The paper argues that the indigenous knowledge of the Herero could provide the basis for better land-use policy and user rights in the communal lands of Namibia.This short article:reviews recent academic literaturelooks at the historical and legal backgound to land management in Namibiareports in 2 village field studies

Overview of the rangelands of the Jianshe region of China which discusses the environmental and social issues associated with the pastoralist land use in the area.

Recent arguments have stated that the new livestock development policy will carry a high social cost, that the reality of range degradation in Botswana has been ignored, and that there is no basis for assuming that de-stocking would decrease the productivity of rangeland.

The interfaces between high-altitude rangelands and other ecosystems in the Hindu Kush Himalayan region such as forests, wetlands, and agricultural land are suffering from degradation, desertification, and soil erosion, which are further aggravated by climatic and anthropogenic factors. However, more information is needed on the ecological role of high-altitude rangelands and their interfaces as a basis for developing and implementing plans for conservation and sustainable management of these fragile ecosystems.

This article suggests that communual rangeland management policies in Botswana and Zimbabwe are based on incorrect technical assumptions about the stability of semiarid rangelands, the nature of rangeland degradation, and the benefits of destocking. Consequently, inappropriate policies, stressing the need to destock and stabilise the rangelands, are pursued.Acknowledgement of the great instability but intrinsic resilience of rangeland would encourage the Governments to more favourable regard the opportunistic stocking strategies of the agro-pastoralists of the Communual Areas.

A useful debate is developing over carrying capacity and the degradation of communal rangelands in sub-Saharan Africa. With a few lonely exceptions, scientists and policy-makers have in the past claimed that degradation is universal and livestock productivity lowered because of overstocking on communal range. This position has been mainly dogmatic. More recent research has not supported dogmatists; hence the debate, which impinges on livestock development policy in Botswana.A new livestock development policy is being promoted by the Government of Botswana (Ministry of Agriculture 1991).

Built on earlier quantitative assessment of the socio-economic drivers of the above changes, this paper focuses on the role of national level policies implemented in the area over the past decades, and how these have affected the traditional institutional setting that determines land use, property rights and pathways of livestock development.The paper uses a literature review combined with in-depth key informant and group interviews to identify key policies and interventions, assess their impacts and explore the responses and strategies adopted at both individual and community levels to cop

Aims to estimate the annual direct use value of an average hectare of the communal rangeland in Botswana, based on an anlalysis of secondary data. Exercise incorporates the three major direft uses, both marketed and non-marketed, of rangelands: livestock, wildlife and gathering

This article discusses the enclosure of rangelands and registration of exclusive rights to grazing by individuals or groups of pastoralists. This trend has been increasing greatly over the last twenty years. This occurs because:it is encouraged by governments, planners and multi-lateral donor agencies in an attempt to 'rationalise'the use of rangelands.

Herstel en duurzaam beheer van biodiversiteit en ecosysteemdiensten worden steeds meer geïntegreerd in nationaal en internationaal beleid. In dit proefschrift wordt een methodologie ontwikkeld voor de kwantificering van effecten van landmanagement op de ruimtelijke verspreiding van ecosysteemdiensten, zodat de door landmanagement veroorzaakte trade-offs tussen ecosysteemdiensten bepaald kunnen worden voor zowel lokale ecosystemen en landschappen als regionale en mondiale biomen. Een groot aantal ecosysteemdiensten zijn bestudeerd.

Evaluation of effects of agri-environmental measures on rangeland degradation in two less-favoured areas in Portugal

Nadia Manuela Jones