Global Environmental Change 20 (2010) 142–152

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Global Environmental Change

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/gloenvcha

Cultural barriers to climate change adaptation: A case study from Northern

Burkina Faso
Jonas Østergaard Nielsen *, Anette Reenberg
Department of Geography and Geology, University of Copenhagen, Øster Voldgade 10, DK-1350 Copenhagen K, Denmark

A R T I C L E I N F O A B S T R A C T

Article history: Human adaptation to climate change is a heterogeneous process influenced by more than economic and
Received 11 December 2008 technological development. It is increasingly acknowledged in the adaptation to climate change
Received in revised form 2 October 2009 literature that factors such as class, gender and culture play a large role when adaptation strategies are
Accepted 8 October 2009
either chosen or rejected at the local scale. This paper explores adaptation strategies by focusing on
livelihood diversification in the face of the most recent of recurrent droughts in the Sahel. It is shown that
Keywords: for Fulbe, one of the two main ethnic groups in the small village in Northern Burkina Faso studied, culture
Climate change
acts as a major barrier to embracing four of the most successful livelihood strategies: labour migration,
Adaptation
Cultural barriers
working for development projects, gardening, and the engagement of women in economic activities.
Sahel ß 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Fulbe

1. Introduction not only economic and technological development, but also by

The importance of adaptation to climate change is increasingly
emphasised (Pielke et al., 2007). Adaptation has become part of the
discourse of global warming and is now widely recognised as a
fundamental and necessary response to the threat posed by the
climatic changes that will occur, or are already occurring, due to
past and present carbon emissions (IPCC, 2007; UNFCCC, 2007).
Human adaptation to a changing environment is not a new
phenomenon, but a sense of urgency has entered the scene and
researchers, policy makers, and civil society have engaged ‘‘in a
race against time to understand how adaptation can be facilitated,
supported, and ultimately sustained, in societies at risk from
climate change impacts’’ (Coulthard, 2008, p. 479). This is so
because adaptation is understood as a modification of behaviour
believed to either alleviate adverse impacts or to realise new
opportunities in response to observed or expected changes in
climate and associated extreme weather events (Adger et al., 2004,
2007).
New studies dealing with real-world adaptation practices and
processes have, however, noted a number of significant limitations
to adaptive capacity of human societies – i.e. the ability or potential
of a system to respond successfully to climate variability and
change. It has been shown that adaptive capacity is influenced by
* Corresponding author. Tel.: +45 3532 4163; fax: +45 3532 2501.
E-mail addresses: jon@geo.ku.dk (J.&. Nielsen), ar@geo.ku.dk (A. Reenberg).
social norms, values and rules (Klein and Smith, 2003; Robledo
et al., 2004; Brooks and Adger, 2005; Næss et al., 2005; Tompkins,
2005; Ford et al., 2006; Adger et al., 2007; Coulthard, 2008), and
that these adaptive responses vary between individuals and
between and within communities, regions and countries (O’Brien
et al., 2006). Adaptive capacity is, in other words, ‘‘highly
heterogeneous within a society or locality’’ (Adger et al., 2007,
p. 729) and often influenced by factors such as class, gender, health,
social status and ethnicity. Despite these insights, cultural barriers
to adaptation to climate change are not well researched (Adger
et al., 2007, 2009).
A current challenge in adaptation research is thus to recognise
and explain ‘‘varied sensitivities’’ to climate change exhibited by
different groups of actors and the consequences of these for
adaptation at the local level (Adger and Brooks, 2003, p. 179). The
aim of this paper is to show how one of these sensitivities, culture,
presents a barrier to adaptation to climate change in the small
Sahelian village of Biidi 2 in Northern Burkina Faso.1 In this
community the approaches to adaptation have been very
heterogeneous between the two major ethnic groups present in
the village territory: Rimaiibe and Fulbe.
1
Barriers are here understood as the conditions or factors that render adaptation
difficult as a response to climate change and are as such contrasted to limits, which
render adaptation ineffective and ‘‘largely insurmountable’’ (Adger et al., 2007, p.
733).

0959-3780/$ – see front matter ß 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.gloenvcha.2009.10.002
 J.Ø. Nielsen, A. Reenberg / Global Environmental Change 20 (2010) 142–152 143

The paper examines adaptation to climate change by focusing
on livelihood diversification, which is shown to be a key adaptive
strategy in the village as this negates the negative impact of
drought and climate variability on rain-fed agriculture. In recent
years, a number of studies on livelihood diversification have been
published (Ellis, 2000; Barrett et al., 2001; Carswell, 2002;
Elmqvist and Olsson, 2006; Wouterse and Taylor, 2008), all
emphasising that off-farm work constitutes a significant part of
observed livelihood diversification in rural communities and has
increased over time in importance in sub-Saharan Africa (Bryce-
son, 1996, 2002). Similarly, Mortimore (1998) noted that while
there are often few on-farm diversification strategies in the Sahel,
off-farm strategies seem to be swelling in number, indicating that
rural livelihood diversification is increasingly non-agricultural.
This move away from a dependence upon rain-fed agriculture for
sustaining a livelihood for households and individuals is clearly
observed in Biidi 2. There, the four most important livelihood
diversifications employed are: (1) labour migration to Abidjan,
Côte d’Ivoire, (2) working for development projects, (3) gardens,
and (4) women’s economic activities (Nielsen and Reenberg, 2009;
Reenberg, 2009). All of these aim to negate the negative impact of
drought and climate variability by providing households and
individuals with sources of income and food other than rain-fed
agriculture.
Initially Fulbe in Biidi 2 did not have to engage in these
strategies as their livelihood was based on cattle. The last 30 years,
however, many Fulbe have in general forsaken pastoralism in order
to engage in other livelihood activities (De Bruijn and Dijk, 1995;
Hampshire, 2004). In Biidi 2 pastoralism is still part of the land use
system, but rain-fed agriculture constitute the economic mainstay
of Fulbe households. This paper investigates how contemporary
Fulbe strategies are created in a setting of Fulbe cultural values
played out in a wider historical and political context defined by the
end of slavery, political legislation, and the arrival of international
development projects. The Fulbe preference for living in the bush,
their notion of personal freedom and integrity, their occupational
specialisations and their link to existential group identity (Ries-
man, 1977) will be highlighted as cultural barriers to climate
change adaptation among Fulbe.
The paper will start with a brief methodological overview and
an introduction to the setting and the climate in Biidi 2 over the last
40 years. The four dominant livelihood diversification strategies in
the village will be presented followed by an analysis of the current
cultural barriers to pursue these among Fulbe.
2. Methodology
This study draws on ethnographic research carried out in the
village of Biidi 2 between August 2007 and February 2008.
Participant observation, semi-structured interviews, focus group
interviews, and questionnaire interviews were the main methods
used.
Participant observation was chosen as a means to facilitate
rapport with the people being studied, the collection of data
regarding sensitive topics, and insights about daily activities and
perceptions (Bernard, 2002). The insights obtained were
explored further in semi-structured interviews. Sixty-five such
interviews were conducted with older, middle-aged and young
men and women covering all socio-economic and ethnic groups
in the village. Twelve focus group interviews were made,
differentiated by age, gender, ethnicity and social standing.
The focus groups, consisting of older men and women, of
different ethnicity, were repeated over time and covered
historical developments in order to map social memory
particularly regarding livelihoods and climate changes (McIn-
tosh, 2000). All semi-structured interviews and all focus group
interviews were digitally recorded. Observations and conversa-
tions during participant observation were written down in
notebooks. A questionnaire interview with 50 out of a total of 104
heads of households, again stratified to cover all social groupings
within the village was also conducted. Table 1 summarise the
methods used and the issues explored.

Table 1
Synthesis of methods applied, themes and temporal span covered, and quantitative density.

Methods Data characteristics

Themes covered Data acquisition time Temporal span covered Quantitative density

Participant observation Daily life August 2007 until Contemporary issues Constant presence in the village
Livelihood diversification February 2008 and the surrounding bush
Household composition, earnings and practices
Ethnic/cultural differences and perceptions
Role of agriculture
Cattle ownership
Impact of projects

Semi-structured Economic, cultural, biophysical changes over time August 2007 until Pre-1950 65 conducted
interviews Cause of changes February 2008 Past 50 years Differentiated according to age,
Adaptive response to changes over time Contemporary issues gender, social status, ethnicity,
Historical developments/events place of residence
Ethnic/cultural differences and perceptions
Climate perceptions

Questionnaire survey Biophysical, agricultural, and livelihood December 2007 Past 40 years 50 out of 104 heads of
changes over time and January 2008 Contemporary issues households interviewed
Causes of changes
Adaptive response to changes over time
Climate perceptions
Household composition, earnings and practices

Focus group interviews Economic, cultural, biophysical changes over tune December 2007 Past 50 years 12 conducted
Causes of changes and January 2008 Contemporary issues Differentiated according to
Adaptive response to changes over time age, gender, social status,
Climate perceptions and ethnicity
Ethnic/cultural differences arid perceptions

GPS measurement Household location within village territory November 2007 Current Total field acreage
Size of fields and January 2008 Mapping of all household
144 J.Ø. Nielsen, A. Reenberg / Global Environmental Change 20 (2010) 142–152

The semi-structured interviews, the focus group interviews,

and the questionnaire, were structured in such a way that for each
category of questions, the respondents were asked to assess the
current situation (e.g. main income source; number of animals;
field size; etc.), then describe the main changes (if any) to these
over the past 50 years and finally, assess the main causes of these
changes (if any). No explicit indication of the focus on climate
factors was presented for respondents at this stage in order to
minimize biases in the answers. At the end of the interviews, the
focus group discussions, and the questionnaire, the respondents
were asked to assess their perception of climate change generally
and the perceived impacts of this on a range of livelihood
parameters. When impacts were assessed as negative, the
respondents were asked to explain their adaptive actions to
respond to these impacts. All interviews were conducted in Fulani,
the local language, with the help of interpreters.

3. Biidi 2

Biidi 2 is located approximately 14 km south-west of Gorom-

Gorom, the provincial capital of Oudalan Province (see Fig. 1).
Oudalan belongs to the drier part of the Sahelian zone of Burkina
Faso, which receives around 400 mm of precipitation annually. The
landscape in the region is dominated by vast, ancient pediplains,
cut by temporal rivers and two longitudinal E–W oriented dune
systems superimposed on the pediplain (Reenberg and Fog, 1995).
Biidi 2 is, like many other villages in this region, situated on one
of these dunes, and surrounded by more or less continuous fields.
The fields are mainly located on the pediplains and millet, sorghum
and cowpeas are grown (Rasmussen and Reenberg, 1992;
Reenberg and Paarup-Laursen, 1997). The dune is rimmed on its
southern side by gardens. Traditionally agriculture, pastoralism,
and some gardening have been the major components of the local
livelihood strategies. In recent decades, however, additional
components have been added to the livelihood portfolio as it will
be discussed in the following section. Fig. 1. Map of Burkina Faso showing the location of Biidi 2.
Three ethnic groups currently inhabit Biidi 2: Rimaiibe,
numbering 302 individuals, Fulbe, 167, and Wahilbe, 116 (as of
January 2008). Of these, 246 are under the age of 15, constituting cooked food, or engaged in other labour intensive tasks like house
42% of the total population. Wahilbe, who are blacksmiths, construction. Both Fulbe and Rimaiibe elders stated in interviews
constitute a kind of professional ‘caste’, separating them from that they were not paid for this, although they were given food and
the two other groups (see also Riesman, 1977); they are not dealt clothing. According to the villagers, slavery was made illegal
with in this paper. Many of the people ‘belonging’ to the village towards the end of the colonial period, but it was not until the coup
territory actually live in the surrounding bush and the village d’etat by Thomas Sankara in 1983 that the practice was fully
centre itself is populated almost exclusively by Rimaiibe and abandoned in the village.
Wahilbe. Only one Fulbe household, consisting of seven individuals,
is located within the village centre. Fig. 2 illustrates this spatial 4. Climate
location of Fulbe habitation in relation to the village centre.
Comparison with population enumeration done in the village in Concern about climate change and its impact on human
1995 by Reenberg and Paarup-Laursen (1997) shows that the populations in the Sahel since the 1970s was an immediate
village has had an annual population growth rate of 3.8% since response to these most recent of recurrent drought periods
then. (Nicholson, 1978; Watts, 1983; Brook, 1993; Webb, 1995; MaCann,
Biidi 2 was founded some 125 years ago by Fulbe coming from 1999; Rain, 1999). Averaged over 30-year intervals, annual rainfall
the north, bringing with them their slaves, the Rimaiibe.2 in the Sahel fell by between 20 and 30% between the 1930s and the
Traditionally, Rimaiibe children were born into a family owned 1950s and the three decades following the 1960s, prompting
by a Fulbe family. With no social standing besides that of slave, they Hulme to state, much in accord with Nicholson (1978), that ‘‘[t]he
were viewed and categorised alongside other types of wealth like African Sahel therefore provides the most dramatic example
cattle and material goods and they were often removed from their worldwide of climatic variability that has been directly and
family by their Fulbe owners around the age of 6–8 years, and boys quantitatively measured’’ (2001, p. 20).
were put to work in the gardens or fields, and girls began domestic No meteorological records for Biidi 2 exist, but in the nearest
work (see also Riesman, 1977, 1992; Bolwig and Paarup-Laursen, larger town, Gorom-Gorom, monthly rainfall data have been
1999). They worked alongside other Rimaiibe who minded their collected since 1955 (see Fig. 3). This dataset indicates that the
masters’ children and small domestic animals, prepared and region has gone through much the same change as the rest of the
Sahel: the wet 1950s and 1960s were followed by a prolonged dry
2
In Fulani, the word for slave is diimaajo, in plural, rimaiibe. Rimaiibe also means spell lasting from the early 1970s until the 1990s. The general
‘‘those who have not given birth’’. trend seen elsewhere in the Sahel towards more rain in the late
 J.Ø. Nielsen, A. Reenberg / Global Environmental Change 20 (2010) 142–152 145

Fig. 2. Map showing the village territory and the placement of Fulbe households in the bush and in relation to the village centre. The households were mapped by GPS in the
course of field work in 2007. The spatial location of Fulbe households in the bush is closely related to Fulbe notions of freedom and personal integrity. For Fulbe, the bush is a
space free from the social constraints they feel exist in the village. Consequently, 19 out of 20 (only 16 are captured in the map) Fulbe households in Biidi 2 are located in the
bush. This spatial preference has major consequences for Fulbe engagement in labour migration, development work, and women’s economic activities.

1990s and early 2000s is also evident in the dataset from Gorom-
Gorom (Nicholson, 2005; OECD, 2006).
Despite the general improvement in rainfall in recent years,
both Rimaiibe and Fulbe are very concerned about the current inter-
annual and inter-seasonal fluctuations (Table 2). Generally, the
villagers perceive rainfall to be less predictable today than 40 years
ago and to have a larger number of ‘false starts’ making it
extremely difficult to know when to sow crops. The villagers
perceive the rainy season is shorter with more dense periods of
rain, often resulting in either flooding or drought. Interestingly, the
villagers argue that more intense rainfall in August make the bush
‘‘green’’. Temperatures during both the cold and the hot season are
also said to have risen in recent years. The wind is likewise
perceived to have increased, causing more pronounced movement
of sand, filling up river beds and destroying crops. Besides drought,
flooding and the movement of sand, the villagers mention
degradation of the soil, the disappearance of plants, trees, wild
fauna and watering holes, and growing problems with pests as
consequences of climatic alterations; all of these factors make rain-
fed agriculture difficult.
5. Livelihood diversification
Ethnic variations are known to be an important factor
influencing agricultural strategies (Reenberg and Fog, 1995). But
in Biidi 2 no large differences between Fulbe and Rimaiibe exists.
Evaluation given by local informants in interviews stresses that
agricultural and pastoral strategies have become more uniform
over the last 30 or so years. This conform well with the picture of
Fulbe observed across the Sahel who has in general abandoned

Fig. 3. Annual rainfall in Gorom-Gorom, 1955–2006. The graph illustrate that the general rainfall trend seen in the Sahel is mirrored in the study region: the wet 1950s and
1960s is followed by a prolonged dry spell lasting until the early 1990s. The general trend towards more rain in the Sahel in the 1990s and early 2000s is also seen in Gorom-
Gorom. The greater inter-annual rainfall variability noted by the villagers in Biidi 2 is captured in the graph. Note, for example, that the wettest year on record is 2003 and the
driest year 2004. Source: Direction de la Météorologie, Burkina Faso.
146 J.Ø. Nielsen, A. Reenberg / Global Environmental Change 20 (2010) 142–152

Table 2
Perception of climate change in Biidi 2 the last 40 years based on household questionnaire interviews. N = 50 (Nielsen and Reenberg, 2009).

More/longer Stable Less/shorter Do not know

Rainfall
Rainfall during rainy season 16 (32%) 3 (6%) 31 (62%) 0 (0%)
Length of rainy season 13 (26%) 3 (6%) 30 (60%) 4 (8%)
Break between rainfalls in rainy season 37 (74%) 0 (0%) 7 (14%) 6 (12%)
Rainfall intensity 18 (36%) 0 (0%) 30 (60%) 2 (4%)
Inundations 31 (62%) 1 (2%) 15 (30%) 3 (6%)

Wind
Strong winds during rainy season 38 (76%) 3 (6%) 2 (4%) 7 (14%)
Length (time) of strong winds during rainy season 36 (72%) 3 (6%) 3 (6%) 8 (16%)
Strong winds during dry season 38 (76%) 4 (8%) 4 (8%) 4 (8%)
Length (time) of strong winds during dry season 34 (68%) 3 (6%) 3 (6%) 10 (20%)
Movement of sand due to wind 45 (90%) 0 (0%) 5 (10%) 0 (0%)

Temperatures
During the dry season 46 (92%) 2 (4%) 2 (4%) 0 (0%)
During the rainy season 35 (70%) 6 (12%) 9 (18%) 0 (0%)
During the hot season 48 (96%) 0 (0%) 2 (4%) 0 (0%)
During the cold season 36 (72%) 0 (0%) 14 (28%) 0 (0%)

pastoralism in order to engage in other livelihood activities and
mainly rain-fed agriculture (De Bruijn and Dijk, 1995; Hampshire,
2004). Former times’ differences between Fulbe, who depended
mainly on livestock, and Rimaiibe, who depended on millet
cultivation, has thus gradually disappeared and developed into a
more homogenous pattern in which both groups are now
permanently settled in and around the village and equally engaged
in millet cultivation and livestock (see also Reenberg and Fog,
1995; Reenberg and Paarup-Laursen, 1997).
Even in the best of years, however, the harvest meets only
between 7 and 9 months’ requirement for food, and this only for the
largest and most efficient households. In 2007 and 2008, to mention
the two most recent campaigns, the household with the largest fields
and the best access to labour power only produced enough cereals to
cover the households’ need for 7 months and 2 months, respectively.
The low yield combined with the intensive demand for labour
(sowing, weeding and harvesting) have resulted in four Rimaiibe
households giving up rain-fed agriculture altogether and many more
are thinking about doing the same because ‘‘it is simply not worth
the effort’’, as it was often expressed in interviews.
Over the last 30 years Rimaiibe have continuously responded to
unreliable outcomes from rain-fed agriculture by diversifying their
livelihoods, as a consequence off-farm livelihood strategies
represent today the mainstay of their income. A large number of
strategies are present in the village. Both Fulbe and Rimaiibe rated,
however, in semi-structured and focus group interviews, migra-
tion, development work, gardening and small-scale commerce as
the most important. Hence, in the 43 interviews in which the
interviewee were asked to weigh the most important strategies
these four were unanimously mentioned. In the twelve focus group
interviews the result was the same. This, the interviewees
explained, is due to the income which these strategies generate
vis-à-vis others like fishing, brick making, and fire wood collecting.
Moreover, the stability and dependability over time of these
strategies were mentioned as important factors.
It is hard to assess precisely the actual income generated by
engaging in these off-farm livelihood strategies due to a lack of
accounting and secrecy of earnings, but most Rimaiibe households
in general seem to earn enough money to buy food to last the
whole year.3 In addition to food, the money is used for clothing,
3
Rimaiibe often stated in daily conversation and in interviews that ‘‘we earn
enough to buy food until next harvest’’. Most households buy millet immediately
after harvest from more fertile regions of Burkina Faso and store this in granaries
next to their huts.
medicine, tools, animals, commercial activities and to meet social
obligations like marriage, baptisms and funerals. The growing
importance of livelihood diversification over the last 30 years is
supported by comparison with a study done in Biidi 2 in 1995 by
Reenberg and Fog (1995), who note that in the early 1990s, off-
farm strategies only rarely supplemented agricultural production,
whereas today, they are common among the Rimaiibe.
For Fulbe, the situation is rather different. They have not
diversified to the same extent despite being just as involved in
rain-fed agriculture as Rimaiibe – i.e. Fulbe and Rimaiibe household
members are equally engaged in sowing, weeding and harvesting,
they have similar total field acreage (see also Reenberg and Fog,
1995) and, according to the villagers, the same crop production
outcome. In line with Rimaiibe, none of the 20 Fulbe heads of
households in Biidi 2 considered the harvest sufficient and many
mentioned, when asked to rate the most important problem for
household well-being, the lack of food. It should be noted that
there is growing awareness among primarily young Fulbe men in
the village that a strict Fulbe identity and the continued emphasis
on agriculture may be a hindrance to their economic betterment
(see also Bolwig, 1999, p. 147). Some of the young Fulbe men
mention that migration, working for development projects,
gardening and small-scale commerce are good ways to better
your position, and although these strategies are not perceived as
particularly attractive due to cultural reasons, many of them are
considerably getting involved as ‘‘the millet do not last’’. A similar
process was also observed among other groups of Fulbe in Northern
Burkina Faso (see Buhl and Homewood, 2001; Hampshire, 2006).
5.1. Labour migration
Rimaiibe is well known to have a long history of labour
migration (Bolwig, 1999). However, the drought in the beginning
of the 1970s and its prolonged aftermath played a significant role
in consolidating the importance of labour migration seen in Biidi 2
as well as in the rest of Sahel over the last 30–40 years (Cleveland,
1991; Findley, 1994; David, 1995; De Bruijn and Dijk, 1995; Cordell
et al., 1996; Rain, 1999; Hampshire and Randall, 1999, 2000;
Mortimore and Adams, 2001; Henry et al., 2004; Hampshire, 2006).
Almost all young Rimaiibe men left after the drought for Abidjan,
Côte d’Ivoire, to earn money, primarily for food, and labour
migration became very important for household survival.
The importance of labour migration has been consolidated, and
each year, after the agricultural activities have ended in November
and December, a large proportion of Rimaiibe men leave. Hence in
 J.Ø. Nielsen, A. Reenberg / Global Environmental Change 20 (2010) 142–152
December 2008, ten youths between 15 and 25 years left, followed
in the beginning of January by three more, for a total of 36% of this
age group. Among the men aged between 25 and 35, seven out of
25, or 28%, left. And among the men older than 35 years, eight out
of 50, or 16%, left. Two other Rimaiibe aged 24 and 28 were already
in Abidjan, living in a small rented room. The value of this
accommodation is closely related to its location near a marketplace
where all the Rimaiibe men from the village work, loading and off-
loading trucks and buses during the day. At night, they all work as
private security guards. During this 24-h working day, only
interrupted by slow periods in the marketplace, during which they
return to the room to sleep, the men explained they earn between
US$5 and US$30 per day. The average amount the men return
home to the village with after 6 months, after all expenses such as
food and transport have been paid, is around US$200 to US$300.4
This money is used to meet social obligations, to buy food, clothes,
medicine, gardening tools and seeds, but is also reinvested in
cattle, small stock and small commercial activities.
Fulbe did not to the same extent establish a tradition for labour
migration in the 1970s and 1980s as they had built up large herds
of cattle during the wetter 1950s and 1960s. They dealt with the
shortage of food in the 1970s and early 1980s largely by selling
cattle. Among Fulbe in Biidi 2, this lesson is very important, and
they continue to place heavy importance on cattle as an
‘‘insurance against bad times’’ as they often stated it. This is
exemplified in their emphasis on the practice of transhumance,
which takes place between December and June each year.5 Of the
41 Fulbe men between 20 and 50 years of age in the village, 17, or
42%, practiced transhumance in December, 2008. As labour
migration takes place during the same period, only three Fulbe
men left for Côte d’Ivoire.
A substantial number of the cattle that Fulbe bring on
transhumance do, however, not belong to them but to Rimaiibe.6
The selling of cattle to deal with the food shortage experienced
in the aftermath of the droughts left many Fulbe in Biidi 2 with
very little or no cattle. 35% (7 out of 20) of Fulbe households in
Biidi 2 has currently no cattle and in all but three households the
number of cattle has dwindled over the last 20 years. 4 Fulbe
households own only one or two cows. Rimaiibe pays Fulbe to
take their cattle on transhumance but this salary is minimal in
comparison to the income which can be earned on labour
migration. Moreover, Rimaiibe men use the money earned while
in Abidjan to buy cattle and consequently they have manage, in
contrast to most Fulbe, to enlarge their herds. The continued
practice of transhumance among Fulbe thus seems to be
connected to other variables than economy; a point to which
we will return.
5.2. Working for development projects
In the aftermath of the drought and famine of the 1970s and
early 1980s, a plethora of development projects, the majority of
which owed their existence to international aid, entered Burkina
Faso, in particular the northern part, as this was perceived to be the
most vulnerable to food shortage (Atampugre, 1997). The impetus
for these organisations and for governmental aid was the desire to
4
This estimate is based on interviews with men having been to Abidjan within
the last 5 years.
5
Taking a herd of cattle often southward towards the end of the dry season in
order to find pasture and water.
6
The cattle are pooled together and a herd taken on transhumance therefore
often consist of cattle owned by different men. It was relatively hard to establish the
exact composition of these herds. However, in the herds taken by 7 out of the 17
men going the branding on the cattle was recorded. In all of these herds the majority
of cattle belonged to Rimaiibe. In subsequent interviews this trend was confirmed
except in 5 herds which consisted exclusively of Fulbe owned cattle.
147
alleviate the problems of poor socio-economic infrastructure and
food and livelihood security (Batterbury and Warren, 2001). The
early development efforts focussed on ‘modern’ technical inter-
ventions designed to boost and transform agricultural and
rangeland productivity, but for various reasons these failed (see
Vivian, 1994; Carney, 1998), and the focus shifted to reforms in
which issues of gender, cultural pluralism, better targeting of aid,
and support to local institutions became important (Carney, 1998;
Samoff, 2004).
In Biidi 2, the impact of development projects was first felt
around 1992–3, and since then, there have been around 20
projects carried out in the village. The projects arrive each year at
the end of the agricultural season. The lengths of time a project
stay in the village depend on its scale and aim. The larger projects
like PLCE/BN work in the village over many years (up to 5 years)
and are often involved in major undertakings such as planting
trees and bushes to fixate the dune or constructing dikes in the
fields against surface water and soil run-off.7 Other projects stay a
short time, providing ‘only’ advice or small goods like buckets and
classroom materials.
Rimaiibe explicitly attribute enormous importance to projects
like PLCE/BN because many of them provide salaried work. In Biidi
2 a ‘development project committee’ consisting of a president and
a treasurer is in charge of the payment of these salaries. Every
villagers employed by a particular project is listed by name and
each day the president record who worked. This list is copied and
handed over to a local representative of the project in question and
some time later the money arrives to the village. The treasurer then
redistribute this money according to days worked and age. The
projects pay very similarly and on average around US$3 for 1 day’s
work.8 They employ local people (male, female, and children) for
around 30 days a year. Children under 18 are paid half the salary of
adults over 18 years of age. As project employment, however,
collide in time with labour migration, school and transhumance it
is often only two or a maximum of three household members that
are de facto available to work for projects during a given year.
Rimaiibe households thus commonly earn around US$150 a year
working for projects, meaning that this activity rates only second
to labour migration as a source of cash revenue in the village. The
money is used for food and to reinvest in other economic activities.
All Rimaiibe households but 3 out of 64 engaged in this activity in
2007 and 2008.
Fulbe engagement with projects is almost non-existent.
Transhumance is part of the explanation, as it takes place at the
same time of year, but Fulbe are often unaware of the presence of
projects in Biidi 2 during the initial and most crucial phase in which
the project workers, in collaboration with the villagers, define the
problems, find solutions, and hire the people needed to realise the
projects. A major reason behind the absence of Fulbe is that the
project workers always come to the village centre and Fulbe by
cultural tradition live in the surrounding bush and are therefore
rarely around when ‘staff’ are hired. Fulbe often mentioned in
interviews and during daily conversations that their reluctance to
work on projects might become less pronounced if the projects
came to them in the bush. They acknowledge, however, that this is
unlikely to happen ‘‘as the projects only want to help the village
and Rimaiibe’’. Not surprisingly, only three Fulbe men and no
women worked on projects during the study period, interviews
revealed that this trend was mirrored in past Fulbe engagement in
projects.
7
Programme de Lutte Contre l’Ensablement dans le Basin du Niger.
8
This estimate is based upon actual observations of payment of development
work salary in the village by the first author and interviews with development
representatives and villagers.
148 J.Ø. Nielsen, A. Reenberg / Global Environmental Change 20 (2010) 142–152
5.3. Gardens
Blessed with the constant presence of groundwater just
below the land surface, the gardens are supplied by small
wells from which the owners fetch water for cash crops like
tomatoes, potatoes, watermelon and onion, sold at the nearby
markets in Tassmakat and Gorom-Gorom.9 The importance of
the gardens is hence twofold. On the one hand, they are
relatively independent of rainfall variability and drought, and on
the other, they enable production of crops which have a
commercial value.
Most villagers go to the market sporadically, but they generally
try to go to one of the markets every week particularly during the
agricultural off-season where most garden products are produced.
Normally, only one person represents the household at the market
and on an average market day she (it is often the women that go)
makes between US$3 and US$4, averaging around US$100 a year a
household.10 The money is used for food and reinvested in the
gardens and in other economic activities such as animals and
small-scale commerce. The importance of gardens is clearly
illustrated by the fact that four Rimaiibe households have given
up rain-fed agriculture altogether over the past 8 years in order to
concentrate full time on the gardens, something many more are
also thinking of doing because ‘‘the gardens don’t depend on the
rain’’, as it is always argued.
The ownership of gardens is, however, not evenly distributed
between the two ethnic groups. Of the 62 old and well-established
gardens in the village, only four are currently worked and owned
by Fulbe. The major reason behind this state of affairs is to be found
in post-colonial legislation and the end of slavery.
The coup d’etat by Thomas Sankara in 1983 initiated a
number of progressive ideas (Wilkins, 1989). He championed
women’s rights, anti-corruption initiatives, and the breakdown
of the rigid hierarchical structures keeping village chiefs and
certain ethnic groups, mainly the Mossi, in power. This discourse
was heard by the Rimaiibe in Biidi 2, and there, as in the rest of
Burkina Faso, Sankara sparked people’s imagination (Skinner,
1988; Wilkins, 1989; Malley, 1999). More important for Rimaiibe
in Biidi 2, however, was a concrete piece of legislation called the
Agrarian and Land Reorganization (RAF), enacted in 1984, whose
principal effect was to declare that all land belonged to the state
(Faura, 1995, p. 5–6; Lund, 1999; McCauley, 2003, p. 8). The idea
was to give ‘land to the tiller’, through usufruct rights, clearing
the way for the use and benefit of land by the ones currently
working it (McCauley, 2003). As the slaves were working in the
gardens, Rimaiibe now had the rights to the gardens and the
products they produced, and they have held on to them ever
since. Ten new gardens have been established over the last 10
years, all by Rimaiibe, and in a new garden project giving
away small garden plots, only two out of 36 plots were taken by
Fulbe.
5.4. Women’s work
The role of women constitutes another important livelihood
difference between the two groups. Rimaiibe women have become
very economically active since the 1980s and in only six of the 64
Rimaiibe households in Biidi 2 did women not to some extent
participate in the cash economy during the study period. This was
due to old age. Asked about the reason behind this development,
households unanimously mentioned the increased resilience of the
household due to the cash income generated by women; in some
9
The word biidi means in Fulani ‘old wells’ or ‘constant presence of water’.
10
This estimate is based on interviews with women and men regularly attending
the markets.
Rimaiibe households, women now contribute up to half the total
income or more.11 Generated by the women working for projects
and/or engaging in small-scale commerce such as selling mats,
food, garden produce and small domestic animals, the cash is used
to buy food, medicine, clothes, jewellery, and to invest in animals,
education, seeds or other material for their gardens, looms, or
houses. Among Fulbe, women in only two out of 20 households
engaged substantially in any form of work aimed at earning cash.
6. Cultural pathways of adaptation
These four means of livelihood diversification have been
instrumental for enhancing Rimaiibe’s ability to cope with the
climate change experienced in Biidi 2 over the last 30–40 years.
Considering that the diminishing importance of rain-fed agricul-
ture and the growing dependence on cash due to the lack and
variability of the rain is equally crucial for the Fulbe that are settled
in Biidi 2, a very pressing question becomes why Fulbe have not
latched on to these strategies to the same extent. The explanation
for this has already been sought in Fulbe’s traditional anchoring in a
pastoral culture with its emphasis on transhumance despite them
not having large herds, and in wider contextual factors such as the
development projects emphasis on working with those present in
the village, and new legislation on changing land ownership.
Clearly, these factors are important with regard to the strategies
embraced by Fulbe and highlight that adaptation to climate change
is rarely undertaken in a ‘‘stand-alone fashion’’ (Adger et al., 2007,
p. 737).
During fieldwork it became clear, however, that another factor
was at play and that this to a very large extent shaped Fulbe
reluctance to engage in labour migration, development work,
gardening and women’s work. Fulbe were in no way prevented by
either the projects or Rimaiibe from embracing these strategies and
it puzzled them (and us) why this does not take place. Why, for
example, do Fulbe simply not move to the village or, at the very
least, make sure they are informed of the arrival of new projects?
Why do they not clear land to make gardens, or turn up in larger
numbers when project organisers ‘hand out’ garden plots? Why do
they not go on labour migration in larger numbers instead of
transhumance? And why do Fulbe women not, like their Rimaiibe
counterparts, engage more actively in economic activities, thereby
enhancing their household’s resilience?
These questions became even more pressing as Fulbe were all
very aware of the benefits these strategies gave Rimaiibe as this
could be observed on a daily basis; Rimaiibe are generally perceived
by Fulbe to be richer, better fed, dressed and educated, and to have
more animals. Fulbe often stated that this is because Rimaiibe ‘‘do
what they do and earn money’’. Money they invest in food, clothes,
cell phones, motorbikes, education, gardening tools, farm equip-
ment, and animals, ‘‘and that is why they do better than us’’, as it
was stated by two older Fulbe women in an interview.
In the following, we will aim at explaining Fulbe’s lack of
engagement in strategies, which they are not prevented from
undertaking and clearly seeing the material benefits of, in terms of
cultural barriers among Fulbe.
6.1. Living in the bush
A major hindrance to the engagement by Fulbe in labour
migration, development work, and women’s work is their
preference to live in the bush (ladde) in small isolated households
(see Fig. 2). This preference is closely related to Fulbe notions of
freedom and personal integrity. For Fulbe, the bush is a space free
11
Women’s income was established through interviews with both men and
women. The buying power of women could also be observed at the market.
 J.Ø. Nielsen, A. Reenberg / Global Environmental Change 20 (2010) 142–152
from the physical and social constraints they feel exist in the
village (wuro) and is subsequently seen as a place of individual
freedom. Unlike the village, the bush is moreover a place where
self-control and endurance are required as you depend for survival
upon your ability to control your bodily needs, often through lack
of food, water, and sleep. Living in the bush captures in these ways
the central Fulbe notions of ndimaaku (personal integrity;
worthiness) as it is there you can maintain your integrity without
disturbance from the constraints imposed by village life and prove
your worthiness by surviving and thriving in the bush (see also
Riesman, 1977; De Bruijn and Dijk, 1994; Bolwig, 1999). When
asked about why they preferred to live in the bush, Fulbe
accordingly always gave personal freedom as the major reason:
‘‘Out here I am free. . . I don’t have to worry about what my
neighbours does, where my animals are, I just have to look after
myself and my family’’. Permanent villages are moreover
historically made up of separate slave hamlets (debeere) in which
Rimaiibe live in large patrilineal compounds, which further
alienates Fulbe and discourages them from moving to the village.
Living next to your former slaves is simply not desirable and is
connected to a great degree of semteende (shame) and is therefore
only done if you have lost your ndimaaku and hence ‘‘have become
like the slaves, depending upon others’’, as it was very often
expressed in interviews and during daily conversations.
The unwillingness of Fulbe to live in the village represents a
dilemma. All Fulbe interviewed mentioned that there are great
economic advantages to living in the village vis-à-vis the bush.
These advantages were all related to the increased importance of
livelihood diversification due to the lack and variability of the rain
and how village residence facilitates this diversification. Fulbe do
go on labour migration (see Hampshire, 2006) but not to the same
extent as Rimaiibe – something already partly connected to their
practice of transhumance – but another major reason is that living
in small isolated households in the bush makes it harder for the
men to migrate because, as Hamiidou, a middle-aged Fulbe father
of five, said ‘‘us men are expected to protect our wife and children’’.
In the village, men from a debeere can leave for Abidjan if a cousin,
brother, uncle or other male relative from the debeere stays behind.
This is not possible for Fulbe, since the men who can be spared
prefer to herd livestock and because leaving a household isolated
in the bush without male protection is considered dangerous.
The importance for male labour migration and other gainful
activities of having others close by is mirrored in women’s work. In
the village, the women belonging to a debeere spend most of their
day together. A large part of the day is spent on preparing food,
which is very labour intensive. But the women often assist each
other in pounding millet, freeing time for other chores. Similarly,
they help mind each other’s children and small domestic animals,
again freeing time. Often, the free time created by working
together is utilised by the women to make mats and sauce, work in
their gardens and fields and for development projects, tend to their
animals, and go to the market, where they sell their garden
produce, animals, food, and/or mats. Because Fulbe women live in
isolation from other households, they cannot combine forces to the
same extent. They spend most of their day preparing food and
looking after their children, which leaves them very little time to
engage in economic activities like their Rimaiibe counterparts (see,
however, Buhl and Homewood, 2001). Fulbe women lament this
situation to some extent and would like to be more active in
economic activities. This is related to the power vis-à-vis their
husbands. Fulbe women see Rimaiibe women gain power through
their growing economic importance in the household, but they also
see the reduced vulnerability of the household resulting from such
activities. Fatimata, a young Fulbe woman with three small
children, captured these sentiments: ‘‘They [Rimaiibe women]
do not always have to ask their husbands for money and they [the
149
husbands] listen to them because they have money. . . they also eat
better because they can buy food’’. Fulbe men acknowledge both
aspects, particularly the former. Fulbe men see the growing power
of the Rimaiibe women as a confirmation of the moral and personal
weakness of Rimaiibe men as people ‘‘easily manipulated and
pushed around’’, and their reluctance towards living in the village
must thus also be seen in this light.
6.2. Appropriate work and ethnic identity
Fulbe and Rimaiibe are not only defined by cultural traits, but
also by occupational specialisation. Occupation is thus closely
related to ethnicity and contrasting occupations are a very
common way to illustrate ethnic differences in Biidi 2 and in this
area generally (see also Riesman, 1977, pp. 116–117). Crucially,
this process of differentiation based upon occupation is related by
Fulbe in Biidi 2 to other stereotypical traits such as body posture,
skin colour, perceived intelligence, physical endurance and
behaviour. This means that not only is occupational transgression,
or doing the work of another ethnic group, a challenge to ethnic
status but also a potential embracement of psychological and
physical stereotypes deemed ‘non Fulbe’ (see Coulthard, 2008 for a
similar argument from India).
For Fulbe, it is among their ex-slaves that one finds most clearly
expressed everything that is the opposite of what they perceive
themselves to be (see also Hampshire, 2004), and therefore doing
the work of the slaves presents an existential challenge. Labour
migration, working for development projects and in the gardens
are by Fulbe viewed as slave work, requiring a number of both
mental and physical attributes that they do not see themselves as
having or desiring. In contrast, Fulbe view Rimaiibe as perfectly
suited for this type of work. Fulbe describe Rimaiibe as black, short,
stocky and physically strong, making them very suited to bending
over and working hard in the sun. Fulbe in Biidi 2 often stated in
interviews and during daily conversations that Rimaiibe are less
intelligent and therefore perceived to be suited to do repetitive
work all day without getting bored or frustrated. In contrast, Fulbe
view themselves as upright, slender, refined, light-skinned and
cultivated (see also Riesman, 1977, p. 127), traits which,
according to Fulbe in Biidi 2, make them incompatible with the
type of work required in the gardens, projects and on labour
migration, as such work is rightly understood to take place in the
sun, requiring a lot of bending over, lifting and pushing. To do this
type of work was therefore often deemed beneath Fulbe and
shameful (semteende).
The Fulbe lack of engagement in development projects is
similarly associated with Fulbe understandings of themselves.
The projects do neither exclude Fulbe nor target Rimaiibe, but
Fulbe in Biidi 2 see projects as the extended arm of a central
government of which they have been suspicious ‘‘since the first
whites arrived here’’ (see also Lund, 1999). This suspicion,
interviews revealed, was to a large degree due to the abandon-
ment of slavery during both the colonial and post-colonial period
and the resulting undermining of Fulbe access to labour and
gardens, but also to the fact that Fulbe view themselves as a free
and independent people unaccustomed to and uneasy about
being subjected to ‘‘foreign rule’’ (Lund, 1999). Again, the Rimaiibe
were used as a contrasting image and Fulbe explain their
engagement with projects as a result of them being used to be
‘‘bossed around’’ and told what to do ‘‘because they are slaves’’. To
work for others, and in particular on projects where the work is
always extremely physical and repetitive therefore does not
appeal to Fulbe in Biidi 2 as it equates them with their former
slaves. Accordingly, they often ridicule the three Fulbe men
actually working for projects by treating them like slaves, telling
them to fetch or do things.
150 J.Ø. Nielsen, A. Reenberg / Global Environmental Change 20 (2010) 142–152
6.3. The most Fulbe of work: transhumance
This Fulbe love of freedom epitomised in their preference to live
in the bush and their rejection of acting like slaves by working for
projects and doing menial and repetitive work like gardening and
labour migration, is also captured in that most Fulbe of work,
transhumance (Riesman, 1977, p. 70), which is the occupational
specialisation associated with Fulbe in this region (Milleville, 1991;
Raynaut, 1997; Hampshire, 2006).
Transhumance has in the past turned out to be a successful way
for Fulbe to deal with the transient biophysical setting of northern
Sahel as it negate localised drought. Over the last 20 or so years,
however, Fulbe in Biidi 2 mentioned that practicing transhumance
is becoming increasingly difficult, less necessary, and not the most
efficient way to increase the herd.
The difficulty associated with transhumance is, according to
Fulbe, that the traditional destinations and particularly the ‘‘land of
the Mossi’’ – as the central plateau of Burkina Faso is called in Biidi 2
– is becoming increasingly cultivated and populated, restricting
access to watering holes and grazing areas (see, however, Breusers
et al., 1998). Stories told by Fulbe returning from the ‘land of Mossi’
often pivots around conflicts with Mossi farmers and they are
consequently looking for other places to go. However, Fulbe do not
really need to go. The bush surrounding Biidi 2 provides enough
fodder and water for their cattle: ‘‘The bush is green and here is
enough water. I don’t need to take my cattle to the land of the
Mossi, but I still go despite problems [with Mossi farmers]’’.
Moreover, Fulbe, like Layya just quoted, acknowledge that
engaging in livelihood diversification strategies and particularly
labour migration enables Rimaiibe men to buy and keep cattle, i.e.
to augment their herds. A group of older Fulbe men stated in a focus
group discussion that ‘‘Rimaiibe men come home from Abidjan
with enough money to buy cattle. It is good to have cattle. In harsh
times they can be sold, but many Rimaiibe men do not even do that.
They make more money in other ways and their herds grow’’. This
view is echoed by young Fulbe men. They similarly argue that
labour migration and other income generating strategies result in
larger herds and they regret that practicing transhumance prevent
them from participating in these activities as they collide in time:
‘‘Going to Abidjan and transhumance both takes place after
harvest. That is unfortunate, really, for we can see how Rimaiibe
men our age make a lot more money than us. Money they often
invest in cattle. Cattle are the best way to deal with problems. They
can always be sold. That was how our fathers dealt with the big
droughts when we were small’’.
Fulbe are, in other words, well aware that transhumance is
currently associated with difficulty, not strictly necessary, and not
an advantageous economic activity as it vis-à-vis labour migration
for example do not augment the herd or prevent the selling of
cattle to buy food; yet they continue to do it. Abdoulaye, a young
Fulbe man, captures why: ‘‘We like it; it is pulaade [to act like a
Fulbe]’’. Being in the bush with the animals, often far from home,
provides freedom, solitude, independence and the means by which
the men become alert, cunning and enduring; psychological
attributes all deemed quintessentially Fulbe and associated with
ndimaaku and the more encompassing concept of pulaaku, or Fulbe
identity. They also perceive their build as physically suited for
walking with the cattle. ‘‘We are built to do it’’, was a frequently
given explanation, followed by ‘‘and we are the ones that know
cattle’’. Fulbe perceive themselves as experts on cattle, and they
take great pride in their knowledge of them, mainly gained while
on transhumance. While Fulbe do not consider their close
relationship with cattle during transhumance as being the cause
of their ‘‘cultural and psychological peculiarities’’ (Riesman, 1977,
p. 119), they often use their knowledge about cattle to distinguish
themselves from Rimaiibe. Because Rimaiibe today have as many
cattle (if not more) as Fulbe and maintain that they too know about
cattle even though they do not go on transhumance, transhumance
has taken on more importance as a distinguishing occupation for
Fulbe. Fulbe maintain that transhumance provides them with a way
to ‘‘know the cattle’’ in its most intimate details, setting them apart
from Rimaiibe, who are ‘‘ignorant about cattle’’ because they do not
to the same extent go on transhumance. Transhumance represents
in this way, like many of the other activities that Fulbe do or do not
do, aspects of what being Fulbe is all about, as it encapsulates
certain psychological and bodily traits deemed Fulbe and reinforces
the differences between Fulbe and Rimaiibe. Fulbe in Biidi 2 are
consequently reluctant to give up on transhumance mainly due to
existential and cultural reasons, despite the fact that transhu-
mance is associated with difficulties, not strictly necessary, and
stands in the way of often more economically viable strategies
such as labour migration.
In sum, Fulbe are well aware of the potential benefits of labour
migration, development work, women’s work and gardens, as they
daily observe how these strategies benefit Rimaiibe by providing
them with cash so crucial for household survival, but they are
unwilling to fully embrace these strategies because they entail
attributes deemed ‘non Fulbe’. In this way, Fulbe can be viewed as
being culturally prevented from pursuing more lucrative pathways
of adaptation, as the available or successful adaptation strategies to
the most recent climate change in Biidi 2 appear ill-suited to Fulbe
norms and values, which, in turn, can be viewed as cultural barriers
to adaptation.
7. Conclusion
Considering the growing political, academic and local aware-
ness of the necessity of adaptation to climate change, under-
standing that adaptation is defined by ‘varied sensitivities’
exhibited by different groups of actors is crucial. Adaptation to
climate change will never be a homogenous process agreed upon
by all parties, but one influenced by factors such as class, gender
and culture, to mention but a few. Acknowledging this must be a
first step for researchers, policy makers and civil society if
adaptation at the local level is to be facilitated, supported and
understood.
This paper has attempted to illustrate this heterogeneity in
adaptation to climate change by focusing on livelihood diversifica-
tion as both a process by which ‘‘rural households construct an
increasingly diverse portfolio of activities and assets in order to
survive and to improve their standard of living’’ (Ellis, 2000) and as
something determined by culture. It should be noted, however,
that the chosen approach, based on in-depth analysis of one village,
limits the generalisability of the data for the wider region. Indeed it
seems that Fulbe in other parts of the region are embracing the
strategies rejected in Biidi 2 (Buhl and Homewood, 2001;
Hampshire, 2006). Hence, cultural barriers to adaptation can only
be understood in context, which requires that the scale and agency
of decision making is defined. This is generally much less
problematic at the micro-scale, where the range of agents,
contexts and interests are less diffuse (Adger et al., 2009). This
does not, however, mean that place-based, micro-scale and
context-specific studies may not provide insights of a more
generic nature about conditions that enhance or constrain adaptive
capacity (Adger et al., 2007, p. 729). Indeed, understanding the
general importance of the role of culture in adaptation to climate
change probably depends upon micro-scale and context-specific
studies due to the contextual nature of culture (see, for example,
Tompkins, 2005; Coulthard, 2008).
In Biidi 2, Rimaiibe have taken advantage of the arrival of
development projects, the labour power of women and the wells in
the gardens and increased their labour migration in order to better
 J.Ø. Nielsen, A. Reenberg / Global Environmental Change 20 (2010) 142–152
cope with the biophysical uncertainty caused by the most recent
Sahelian droughts. Among Fulbe, livelihood adjustments are less
prominent. Reluctant to embrace the diversification strategies of
labour migration, development work and gardening, they have
effectively cut themselves off from three major adaptation
strategies available in the village. While the traditional Fulbe
preference for transhumance coupled with specific historical
developments (the end of slavery, land legislation and the focus of
development projects on helping the village) have been stressed to
play a part in their decisions, the argument in this paper has been
that the main reasons behind the persistence of this prioritization
are cultural. In particularly, the Fulbe adherence to the traditional
concepts of ndimaaku (personal integrity; worthiness), semteede
(shame) and pulaaki (Fulbe-ness) have been shown to be crucial
since the livelihood diversification options of labour migration,
gardening, and working for development projects all challenge
these concepts in substantial ways. Adaptation for Fulbe thus
presents an existential challenge as the livelihood strategies
available confront their cultural self-image and singularity quite
profoundly. Choosing against contemporary pathways of adapta-
tion by Fulbe is in this light highly understandable.
Acknowledgements
The field research was funded by a Danish Ministry of Foreign
Affairs Research Grant (Grant 104.Dan.8-914). This study was part
of the African Monsoon Multidisciplinary Analysis (AMMA)
project. Based on a French initiative, AMMA was built by an
international scientific group and is currently funded by a large
number of agencies, especially from France, UK, US and Africa. It
has been the beneficiary of a major financial contribution from the
European Community’s Sixth Framework Research Programme.
Detailed information on scientific coordination and funding is
available on the AMMA International web site: http://
www.amma-international.org. Helpful comments given by three
anonymous referees are gratefully acknowledged. I would like to
extend my thanks to the villagers of Biidi 2.
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