Monitoring of livelihood and/or food security situation is a
primary task of an early warning system in the pastoral regions.
✓ Pastoral communities heavily depend on livestock for their
livelihood. Therefore, the monitoring process should primary
focus on livestock condition, rangeland condition and marketing
price. Other aspects of livelihood are also monitored.
✓ It is advised to develop a specific early warning system for pastoral
regions based on their specific experience.
Discussion
How do you solve conflict between
indigenous and conventional EWS?