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1 Background The Pastoral and Agro-Pastoral Land Tenure and Administration Study (PALTAS) was launched because of the compelling need to identify and recommend policy that clarify and strengthen the land rights of pastoralists and agro-pastoralists and put in place appropriate administrative mechanisms to enforce their rights. It was designed to assess the land tenure problems in the pastoral and agro-pastoral areas of Oromia, SNNP, Gambella, Afar, and Somali regional states. The scope of PALTAS covers seven interrelated components: access and use rights to resources; pastoral and agro-pastoral institutions (traditional and formal) to deal with conflict management and judicial functions; transformation that has taken place in pastoral and agro-pastoral areas; emergence and expansion of intensive production practices; the gender dynamics and the access of minority occupational groups to resources; development interventions; and alternative livelihoods. With such a wide scope, PALTAS was a complex undertaking (study) to be completed in the short time span. Time4 was a real challenge both in terms of the dispersed location of the study areas, the breadth and the sensitivity of the issues to be raised and discussed with the various target groups, as well as the purposive samples that were selected. In addition to time constraints, prevalence of drought5 in some of the sites made it difficult to apply all techniques uniformly in the selected study areas.
2. Objective The objectives of the study are:
i) to examine and assess the current customary and formal land tenure systems of pastoral and agropastoral areas and the administrative arrangements for their regulation and enforcement;
ii) to make recommendations to the Federal and regional governments on possible improvements in policies and legislation that provides enhanced land tenure security for pastoralists and agropastoralists and strengthens the institutions that administer their land.