Herder Perceptions on Impacts of Range Enclosures, Crop Farming, Fire Ban and Bush Encroachment on the Rangelands of Borana, Southern Ethiopia

Abstract

This study focuses on community-based knowledge to analyze the impacts of range enclosures, crop farming, fire suppression and bush encroachment on the communal rangelands of Borana, southern Ethiopia. The knowledge of local herders is the basis for decision making in the utilization and management of grazing lands. We used Borana oral history associated with the period of the gada system to reconstruct environmental change that spans a period of 48 years. Our results show that the use of communities' perceptions as a basis for evaluating the impacts of land use change on the environment makes an important methodological contribution. Communities' responses to changing land use resulted in the development of range enclosures, the expansion of crop farming and the fragmentation of the communal rangelands, while the suppression of fire contributed to the expansion of bush encroachment. The overall impact was forage scarcity and greater vulnerability of stock during drought years. We conclude that policymakers could use communities' knowledge of environmental change to improve the use of the rangelands. We propose that sustainable use of the southern rangelands in the future will require a greater focus on regulating the expansion of enclosures, crop farming and ranching, as well as reintroducing fire where necessary, to control the expansion of bush cover.

Pastoralists’ Perception and Ecological Knowledge on Savanna Ecosystem Dynamics in Semi-arid Botswana

“…Furthermore, the pastoral communities indicated that the increase in encroacher woody plants in rangelands suppresses grass productivity, which reduces grazing area for livestock. This is in agreement with results of studies conducted in other parts of Botswana (Dougill et al 1999) and elsewhere (Angassa and Oba 2008b), which also show that bush encroachment is common in rangelands. Bush encroachment therefore threatens the livelihoods of pastoral communities (Angassa and Oba 2008a), especially in developing countries.…”

Harnessing pastoralists' indigenous knowledge for rangeland management: three African case studies

“…In African rangelands where scientific research is often patchy or non-existent, the pastoral communities have continued to rely on their systems of indigenous knowledge of rangeland management to make decisions that influence their livelihoods (Leach et al 1999;Kyagaba 2004;Mapinduzi et al 2003;Palmer and Wadley 2007;Angassa and Oba 2008;Roba and Oba 2009). In this study, we have used a research framework to understand how this knowledge functions using three case study communities.…”

Herders’ perception of climate change does not always fit with actual climate change

“…The proper utilisation and management of grazing lands depends on the decision-making of the local herders (Angassa and Oba 2008). It is important, therefore, that the perceptions of herders match the knowledge that is available so that the appropriate decisions are made.…”