A series of papers on land use administration, land use change, securing of rights to resources and other in Laikipia, Kenya.

This paper presents a discussion of the communal tenure system in Olkiramatian, a group ranch in the southern rangelands of Kenya which has granted the residents the flexibility and choice to pursue diversification alternatives that demand open landscapes.

A brief looking at the development of group ranches in Maasailand, and their current implementation including subdivision. Lessons learnt and ways forward are suggested.

This Project Information Note (PIN) outlines an initial application to the Plan Vivo Foundation for working with select pastoralist and hunter-gatherer communities in Mongo wa Mono village, Mbulu District, Northern Tanzania (34°30’/03°30’S).

In Laikipia the key dynamics centre on absentee land, much of this being land that was divvied out to Kikuyu by Kenyatta after independence. Much of this land (particularly north of the 600mm rainfall band) is not viable for cultivation. However, it was used by the Kikuyu title-holders as collateral to acquire loans with the Agricultural Development Corporation and others. Maasai, Samburu and Pokot herders have been grazing this land since the 1970s.

This article summaries an assessment of three community wildlife sancturaries in the Naibunga Conservancy in Laikipia - Koija, Tiemamut and Kijabe group ranches, with the objective of determining the reasons for the establishment of the CWSs, the role of partners and the perception of partners to the partnerships. It was found that communities in Kijabe and Koija were not contented with their partners and that they did not trust their partners. Further, despite previous research findings enumerating weaknesses in the sanctuaries, the same problems were identified in this study.

I am sharing this extremely important report from Margaret Sekaggya, the Special Rapporteur of the situation of human rights defenders (2011). In 2007 the former Special Rapporteur, Hina Jilani, affirmed that “the second most vulnerable group when it comes to danger of being killed because of their activities in the defence of human rights, are defenders working on land rights and natural resources” (Hina Jilani, 2007, Report submitted to the Human Rights Council, A/HRC/4/37).

The Community Land Rights Recognition Model (CLRR) sequences specific actions to be undertaken by the Government of Kenya for the recognition of community land rights as stipulated by Article 63 of
the Kenyan Constitution 2010. This proposed process is a result of many months of consultation between
a team of Ministry of Lands officials, the SECURE Project (funded by USAID and implemented by Tetra
Tech ARD), four targeted pilot communities in Lamu County, local administration, and other stakeholders.

Shalmali Guttal looks at shifts in agriculture policy in Cambodia and Laos as governments aim to transform the structures of their agriculture towards greater commercialization and markets. She argues this has far reaching impacts on rural social structures, and rural peoples’ access to land and security of tenure.

from the Land Research Action Network

The report considers the causes, processes and impacts of rangeland fragmentation on pastoralists in Ethiopia, Kenya and Uganda. Causes and processes include privatisation of resources, commercial investment, invasion of land by non-native plants, commercialisation including growth in individual enclosures, and conservation/National Parks. The impacts include increasing wealth divides and a growing inability to overcome and vulnerability to drought.