Welcome to the website of the Coalition of European Lobbies for Eastern African Pastoralism (CELEP), an informal advocacy group of European organisations and specialists partnering with pastoralist organisations and specialists in Eastern Africa. The members and partners of the Coalition combine forces to lobby their national governments and European and Eastern African bodies to explicitly recognise and support pastoralism and pastoralists in the drylands of Eastern Africa. We are also in the core team of the international movement that succeeded in gaining UN designation of the International Year of Rangelands & Pastoralists in 2026. On this website for our Coalition, you can find the latest news, documents and articles related to the activities and interests of CELEP.
Articles
28/01/2026
By:
United Nations declares 2026 International Year of Rangelands and Pastoralists
The United Nations General Assembly declared 2026 the International Year of Rangelands and Pastoralists (IYRP), to be formally implemented by the FAO. This paper (United Nations declares 2026 International Year of Rangelands & Pastoralists), published in Cambridge Prisms: Drylands in December 2025, introduces the IYRP and associated Global Alliance for Rangelands & Pastoralists (GA4RP) by […]
17/02/2025
By:
Pastoral grazing in Tanzania’s Village Forest Reserves
The relations between pastoralism and forestry have long been antagonistic in the eyes of foresters and environmental planners. The paper “Pastoral grazing in Tanzania’s Village Forest Reserves: unearthing extra-ecological motives for (in-)compatibility” by Benezet Rwelengera and Jumanne Abdallah (published 2024 in the Journal of the Geographical Association of Tanzania 44(2): 53–75) examines what shapes the […]
19/01/2025
By:
Contested conservation frontiers involving pastoralists in northern Kenya
The 2024 article “Contested conservation frontiers: resource wars, power play, and violence in Samburu and Isiolo Counties” by Clifford Okwany & Evelyne Owino, published in the Journal of Autonomy and Security Studies 8(1): 30–60 (https://doi.org/10.61199/jass.144600) examines informal arrangements between the Northern Rangeland Trust (NRT), pastoralist communities and state actors in Isiolo and Samburu Counties related […]
14/01/2025
By:
IYRP Policy brief on pastoralists’ land rights
Consistently with the CELEP’s understanding of pastoralism, this IYRP policy brief on Securing Land Rights for Pastoralism calls for seven priority actions to meet the challenges facing pastoralists’ use of rangelands — a global perspective also highly relevant to pastoralists in East Africa: Guarantee in the law pastoralists’ right of access to land for their […]
16/12/2024
By:
Ngorongoro Maasai community meets with President of Tanzania
On 1 December 2924, 150 Maasai delegates from Ngorongoro, Loliondo and Sale met with Tanzanian President Samia Suluhu Hassan at the State House in Arusha. Over the last two years, different actors have been urging the Government of Tanzania to create space for dialogue between the Government and Maasai communities living in Ngorongoro and Loliondo […]
