TheImprovement ofTropical and Subtropical Rangelands

T11B aOorAL OONTl:XT FOR RANQIILAND IMPROVEMENT 47
FIGURE 2-3
Camel miIkiDr in JIarpJaa. llonJaem Somalia. (A. Elml)
delimit group ranches and grazing blocks. Theee attempts have in
BOme cues restricted the growth of herds and have probably reduced
overgrazing. but they also can restrict mobility if strictly enforced.
As mentioned earlier, the fluid, often vague, boundaries between the
areu used by different pastoral groupe facilitated mobility. Overly
rigid enforcement of theee rules CaD confine animals to too small an
area or, if not enforced, boundaries may be ignored. If local groupe
still manage resources, the fluidity of boundaries may not be a problem,
but ifreforms have eliminated or modified the ability to control
grazing, then once again the creation of a common resource may be
required where one previously did not exist.
The gfowth of market economies, aDd the adoption of new technologies
that this growth permits, have also reduced the viability of
traditional resource management strategies. In a subsistence economy,
one's survival is directly linked to the local environment. One
exploits a wide variety of resources, but one's survival over time depends
on the sustained productivity of the immediate environment.
The introduction of a market economy chaDges this. First, ODe can
specialise in animal productiOD or in the cutting offuelwood. To do
so means that one can increase one's standard of livinl by intelUle1y
[ 1.)ltIZ 'd byCoogIe