AMBOSELI CONSERVATION PROGRAM
​Connecting skills to advance conservation knowledge and applications
  • Home
  • About ACP
  • The Amboseli Ecosystem
  • Collaborators
  • Library
  • News & Commentaries
  • Contacts

Community perceptions on rangeland resource dynamics in Amboseli

5/16/2017

 
By Sakimba Kimiti

In November 2016, Sakimba Kimiti, a research assistant with the Amboseli Conservation Program, defended his master’s titled, Rangeland Resource Dynamics and the Implications for Pastoral Livelihoods in the Amboseli Ecosystem, Kenya. Sakimba was interested in describing the local community knowledge, attitudes and perceptions of the extent of change in rangeland resources in Amboseli. Changes in the ecosystem monitored by ACP over the last few decades include land fragmentation, loss of grazing areas, changes in land tenure, restricted herd mobility due to increase in human settlements, changes in land use, and loss of pasture productivity. How well do local perceptions reflect the changes, and what is missing in the changes measured? Few studies have compared traditional and scientifically monitored information.
 
Sakimba integrated scientific approaches and local knowledge to assess changes in the Amboseli ecosystem over time, the causes of changes and the impact of the changes on pastoralists. He stratified the Amboseli ecosystem into nomadic, semi-nomadic and sedentary land uses under group tenure and private holdings. The four decades of change were divided into a pre-park period (1967-76), pre-settlement (1977-86), post-settlement (1987-2006) and the post-2009 drought.
 
From the resource maps drawn by the community, grazing areas have declined significantly over the period. The decline was more pronounced in the sedentary subdivided lands and the semi-nomadic locations, less so in nomadic locations. Areas of cultivation have also expanded over the period in both sedentary and semi-nomadic land sites. The changes have led to a reduction in household herd size in all the land locations, with the biggest declines in the sedentary land use sites.
 
The results of the study show that pastoralism remains a key livelihood strategy in Amboseli. Monitoring rangeland changes through community perceptions is a vital step in designing sustainable strategies for managing change and in strengthening participatory planning process.
 
Click link for full paper
Community perceptions on spatio-temporal land use changes in the Amboseli ecosystem, southern Kenya

Picture

Comments are closed.

    Amboseli Conservation Program

    Archives

    March 2023
    February 2023
    January 2023
    December 2022
    November 2022
    October 2022
    August 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    October 2021
    July 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    October 2019
    August 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    September 2018
    June 2018
    February 2018
    December 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    July 2016
    April 2016
    December 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    June 2015
    April 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    April 2014
    November 2013

    Categories

    All

    RSS Feed

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.