COVID-19 AND PASTORALISM IN NORTHERN BENIN

This article deals with pastoralists’ perceptions of and responses to the Covid-19 pandemic in northern Benin. Starting from the idea that pastoralists are well situated to respond successfully to the uncertainty that the pandemic has brought to the world, as their livelihood demands flexible responses to ever-changing situations, we examine how people living in pastoralism in this region perceive and manage the unprecedented event and thus aim to contribute to debates on pastoralism and uncertainty. Based on empirical data collected from August to October 2021, and between February and April 2022, we show that the characteristics of pastoral livelihoods in this region helped in managing at least, but by no means perfectly, or entirely overcoming, the challenges caused by the pandemic and related state measures. This article was published open access under a CC BY-NC 4.0 licence: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ .