Abstract
Over the last several decades there has been a transformation of the Samburu pastoral commons to new forms of land tenure and use. Government led land adjudication in the 1970s and 1980s established new forms of land ownership including group ranches and, in some places, complete privatization of land into individual parcels. An important question is what forms of land use and social relations emerge in the wake of land adjudication, and with what consequences? Can a “new commons” arise following transformation of the traditional commons? We address these questions by examining the aftermath of privatization in a Samburu community. Through ethnographic observations and interviews, we gain insight into peoples’ understanding of land use and current norms and practices and propose two diverse visions of the future – the “pastoralist imperative” of continued extensive livestock production and “future farmers” seeking a more settled, crop and wage labour-based livelihood. Using computer simulation models of the environment and households we conduct scenario analyses tracing the effects of land use practices and choices resulting from these different perspectives on variables such as livestock wealth, household income and food requirements, and ecological resources including grasses and shrubs. Our analysis suggests that privatization has yielded a “new commons” combining elements of individual ownership with shared management. These institutional innovations enable a continuation of extensive livestock production with new livelihood strategies that include a degree of land enclosure such as cultivation and land leasing. The analysis indicates that seemingly contradictory norms and practices can co-exist on the same land allowing considerable flexibility in production of livestock and crops. However, the models also demonstrate the limits that may be reached, particularly if common access is heavily curtailed.
Highlights
Pastoral livestock systems in Africa rely on access to large tracts of land enabling mobility in response to the semi-arid environment, spatial dispersion of rainfall and resultant pastures
An important question is what forms of land use and social relations emerge in the wake of land adjudication, and with what consequences? Can a “new commons” arise following transformation of the traditional commons? We address these questions by examining the aftermath of privatization in a Samburu community
Our analysis suggests that privatization has yielded a “new commons” combining elements of individual ownership with shared management
Summary
Pastoral livestock systems in Africa rely on access to large tracts of land enabling mobility in response to the semi-arid environment, spatial dispersion of rainfall and resultant pastures. Herders such as the Samburu of northern Kenya, discussed here, developed a specialized pastoral adaptation heavily reliant on livestock with minimal cultivation. Their survival in difficult environmental conditions may be attributed to successful joint management of extensive rangelands, social networks of reciprocity, and the tailoring of their production system to the environment (Dahl and Hjort 1976; Scoones 1994). How does it continue? What forms of land use and social relations emerge in the wake of land adjudication, and with what consequences? Can a “new commons” arise following transformation of the traditional commons?
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