This Practitioners’ Guide provides the step-by-step instructions and checklists that will guide a mapping team through a mapping exercise.

Protection of pastoralist land resources has taken on a new urgency in light of the rapidly expanding global and national demand for land and land-based natural resources for large-scale commercial agricultural production, conservation initiatives, and mining. These activities threaten pastoralist land use systems.

A Field Manual to support planning and management in rangelands including in Village Land Use Planning

Mwongozo wa Uwandani wa kusaidia Kupanga Mpango na Usimamizi wa Nyanda za Malisho ikiwemo kupanga Mpango wa Matumizi Bora ya Ardhi ya Kijiji

This issue paper No. 6 of the Rangelands Series consolidates a set of case studies which document how pastoralists plan land and resource use in pastoral and agro-pastoral areas of Ethiopia. 

No.7 issue of the Rangelands Series goes through experiences of joint village land use agreements and planning.

Marsabit County is situated in the northern part of Kenya, bordering the Republic of Ethiopia to the north and Lake Turkana to the west. With approximately 66,000 square kilometres of which 4,956 km2 are covered by Lake Turkana, the foremost part of Marsabit County is an extensive plain which lies between 300m and 900m above sea level. It is characterized by a population density averaging 2 persons per km2 and a distribution varying between 1 person up to 22 persons per km2, depending on the scarcity of water as well as the amount of permanent and semi-permanent settlements.

Recently dubbed “Africa’s Lion” (in allusion to the discourse around “Asian Tigers”), Ethiopia is celebrated for its steady economic growth, including a growing number of millionaires compared to other African nations. However, as documented in previous research by the Oakland Institute, the Ethiopian government’s “development strategy,” is founded on its policy of leasing millions of hectares (ha) of land to foreign investors.

Niger is a pastoral country. However, despite its crucial economic, social and cultural impact, pastoralism remains a very uncertain activity, and Niger’s successive governments didn’t invest much in it (1% of the national budget in 2009, versus 35% for farming activities). Though from 1993 the Rural Code has produced a number of rules and regulations in order to protect and revitalize pastoralism, it was also often accused of favoring crop farmers over livestock producers. Is that true ?

'In Somalia, land issues are particularly complex. Those involved in both policy and practice need to understand this complexity better if durable political solutions are to be identified and property rights for individuals and communities secured. Lee Cassanelli explains the complex nature of land use, as well as the concept of ‘home’ in the Somali context. His paper is food for thought for all those interested in land reform.'
 

The delineation and protection of transhumance corridors are increasingly seen as critical to maintaining livestock mobility in agropastoral areas of West Africa by allowing passage through areas of increasing cropping pressure. Understanding the local politics surrounding the mapping and protection of transhumance corridors is important for policy formulation. This study reports the findings of group meetings in nine local districts (communautés rurales) in eastern Senegal about recently mapped corridors.

The adoption and adaptation of enclosures in the arid and semi-arid rangelands of sub-Saharan Africa is driven and sustained by a combination of factors. However, reviews indicate that these factors cannot be generalized, as they tend to be case specific. A study was therefore conducted to explore the history and reasons for enclosure establishment in Chepareria, a formerly degraded communal rangeland in north-western Kenya.