Land tenure & sustainable pastoralism in East Africa & the Andes

The ELLA (Evidence and Lessons from Latin America) Research Paper “Land tenure and the sustainability of pastoral productive systems: a comparative institutional analysis of the Andean altiplano and the East African savannah” (2017, 32pp) by Gerardo Damonte et al analyses the relationship between pastoral land-tenure systems and the sustainability of pastoralism as a production system in the Andean high plateau and the Kenyan savanna.
It identifies five types of collective land regimes in these areas. It explores how these land-tenure systems have changed over time and analyses the impacts on the sustainability of pastoralism in these very different ecological, social and cultural environments.
The authors find that collective land tenure is positively correlated with the sustainability of pastoral production systems, whereas individualisation of land tenure discourages these practices. Yet public policy in Kenya and the Andes region has favoured land privatisation in recent years, thereby threatening the survival of pastoralist communities.
It is recommended that public policy be re-oriented to help pastoralist communities maintain collective land-tenure regimes. Policies should seek to strengthen community governance mechanisms to effectively manage land and should support collective action among herders to improve access to markets and strengthen their bargaining power.

Posted on 18 August 2017 in Pastoralism & Natural Resources, Pastoralism, Mobility & Land Tenure, Pastoralism, Policy & Power