IGERT Story
UF Research Team Receives $80,000 USAID grant
Description
Sarah McKune, NSF-IGERT trainee, along with a research team from the University of Florida, has received a $80,000 grant from the USAID funded Global Livestock and Climate Change CRSP. The research will be performed in Niger and Tanzania.
Arid and semi-arid regions of the world are projected to be among those most affected by global climate change, which poses new challenges to the historic adaptability and resilience of pastoral groups. This project will investigate how populations of varying degrees of pastoralism in Niger and Tanzania are interpreting and responding to perceived risk of climate change, and how those reactions are affecting their vulnerability/resilience. In Niger, the project will replicate household interviews conducted in 2005, following the 2004/5 food crisis. The current food crisis will serve as a second environmental shock around which discussions of climate change and perceived risks will be assessed. Data points from 2005 and 2010 will facilitate analysis of adaptations and coping mechanisms and the impact of those actions on vulnerability/resilience over time. The project will include key informant interviews, focus groups, household interviews, and child growth and health measures. After data collection in Niger is complete, a small-scale version of the project will be implemented in Tanzania, to test the appropriateness and usefulness of indicators of pastoral resilience/vulnerability across multiple contexts. The University of Florida (UF) team will work closely with institutional partners in Niger and Tanzania on all aspects of the project, including data collection, analysis, dissemination, and publication. A workshop will be held in collaboration with the International Livestock Research Institute in Nairobi to discuss findings from the project as well as methodologies for risk assessment and vulnerability analysis.
