Controlling Land Degradation on Village Grazing Land

1. Controlling Land Degradation on Village Grazing Land

2. Village Grazing: Forming a Definition • Is it rangeland? • Is it communal land? • Is it any land on which village livestock are herded? • Is it land directly adjacent to the village or land within a prescribed distance from the village? • Who are the users? • What are its uses?

3. Definition Grazing land adjacent or in close proximity to a village settlement that offers all village livestock owners a degree of access to grazing.

4. Land Degradation and Overgrazing: The Issues • Overgrazing a definition: ‘grazing too many livestock for too long a period on land unable to recover its vegetation or of grazing animals on land unsuitable due to physical parameters such as slope.’ FAO 2002 • Carrying capacity/environmental constraints • Situation specific: e.g. West Africa, East African Highlands, Eastern Europe. • Dynamic not fixed

5. Overgrazing: The symptoms Pasture degradation • loss of vegetation as a result of selective grazing or browsing. • decrease in palatable perennial grasses and increase in annual grasses. • species rarity • bush encroachment (fire ban) • weed invasion • Overall decline in nutritional value of pasture.

6. Overgrazing: The Symptoms Continued Land degradation • reduced ground cover results in accelerated or increased erosion by wind or runoff. • areas are compacted by trampling and heavy use resulting in reduced infiltration and increased runoff leading to erosion

7. The Causes Behind the Symptoms: Overpopulation • Overpopulation leading to increased cultivation of grazing land and reduction in grazing land. • Unsuitability of much grazing land for cultivation.(Marginal land protected from erosion by vegetative cover) • Crop cultivation and deforestation as major agents of land degradation. • Fuel shortage leading to use of manure as fuel.

8. The Causes Behind the Symptoms: Land Insecurity • ‘The tragedy of the commons’ • ‘The tragedy of the individual’ (Bakema ed 1994) • Land tenure • Government policy • Indigenous management • Private ownership • Conflicts between users

9. Solutions: Technical • Quotas/destocking • Restricted access • Intensification(fencing) • Reseeding • Fertilization(mineral) • Fodder banks and fodder conservation • Chemical treatment of crop residues • Controlled burning/weed control • Erosion control measures: litter lines, stone lines, tree planting, fodder belts etc.

10. Possible Solutions: Socio-economic • Redistribution of property rights • Limited ownership? • Improved marketing facilities (destocking) • Multidisciplinary approach, inclusion of all stakeholders • Pilot projects building on indigenous knowledge vs. blanket solutions • Dispute and negotiation management (land tenure) • Engineering government policy to enable local level solutions. • Alternative non agri employment?

11. Barriers to Success 1.The Need for Consensus at: • Government level • Community level • Between government and community • Cohesion between levels and in policy. • The need for long term security and stability to make SC investment worthwhile. (Involves addressing non agri employment alternative employment, out migration, inheritance etc.) • The beneficiaries of interventions. • The importance of short term results. • Labour inputs.

12. North Gonder Ethiopia: A Case Study

15. LandCover Area % Highlands Estimated Soil Loss Milliont/yr Total Soil Loss % Annual Crops 15 342 33 Fallow Land 15 342 33 Grazing 55 149 14 Forests 5 3 - Badlands 5 190 18 Unproductive 5 14 2 Table 1: Soil Degradation in the Ethiopian Highlands Adapted from Stone Ed 1992.

17. Bibliography 1.     Angassa A et al (2000) Ecological Condition of Encroached and Non Encroached Rangelands in Borana, Ethiopia. African Journal of Ecology 38: 321-328. • 2.     Arnold et al (1991) Common Property Resource Management in India. Oxford Forestry Institute. • 3.     Bakema J B ed (1994) Land Tenure and Sustainable Use. Royal Tropical Institute. • 4.     Baker K M (2000) Indigenous Land Management in West Africa. OUP. • 5.     Behnke R H et al (1992) Rethinking Range Ecology: Implications for Rangeland Management in Africa. The World Bank Sector Policy and Research Staff. • 6.     Bulle A S (1998) Sustainable Management of Degraded Rangeland Areas. MSc Thesis University of Wales Bangor. 7.     FAO (1994) Farming Systems and Development and Soil Conservation. • 8.     Garnier W P (1994) Soil Conservation in the Highlands of Ethiopia. Msc Thesis University of Wales Bangor.

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