Kenya is the most recent African state to acknowledge customary tenure as producing lawful property rights, not merely rights of occupation and use on government or public lands. This paper researches this new legal environment. This promises land security for 6 to 10 million Kenyans, most of who are members of pastoral or other poorer rural communities. Analysis is prefaced with substantial background on legal trends continentally, but the focus is on Kenya’s Community Land Act, 2016, as the framework through which customary holdings are to be identified and registered.

Land-use conflict is not a new phenomenon for pastoralists and farmers in Tanzania with murders, the killing of livestock and the loss of property as a consequence of this conflict featuring in the news for many years now. Various actors, including civil society organisations, have tried to address farmer–pastoralist conflict through mass education programmes, land-use planning, policy reforms and the development of community institutions. However, these efforts have not succeeded in the conflict. Elsewhere in sub-Saharan Africa traditional systems are not making much headway either.

1 Background The Pastoral and Agro-Pastoral Land Tenure and Administration Study (PALTAS) was launched because of the compelling need to identify and recommend policy that clarify and strengthen the land rights of pastoralists and agro-pastoralists and put in place appropriate administrative mechanisms to enforce their rights. It was designed to assess the land tenure problems in the pastoral and agro-pastoral areas of Oromia, SNNP, Gambella, Afar, and Somali regional states.

Introduction: Water as a range management tool The pastoral system - the inter-relationship between livestock, natural resources and people / institutions - has evolved to function effectively and efficiently in areas of low and unpredictable rainfall, using mobility as one of the key adaptation strategies. Although having undergone changes over the years, the pastoralist system comprises fundamental elements which have allowed it to persist for millennia.

Pastoralism is a livelihood system based on free-grazing animals that is used by communities in marginal areas. The land may be marginal for various reasons, including poor water supply or soil quality, extreme tem - peratures, steep slopes and remote - ness. Pastoralism enables communi - ties to manage their resources in a sustainable, independent and flexible way. It is marked by rights to com - mon resources, customary values and ecosystem services. Some pastoralists combine livstockkeeping with growing crops for food or forage.

The Voluntary Guidelines on the Responsible Governance of Tenure of Land, Fisheries and Forests in the Context of National Food Security are a new international instrument that can be used by peasant, fishing and pastoralist organisations, indigenous peoples, the landless, women and youth, and civil society as a whole, to assert their rights.

This Practitioners’ Guide provides the step-by-step instructions and checklists that will guide a mapping team through a mapping exercise.

Protection of pastoralist land resources has taken on a new urgency in light of the rapidly expanding global and national demand for land and land-based natural resources for large-scale commercial agricultural production, conservation initiatives, and mining. These activities threaten pastoralist land use systems.

A Field Manual to support planning and management in rangelands including in Village Land Use Planning

This issue paper No. 6 of the Rangelands Series consolidates a set of case studies which document how pastoralists plan land and resource use in pastoral and agro-pastoral areas of Ethiopia. 

No.7 issue of the Rangelands Series goes through experiences of joint village land use agreements and planning.

Marsabit County is situated in the northern part of Kenya, bordering the Republic of Ethiopia to the north and Lake Turkana to the west. With approximately 66,000 square kilometres of which 4,956 km2 are covered by Lake Turkana, the foremost part of Marsabit County is an extensive plain which lies between 300m and 900m above sea level. It is characterized by a population density averaging 2 persons per km2 and a distribution varying between 1 person up to 22 persons per km2, depending on the scarcity of water as well as the amount of permanent and semi-permanent settlements.