Dealing with Risk and Uncertainty: A case study of Karrayu Communities in Upper Awash Valley, Ethiopia

By Girum Getachew and Detlef Müller-Mahn

Karrayu pastoralist communities have exhibited livelihood changes over the past half a century. These changes have been triggered both by internal as well as external factors. In response to these changes, new forms of livelihoods and institutional arrangements that are ‘alien’ to the Karrayu communities are mushrooming. These responses (both individual and collective) in turn have implications for the natural environment in which these processes of change are happening. However, how these new forms of livelihoods and the associated social changes are interacting in the Karrayu community in the presence of the state has not been well documented. In line with this, this paper critically probes the adaptation and coping strategies of the pastoralists to their environment while interacting with the state. Also, presents how the different institutional response are inscribed in the same place and how it is possible to build on these to buffer households from various sources of risk.