Welcome to the website of CELEP, an informal advocacy coalition of European organisations, groups and experts working in partnership with pastoralist organisations, groups and experts in Eastern Africa. Pastoralism is an extensive form of livestock keeping practiced in (semi-)arid lands in which among others seasonal livestock mobility and the strategic use of key natural resources are crucial elements. CELEP seeks to influence policy making in Europe to recognise and support Eastern African pastoralism as a sustainable viable livelihood system. On this website you will read about the latest news, documents and articles related to the activities of the CELEP coalition.
Feb 182011
Securing land tenure for pastoralists in Kenya is a major concern for policymakers from pastoral communities. Future Agricultures Consortium (FAC) and its partners CEMERIDE (Centre for Minority Rights Development) and PDNK (Pastoralists Development Network of Kenya) met with Members of Parliament (MPs) from pastoral communities. These expressed concern that, because pastoralists are losing large chunks of land to irrigated farming and private developers, they have become more vulnerable to drought for lack of adequate grazing areas. The meeting took stock of some of the critical policy issues that impact on pastoralists’ livelihoods. FAC researcher John Letai presented a policy briefing on key issues, including climate change, land tenure, policy responses to drought and pastoral development. The MPs invited FAC, CEMIRIDE and PDNK to form a working group on how researchers can more effectively use their findings to inform policy. Through the working group, FAC supports a series of consultative sessions with pastoral MPs on specific policy issues, with a session on land planned for 2012. It is also sharing research findings in regional consultations for the National Land Commission, which has been set up to collect evidence to inform forthcoming land-reform processes.
Water development can make or break pastoral land-use systems. RiPPLE (Research-inspired Policy and Practice Learning in Ethiopia and the Nile region) and partners in Ethiopia made a synthesis of experience over the last 40 years in the water development sector in the country’s pastoral regions. It reviewed the various approaches to water development and whether [...] Read more
May 152012
Much progress has been made in developing policy and legislation that support recognition of customary rights to land. However, many commons remain highly vulnerable, with land being removed by governments for national parks and large tracts appropriated for commercial agricultural investment. This is particularly true of the rangelands. Policies and legislation still fail to provide [...] Read more
Back in the 1980s, the drylands were being written off as overexploited wastelands. In 1987, the Drylands Programme of IIED (International Institute for Environment and Development) started to bring together researchers and NGOs in the drylands of sub-Saharan African who shared a different view. Through action research, targeted training and a wide range of publications, [...] Read more
Recent research by ASARECA, ILRI and other partners in eastern and central Africa has revealed the huge potential of drylands in attaining food security. It looks at dryland biodiversity and how this supports the livelihoods of pastoralists who manage the biodiversity and do not live from livestock alone. It found that policymakers tend to undervalue [...] Read more
Building on a regional analysis for the IGAD-FAO Livestock Policy Initiative, Yacob Aklilu and Andy Catley of Tufts University examined how different pastoralist wealth groups in Ethiopia benefit from livestock exports. Mind the Gap: Commercialization, Livelihoods and Wealth Disparity in Pastoralist Areas focuses on the Borana and Somali areas, and describes the growing formal trade [...] Read more