Maasai herding & land use in flux

Pastoral livelihoods are evolving rapidly. The emergence of globalised markets and the integration of globalised production in developing countries have forced many pastoralists to shift their economic strategies of production to accommodate these evolving markets. The paper “Pastoralist societies in flux: a conceptual framework analysis of herding and land use among the Mukugodo Maasai of Kenya” by Stephanie Hauck and Daniel Rubenstein, published in Pastoralism: Research, Policy and Practice (2017) 7:18 (10pp), describes the relationship between globalisation and change in pastoralist behaviour in recent years. It focuses on the links among climate, land use and herding in Laikipia County, Kenya, using a conceptual framework that incorporates traditional interactions between pastoral ecology and resource generation and modern opportunities by linking pastoral families via their pastoral and other economic activities to the cash economy, modern diets and nutritional status (health), and public and private assistance and programmes (such as food aid).

Posted on 5 August 2017 in Pastoralism & Marketing, Pastoralism, Mobility & Land Tenure, Pastoralist Livelihoods & Nutrition