Can formalisation of pastoral land tenure overcome its paradoxes? Reflections from East Africa

Legal frameworks for communal land rights in Ethiopia, Kenya, and Tanzania are now gaining momentum. Questions can be raised as to whether, how, and to what extent these frameworks take into account the disadvantages of formalising tenure and the complexities of pastoral resources. In this paper, we...

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Main Authors: Robinson, Lance W., Flintan, Fiona E.
Format: Journal Article
Language:Inglés
Published: Springer 2022
Subjects:
Online Access:https://hdl.handle.net/10568/121082
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author Robinson, Lance W.
Flintan, Fiona E.
author_browse Flintan, Fiona E.
Robinson, Lance W.
author_facet Robinson, Lance W.
Flintan, Fiona E.
author_sort Robinson, Lance W.
collection Repository of Agricultural Research Outputs (CGSpace)
description Legal frameworks for communal land rights in Ethiopia, Kenya, and Tanzania are now gaining momentum. Questions can be raised as to whether, how, and to what extent these frameworks take into account the disadvantages of formalising tenure and the complexities of pastoral resources. In this paper, we consider the impact of these challenges on the formalisation of communal ownership, beginning with an overview of how commons theory has influenced land governance policies and how it is applied to pastoral systems. We identify the main challenges that land policy interventions in East Africa face and ways in which the conceptual models of shared property rights embodied in current land tenure regimes are not well adapted to the socio-ecological characteristics of some rangeland landscapes. We argue that policy interventions capable of overcoming the paradox of pastoral tenure and strengthening tenure security while addressing herders’ needs for mobility and flexibility will often involve the progressive recognition of layers of sometimes overlapping rights, rather than attempts to subdivide landscapes into simple mosaics of discrete communal territories. This paper is based on an analysis of the legal frameworks for land tenure in the three countries and a review of the literature on pastoralism and land governance in the region.
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spelling CGSpace1210822024-05-01T08:19:18Z Can formalisation of pastoral land tenure overcome its paradoxes? Reflections from East Africa Robinson, Lance W. Flintan, Fiona E. livestock pastoralism Legal frameworks for communal land rights in Ethiopia, Kenya, and Tanzania are now gaining momentum. Questions can be raised as to whether, how, and to what extent these frameworks take into account the disadvantages of formalising tenure and the complexities of pastoral resources. In this paper, we consider the impact of these challenges on the formalisation of communal ownership, beginning with an overview of how commons theory has influenced land governance policies and how it is applied to pastoral systems. We identify the main challenges that land policy interventions in East Africa face and ways in which the conceptual models of shared property rights embodied in current land tenure regimes are not well adapted to the socio-ecological characteristics of some rangeland landscapes. We argue that policy interventions capable of overcoming the paradox of pastoral tenure and strengthening tenure security while addressing herders’ needs for mobility and flexibility will often involve the progressive recognition of layers of sometimes overlapping rights, rather than attempts to subdivide landscapes into simple mosaics of discrete communal territories. This paper is based on an analysis of the legal frameworks for land tenure in the three countries and a review of the literature on pastoralism and land governance in the region. 2022-08-23 2022-09-05T10:17:19Z 2022-09-05T10:17:19Z Journal Article https://hdl.handle.net/10568/121082 en Open Access Springer Robinson, L. and Flintan, F. 2022. Can formalisation of pastoral land tenure overcome its paradoxes? Reflections from East Africa. Pastoralism 12:34.
spellingShingle livestock
pastoralism
Robinson, Lance W.
Flintan, Fiona E.
Can formalisation of pastoral land tenure overcome its paradoxes? Reflections from East Africa
title Can formalisation of pastoral land tenure overcome its paradoxes? Reflections from East Africa
title_full Can formalisation of pastoral land tenure overcome its paradoxes? Reflections from East Africa
title_fullStr Can formalisation of pastoral land tenure overcome its paradoxes? Reflections from East Africa
title_full_unstemmed Can formalisation of pastoral land tenure overcome its paradoxes? Reflections from East Africa
title_short Can formalisation of pastoral land tenure overcome its paradoxes? Reflections from East Africa
title_sort can formalisation of pastoral land tenure overcome its paradoxes reflections from east africa
topic livestock
pastoralism
url https://hdl.handle.net/10568/121082
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