Moving herds, changing paradigms: about pastoralism in East Africa

The InfoPoint Lunch-time conference on Moving herds, changing paradigms: about pastoralism in East Africa took place on 11 October 2016.

Pastoralism or (semi-) mobile livestock keeping is increasingly under threat in many African countries due to changes in land use and management, climate change and conflict. At the same time, pastoralists develop ingenious ways to cope with these old and new challenges. During the lunch-conference, some hands-on experiences from dealing with these challenges were presented by civil society representatives from Eastern Africa.

Edward Loure described the work of the Ujamaa Community Resource Team (UCRT) which works to empower marginalised pastoralists in the rangelands of northern Tanzania to secure rights to their natural resources and land. UCRT helps these communities by representing their land rights, advocating on their behalf to local and national government, and  securing legal ownership of their traditional lands. Edward Loure is a Goldman Environmental Prize winner for his work with UCRT.

Shoba Liban of the Pastoralist Women for Health and Education described how the community organisation works with pastoralist communities in Kenya, particularly women and youth, through the use of appropriate strategies and best practices. She also works with the Pastoralist Development Network of Kenya which identifies gaps in policies that affect pastoralist’s communities in Kenya by mobilizing communities to interrogate and generate issues of concern in their respective regions. 

Peter Ken Otieno described the work of the Resource Conflict Institute, Kenya, with pastoralists, including the Rangelands Initiative which aims to improve the tenure security of local rangelands users through improved implementation of the enabling policy and legislation.