Valuing Variability: New Perspectives on Climate Resilient Drylands Development

This book Valuing variability: new perspectives on climate resilient drylands development argues that improving agricultural productivity in dryland environments is possible by working with climatic uncertainty rather than seeking to control it – a view that runs contrary to decade of development practice in arid and semi-arid lands.

Across China, Kenya and India – and most other dryland countries – family farmers and herders relate to the inherent variability of the drylands as a resource to be valued, rather than a problem to be avoided. By exploring these vibrant agricultural economies that take advantage of variability, this book inverts longstanding negative views about food security in the drylands.