Effectiveness of Community-Based Adaptation Strategies in Mitigating Climate Variability Impacts on Rangeland Productivity in Awoja Catchment, Eastern Uganda

Climate variability is increasingly affecting rangeland productivity and agro-pastoral livelihoods through recurrent droughts, rainfall variability, and declining pasture availability. The objective of this paper therefore, was to evaluate the Effectiveness of Community-Based Adaptation Strategies in Mitigating Climate Variability Impacts on Rangeland Productivity in Awoja Catchment, Eastern Uganda using appropriate standard methods. Results showed that Livestock mobility (78.1%), supplementary feeding (71.0%), herd splitting (66.0%), pasture improvement and fodder planting (57.9%), and water harvesting (52.2%) were the most widely adopted adaptation strategies. Pasture improvement and fodder planting was perceived as the most effective strategy (WMI = 4.52), followed by livestock mobility (4.48) and herd splitting (4.39). Adaptation effectiveness was significantly influenced by access to extension services (β = 0.344), household income (β = 0.318), water availability (β = 0.305), and grazing land access (β = 0.287) (p < 0.05). The findings demonstrate that ecosystem-based adaptation and livestock centered management strategies enhance resilience under climate variability. Strengthening extension services, pasture restoration, and water conservation is critical for improving adaptation outcomes