Promoting climate smart, productive livelihoods in traditional cattle-raising communities. In Africa, remote pastoralist communities are amongst the poorest, most impacted by climate change, and least likely to be reached by development efforts. Mafisa works in just such a place: a very dry, fragile, forested region on the fringes of the Kalahari, home to traditional cattle-raising communities. After several devastating disease outbreaks, farmers can no longer make a good living from cattle. The local soils and climate are barely suitable for crops, and alternatives usually involve deforestation and charcoal production. The services and markets needed to rebuild sustainable cattle herds do not exist. The best solution for people and the environment is to restore traditional cattle livelihoods, based on improved productivity and widespread use of climate-smart regenerative management.