Climate variability and flexibility in resource access: the case of pastoral mobility in Northern Kenya

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In many regions of the world, property rights to natural resources are held under various forms of communal ownership, which often exhibit flexibility for users to access different resources depending on relative need. This paper explores the links between climate variability, transactions costs associated with resource access, and patterns of herd mobility in northern Kenya. Results indicate that greater spatial variability of vegetation leads to greater herd mobility, and that higher transaction costs reduce mobility for herds engaged in long-distance movements. Moreover, long-distance mobility is higher in drought years only in those communities with greater spatial and seasonal variability of vegetation.