Organised by the School of Geography and the Environment at the University of Oxford, the 5th Interdisciplinary Oxford Desert Conference was successfully held from 1 to 2 July 2021 in Oxford. The first desert Conference was held 11 years ago with the aim of bringing together a highly diverse and international group of scholars and practitioners.
The 2021 blended conference (face-to-face and virtual) brought together more than 20 speakers and panel discussants from diverse professional backgrounds on a range of thematic areas around desertification and mobility, including climate change; natural resources; biodiversity; conflict; livelihoods; displacement; history; anthropological and archaeological studies; environmental degradation and agriculture.
Some of the 5th Oxford Desert Conference participants
Representing PENHA, Bereket Tsegay, Senior Researcher and Policy Analyst, presented a paper on ‘The Implications of Social Protection, Resilience and Pastoralism Nexus in Ethiopia’, based on the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO) funded Social Protection for Inclusive Development in the Afar Region of Ethiopia (SPIDA) research project. Tsegay explained the importance and interlinkages of social protection interventions in boosting the pastoral communities’ resilience to shocks, identifying and filling key gaps in: i) Actors, institutions and policy design; ii) Affordability; iii) Performance and impact; and iv) Technological advancement. He also noted the recent World Bank report that described Ethiopia as ‘one of Africa’s sleeping mobile money giants’, but he said Ethiopia’s ‘recent launch of the mobile money Telebirr can play its own role in reducing bureaucratic hurdles in accessing safety nets, improving the programme’s delivery efficiency and effectiveness in reaching the remote pastoralist communities and reducing inequalities’. Furthermore, Angela Raven-Roberts, PENHA Senior Advisor and Research Affiliate, Centre for Comparative and International Education, University of Oxford contributed to the COVID-19 impact-focused roundtable by sharing her insights based on the research she is currently carrying out on the socio-economic implications of the pandemic on pastoralist communities in Ethiopia.
Other presentations and roundtable discussions included: the importance of spaces for unrepresented; indigenous and mobile peoples; Dana+20; research updates from Central Asia, Iran and other regions; methodological challenges of researchers; the impact of tectonics and natural hazards; the impact of COVID-19 on mobile people; the challenges in monitoring low densities of large predators in drylands; environmental impact assessments; refugee settlements; and how conflicts can affect people living in drylands. Furthermore, Saverio Krätli, Editor of the Journal of Nomadic Peoples, one of the oldest journals on pastoralism, gave a snapshot of the journal’s evolution and its current and special issues. He invited the conference participants to contribute to the journal.
The event was funded by the Economic and Social Research Council (UKRI) and the Global Challenge Research Fund (GCRF). The conference participants appreciated the extraordinary efforts made by the coordinators, especially Ariell Ahearn and Troy Sternberg.
Photo credit: School of Geography and the Environment at the University of Oxford
