Pastoralism – the predominant form of livestock keeping in the Horn of Africa – has always been a source of disputes and tensions in the regions. So it is maybe no coincidence that precisely those countries with the largest cattle and camel herds should be the ones that have been suffering from prolonged armed conflict for years. This article takes a look at the closely interwoven aspects influencing conflicts in the Horn of Africa in general and South Sudan more specifically.

Community-Led Rangelands Assessment promotes the use of traditional or indigenous knowledge of pastoralists, as the dominant group utilizing rangelands, to guide planning and management of rangelands resources to support and build resilient pastoral livelihoods. Use of traditional knowledge is considered cheaper, easier to use and replicable. It promotes the respect of local communities’ culture and its integration into scientific methods.

This rangelands management framework is a product of a rapid pastoralist-led rangeland health assessment that was conducted in three sampled districts of Karamoja; Moroto, Napak and Kotido.

Excluding the introductory and concluding chapters, this book has 11 chapters presented in three sections. The first section dwells primarily on conceptual issues, which comprehensively unravels large-scale agricultural investments and their impacts at the theoretical level.

Ill advised, uncoordinated, and badly planned interventions have been blamed for continuing poverty and food insecurity in rangelands. Water interventions in particular have had negative impacts. Not only have these interventions failed to improve the livelihoods of people living there, but in many cases they have served to undermine them and the environment on which they depend. Rangeland development interventions have been sectoral in their approach.

Basic survival is very difficult for the 1.2 million people who live in Karamoja, a remote region in northeastern Uganda bordering Kenya marked by chronic poverty and the poorest human development indicators in the country. Traditional dependence on semi-nomadiccattle-raising has been increasingly jeopardized. Extreme climate variability, amongst other factors, has made the region’s pastoralist and agro-pastoralist people highly vulnerable to food insecurity.

In August 2013, the Government of Uganda gazetted the National Land Policy (NLP) after having initiated the policy process over three decades ago. The NLP is to provide an over-arching policy framework for land governance and management, consolidating the many other policies and laws that have governed land and natural resources since colonial times.

The first draft of the Tanzanian constitution incorporates many provisions that will improve the rights and interests of pastoralists, huntergatherers and women in these communities.

 However, there remain some important outstanding issues that must be addressed in order to ensure adequate reform that protects these marginalized groups’ interests

In northern Tanzania, new grassroots groups called Women’s Rights and Leadership Forums (WRLFs) are mobilizing women and men in pastoralist communities to promote and defend local land rights. This briefing highlights some of the WRLFs’ achievements and strategies; asks how these forums, which appear to be a part of an emerging grassroots social movement for land rights, can be further supported; and explores whether such forums could be replicated elsewhere in the region

Tanzania Natural Resource Forum in partnership with Care international implements a five years pastoralist programme (2012-2016) through registered Tanzanian Civil society Organizations (CSOs) and/or Community Based Organizations (CBOs) that work to improve the capacity of communities to overcome poverty, reduce vulnerability and strengthen the rights of men and women for sustainable livelihoods. This brief covers some highlights for 2013.

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.

2.0 RECENT EVENTS 5.0 UGANDA GAZETTES A NATIONAL LAND POLICY 6.0 PLAYING THE “CONSERVATION CARD’: THE KHWE SAN IN NAMIBIA’S BWABWATA NATIONAL PARK 7.0 SECURING LAND TITLES FOR PASTORALIST WOMEN: THE STORY OF SAKALA 8.0 PROTESTS AGAINST CONVERSION OF PASTORAL LANDS INTENSIFY IN INDIA 9.0 PASTURE PROTECTOIN IN ADILA LOCALITY, DARFUR, SUDAN 10.0 VICTORIOUS IN TANZANIA 11.0 MORE RECENT EVENTS 12.0 18,000 CATTLE GIVEN PASSAGE ACROSS AUSTRALIA