Doctor of Philosophy in Dryland Resource Management

The sustainable development of drylands and improvement of livelihoods in the drylands characterized by intense poverty is a priority development agenda in eastern and southern Africa. This will involve interventions targeting, inter alia, increased production and livelihoods systems productivity, and water management options. As elsewhere in the world, the long-term driving force of modern economic growth will be science-based technological advances. The challenges associated with the drylands of eastern and southern Africa require an approach to science and innovation which is entrepreneurial and oriented toward key development challenges.

Advances in various aspects of dryland science and community development practices in recent years suggest a common framework for managing drylands. This framework, the Dryland Development Paradigm, centres on the livelihoods of humans in drylands and their dependence on these ecosystems, through the study of highly interactive human-environment systems. The dryland paradigm responds to recent research and policy trends that link ecosystem management with human livelihoods. It is a convergence of insights and key advances drawn from a diverse array of research in desertification, vulnerability, poverty alleviation, and community development. Key lessons under the dryland development paradigm include, one, that ecological and social issues are interwoven, as well as the options for  livelihood support and ecological management. Two, that drylands are not at equilibrium, but have multiple thresholds, and thus often exhibit multiple ecological and social states, and three, the practice of indigenous / local environmental knowledge is central to the management of most drylands, but is often ignored or undervalued. 

Universities have a key role in this new paradigm which will need them to be proactive within national innovation systems to generate relevant and timely interventions for improving livelihoods. Thus this doctorate programme will contribute to the goal of improving the livelihoods of communities in drylands through sustainable resource management supported by focused research, graduate training and community based interventions.