The Borana people live in southern Ethiopia near the Kenyan border, in an area of 45,435 km² where 75 per cent of the land is covered by arid plains. Estimated to number 1.1 million, these semi-nomadic pastoralists have traditionally relied on cattle herding for their livelihood. While their carbon footprint has always been negligible, they are now facing the direct consequences of climate change, which is threatening their herds, long a source of pride and social status.
2024 marked the fifth consecutive year of drought in the Horn of Africa, an unprecedented occurrence since rainfall records began in Ethiopia. Since 2020, 3.5 million cattle have died from hunger and thirst, representing 90 per cent of the livestock in the Borana region. This has resulted in a full-scale humanitarian crisis. Both the long rainy season, ganaa (March to May), and the short rainy season, hagayya (September to October), have disappeared. Across the region, many people, left destitute by the loss of their herds to drought, have been forced to abandon their villages and seek refuge in camps on the outskirts of towns, which now house approximately 240,000 people.
Today, these farmers are turning to gold mining and salt extraction – two perilous activities that are jeopardising their future. Yet all they need to return to a pastoral life is rain. The following report, written by French photojournalist Lucien Migné and published by Equal Times, documents the author’s encounter with the community in Ethiopia in August 2023.
Of the 150 Borana who once lived in the village of Dembalabuyo, only around twenty remain. Most left in 2021 and settled in the El Soda camp for displaced people.
Unprecedented in scale, this recurring drought has triggered a profound social and cultural crisis among the Borana. The traditional way of life they have led for centuries is now under threat.
To help his cows survive the drought, Guyo Catelo has had to bring in grass from Addis Ababa. Without any bulls to trigger the lactation cycle, only one of his cows now produces milk, which Catelo uses for his personal consumption.
The Dubuluk displacement camp is funded by the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). In 2023, the number of climate refugees in the Borana region living in displacement camps was estimated at around 260,000.
Living conditions in the displacement camps are extremely harsh. While the Borana’s herds once provided them both a livelihood and savings, much of the community now lives in severe poverty, despite humanitarian aid from IOM and USAID.
During the last drought, 75 of the cows that Dama Boru Dabasso had just purchased (worth around €300 each) died of thirst. “I’m afraid of the next drought, but this time, I plan to change my approach and sell my cattle quickly before the dry season,” she says.
As an alternative to livestock farming, many Borana have been forced to rapidly adopt another livelihood. Some have turned to agriculture, where yields are highly uncertain due to water shortages and a lack of fertilisers.
Other Borana have resorted to cutting shrubs and selling bundles of wood or charcoal along the roadsides. While many men work in the gold mines of Dambi or Dabel, a smaller number are involved in extracting salt from the El Soda crater – both gruelling and dangerous activities.
Yet the Borana have not given up hope of one day buying cattle again and returning to repopulate their abandoned villages.
In Oromo, the language spoken by the Borana, there are two words for rain: robha, meaning “rain to come,” and boqa, meaning “rain that has fallen”. Regularly, during religious ceremonies, the Borana call upon Waaqa, their supreme God, asking that they may once again be able to use the word boqa.
