To support improved rangeland resource management and monitoring for nomadic pastoralists in northern Kenya, we used a task-based mobile application to incentivize pastoralists provide more than 100,000 surveys containing information on local rangeland, water and livestock resources. In this contribution we explore the potential of combining this information with remote sensing data for improved characterization of rangeland resource use and accessibility through integration of local socio-ecological knowledge into land cover mapping methods.

The Sustainable Rangeland Management Project (SRMP) supports joint village land use planning and the protection of rangelands for local rangeland users. The project is implemented by the Ministry of Livestock and Fisheries Tanzania, the National Land Use Planning Commission, the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI), and local civil society organizations. The project activities have been funded by the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) and Irish Aid through the International Land Coalition (ILC).

The aim of the study is to investigate the land-related causes of conflict in the Jubaland State of Somalia. The study findings are expected to guide the work of the UN in peace building and land conflicts management and to inform land policy processes and other land governance interventions in Jubaland and Somalia as a whole.

The study has three specific objectives:

The topic of how best to make rangelands secure for local rangeland users is one of ongoing debates. The very nature of rangeland use – the need for landscape level planning incorporating spatially and temporally variable resources, and for recognising the multiple layers of use by multiple actors presents complexity that is not easily accounted for by the often inflexible and simpler land tenure systems that governments prefer to introduce.