The Role of Livestock Mobility in the Livelihood Strategies of Rural Peoples in Semi-Arid West Africa Matthew D. Turner & John G. McPeak & Augustine Ayantunde Published online: 15 January 2014 # Springer Science+Business Media New York 2014 Abstract Over the past 10 years, mobility of livestock has been portrayed as increasing the resilience of rural households in semi-arid Africa to climate change and variability. With this recognition, there has been important work characterizing livestock mobility and the barriers to it. This paper adds to this work by addressing two gaps in the literature: 1. An understanding in the variation of livestock mobility practices among communities; and 2. An understanding of rural peo- ples’ views of the advantages and disadvantages of livestock mobility as well as the factors affecting their decisions about herd movements. A mixed-methods approach was adopted to analyze data collected by household survey and group inter- views conducted in 32 multi-ethnic villages in Mali and Niger spanning the 12.5° N to 16.5° N latitudinal range. The results of regression and qualitative analyses show that: 1. A large fraction of rural households rely on livestock as part of their livelihood strategies; 2. Grazing management of a large ma- jority of village livestock depends on movements outside of the village territory, especially during the rainy season; 3. The mobility of village livestock is not strongly influenced by the village’ s sociprofessional composition (farmer, herder, fisher, artisan..etc.); and 4. The prevalence of extra-village move- ments of village livestock (sheep and cattle) is higher in areas of higher population density. Despite the advantages of live- stock mobility cited by informants, longer-distance move- ments are inhibited by risks associated with climatic, land- use, and sociopolitical change. Herd managers make decisions using diverse information about potential destinations with greater trust of information gathered by themselves or close kin. The implications of these findings for livestock manage- ment and policy in the region are discussed. Keywords Agropastoralism . Climate variability . Sahel . Vulnerability Introduction Arid and semi-arid regions of Africa have consistently been identified as among the most vulnerable regions of the world with respect to climate change (Millennium Ecosystem Assessment 2005; Ericksen et al . 2012). In aggregate, they are also some of the poorest areas of the world raising doubts about their capacity to manage increased climatic variability. At the levels of rural households and communities, strategies to reduce vulnerability to climate change have four components: livelihood/economic diversification, mobility, wealth stores, and technological innovation (Agrawal 2008). It has been argued that mobile livestock husbandry, a long-term adaptation to climate variability, should continue to play an important part of the livelihood strategies of the rural poor (Amanor 1995; Niamir- Fuller 1999; Thébaud and Batterbury 2001; McCarthy and Di Gregorio 2007; Adriansen 2008; Pedersen and Benjaminsen 2008). These arguments emphasize the importance of livestock M. D. Turner (*) Department of Geography, University of Wisconsin-Madison, 160 Science Hall, Madison, WI 53706, USA e-mail: mturner2@wisc.edu J. G. McPeak Maxwell School, Public Administration and International Affairs, Syracuse University, 215 Eggers Hall, Syracuse, NY 13244-1020, USA e-mail: jomcpeak@maxwell.syr.edu A. Ayantunde International Livestock Research Institute, ICRISAT Sahelian Centre, B.P. 12404, Niamey, Niger e-mail: a.ayantunde@cgiar.org Present Address: A. Ayantunde International Livestock Research Institute, ICRISAT, B.P. 320, Bamako, Mali Hum Ecol (2014) 42:231–247 DOI 10.1007/s10745-013-9636-2