The goal of the Rangelands Initiative is increased tenure security of local rangeland users through improved implementation of enabling policy and legislation. By connecting, mobilising and influencing, the Initiative strengthens ILC members’ activities in-country and across its continental platforms.

As part of the Global Call to Action in Indigenous and Community Land Rights, this brief puts the spotlight on the need to secure land rights for the world's pastoralists, as pastoralism is practised by an estimated 200-500 million people. Pastoralists manage rangelands that cover a quarter of the world's land surface but have few advocates.

"Pastoralists have been widely accused of being economically inefficient and turning their ‘over-grazed’ pastures into deserts. But these presumptions are not based on evidence and are usually very wide of the mark."

This report presents grassroots women’s approaches to access justice with focus on land and property rights in Africa. This community empowerment-based research undertaken by the Huairou Commission and its partner groups across seven African countries – Cameroon, Ghana, Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe – showcases women’s rights challenges and effective strategies to improve women’s access to justice.

Pastoralists have a unique relationship of mutual dependency with their livestock and their environment; the uniqueness of this relationship distinguishes them from other livestock keepers. They depend highly on the environment where they develop their livelihood, that they make productive through highly adapted animals, but at the same time the quality of this environment depends on how well they take care of it, which in turns depends on complex social regulations and on large-scale mobility. The way they keep their animals forms part of their daily life and of a complex culture.

 Annoncés depuis un semestre, les ETP 2 ont été lancés le 3 juillet 2017 à Niamey, au Niger sous présidence effective du Ministre Délégué en charge de l’Elevage du Niger, M. Mohamed Boucha en présence du Représentant résident de la Banque mondiale, M. Siaka Bakayoko, du Charge du PRAPS NE, à la Banque mondiale, M/ Souleymane Fofana, l’ Administrateur Intérimaire du Centre Régional Agrhymet, Samba Souleymane Ly.

Extensive grazing is the predominant form of land use on at least a quarter of the world’s land surface, in which livestock are raised on food that comes mainly from rangelands. The term livestock includes both domesticated animals such as cattle, sheep, goats, camels, horses, llamas and alpacas, and a broad range of wild animals kept for meat or game viewing. It is estimated that tropical grasslands alone cover 18 million square kilometres, where the natural vegetation is used by mobile animals requiring forage and water throughout the year.

It is important for land managers and technical assistance specialists to be able to assess the health of rangelands in order to know where to focus management efforts. The complexity of ecological processes, and the inherent expense of directly measuring site integrity, suggests a need for an evaluation process that focuses instead on biological and physical attributes. In a collaborative effort, the USGS, ARS, BLM, and NRCS have jointly developed a system in which 17 indicators are used to gauge three attributes of rangeland health.

Participatory digital mapping using satellite imagery and digital earth and other open source Geographic Information Systems (GIS) is a practical tool bridging the knowledge and communication gap between pastoral communities and county government planners. It is offering an effective option for participatory planning and decision-making in support of climate change adaptation in the drylands of Kenya.

Garba Tula district in Isiolo County of Northern Kenya, is a region covering approximately 10,000km and home to around 40,000 predominantly Boran Pastoralists. The region is characterised by arid and semi-arid conditions and is rich in biodiversity and wildlife resources. Despite being surrounded by protected areas such as Meru National Park and Bisan Adi Game Reserve the full potential for conservation is not being met, and instead communities are often threatened and restricted by wildlife populations.

This report on harnessing pastoralists’ indigenous knowledge of rangeland management in three countries in East and the Horn of Africa is presented in two parts. The first part presents a review of the literature. The second presents the findings from the Orma in Tana River District of Kenya, the Afar in Amibara and Gawane Districts of the Afar Regional State in Ethiopia and the Karamojong in the Moroto District of Uganda.

Pastoralism has been under pressure due to a number of factors including climate change, population pressure and socioeconomic dynamism. These factors have affected the relationships among different pastoral groups and the functioning of the customary institutions in managing natural resources. Interference of the state structures into pastoral areas, land alienation for large scale investment and delineation of protected area from communal grazing areas have negatively affected the relationships between pastoralists and the state.

‘This study is in-depth, up-to-date and the first of its kind on a massive infrastructure development project in the region, examining its history, politics, evolution, the emergence of actors and interests and effects on the poor and marginalized. It presents the ambitions and ambiguities of a megaproject never seen in the development history of the region. The report is a comprehensive analysis of the hopes and fears emanating from a megaproject in the region and provides invaluable data on which future studies will certainly have to rely.’