Grasslands of the World.pdf - Disasters and Conflicts - UNEP

The changing face of pastoral systems in grass-dominated ecosystems of eastern Africa 51
and land cover in different ways. Previous to the control , a strong increase in
the severity of the trypanosomiasis caused massive loss of livestock, farmers
were unable to plough as effectively and the area of cropland contracted by
25 percent. Changes after tsetse control were slow to appear on the land itself,
with nearly a five-year delay in impact on land use, although there was a more
immediate impact on livestock health and populations. Changes were bi-directional
and varied in speed, with both intensification and dis-intensification
(Conelly, 1994; Snyder, 1996) occurring within the same landscape , sometimes
slowly and sometimes rapidly.
These changes in land use caused profound changes in ecological properties
and the structure of the valley’s ecosystems (Reid et al., 2000b). When land use
expanded, large areas of woodland were cleared for cultivation and firewood
became more scarce. As human populations grew, plants with medicinal value
became more rare and the large herds of grazing herbivores were decimated.
Most of the biodiversity in the valley is limited to the narrow ribbons of woodland
along the rivers; it is these rich woodlands that farmers began to clear after
successful tsetse control (Reid et al., 1997; Wilson et al., 1997).
CURRENT RESEARCH IN PASTORAL SYSTEMS OF EASTERN AFRICA
Management of grasslands
Management regimes for the grasslands of eastern Africa generally fall into
three types : (1) state-managed for tourism and ranching; (2) commercial use
for livestock or crop production; or (3) traditional management by pastoral
and agropastoral groups. Livestock production, particularly cattle , is the major
use for rangelands, with over 100 million head of livestock in the rangelands
of eastern Africa (Herlocker, 1999). There is also a growing market for meat
from wildlife , which is being met through commercial ranching and culling in
the region. Grassland management is linked to use by livestock and wildlife,
and there is often conflict between their exploitation for commercial income
generation and the more sustainable management regimes of traditional groups.
Wildlife -based tourism is of particular importance for generation of state, private
and community income in the rangelands of Kenya (Plate 2.8) and Tanzania
(Myers, 1972) and to a lesser extent in Uganda and Ethiopia. Recent efforts to
privatize land and introduce more livestock are also changing the way people
interact with wildlife.
Government development projects have focused on improving the productivity
of the rangelands and increased livestock production from common
property resources . The World Bank has sponsored several projects on rangeland
management , including in Somalia , Kenya and Ethiopia. Earlier projects
focused on increasing the productivity of rangelands for livestock production
and several included formation of pastoral associations, which dealt with grazing
rights and policies. These projects had disappointing results due to the
parastatal organizational form, inappropriate technologies and poor apprecia-