This thesis is about the impact of climate change and variability on the livelihood ofrnpastoralists; case study in Dire district of BOI'ana zone, Oromia region. This studyrninitiated as the result of impacts of climate change particular recurrent drought which hasrnbeen affecting the livelihoods of Borana pastoralists due to weakening of indigenousrnadaptation mechanisms used by community for centuries.rnThe study plalmed to assess the impacts of climate change and variability on pastoralists'rnlivelihood and the local adaptation mechanisms that have been practiced by localrncommunities to mitigate its impacts. The materials for the study were mainly drawn fromrnprimary sources on'the basis of fieldwork conducted in two purposi vely selected kebeles,rnnamely Madacho and Higo of Dire di strict. The qualitative methods such as keyrninformant interviews, focus group discussions, observation and case studies werernemployed to understand climatic impacts on pastoralist livelihood and status of theirrnindigenous adaptation mechanisms in reversing the impacts. Furthermore, secondary datarnsources were reviewed to supplement the findings .rnThe results of the study depict that Borana pastoralists, who are residing in drought pronernarea and repeatedly hit by recurrent drought with weakening indigenous adaptationrnmechanisms, have been affected by climatic impacts and put their livelihoods at risk.rnOther compounded factors like inappropriate settlement pattern, top-down developmentrnapproaches, inappropriate water development interventions without consideringrnrangelands management, regionali zation policy of Ethiopian government which doesn'trnconsider pastoral ways of life, population pressure, interethnic conflict, imposition ofrn'modern' structure, on customary once without appropriate replace, bush encroachment,rndeforestation and individualizing communal resources have escalated the impacts on theirrnlivelihoods.rnThe research concludes that pastoralists whose livelihood depend on and sensitive tornclimatic factors with weakened indigenous adaptation mechanisms are the most affectedrnone and alternative ways of improving their resilient capacity need to be sought. As thernindigenous adaptation mechanisms used by the pastoralists are ineffective during thernepoch of teclmological advancement backing to the root is found to be imperative tornreduce compounded impacts.