Integration of herder knowledge and ecological methods for land degradation assessment around sedentary settlements in a sub-humid zone in northern Kenya

Abstract

The debate on land degradation and desertification associated with sedentarisation of pastoral communities in the Sahelian zone remains contentious. Discussions of land degradation from the perspective of local communities shapes human perceptions where local peoples' narratives provide personal experiences of environmental change. Local community participation in assessing and monitoring land degradation around pastoralist settlements has important implications for implementation of the Global Convention on Combating Desertification (CCD) and the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD). Previously, ecologists assessed impacts on the vegetation, while herders were hardly involved. In this study, we integrated indigenous knowledge of herders and ecological methods (IKEM) to assess the impacts of sedentarisation on vegetation in a sub-humid zone in northern Kenya. Degradation of vegetation around two settlements 10 to 30 years old was inferred from herder knowledge of land-use history, perception of environmental change and joint assessments of vegetation change radiating from settlements compared to the benchmark (a forest reserve). Despite the high stocking densities near settlements and the history of continuous grazing, there was no evidence of vegetation cover loss. Rather, bush cover had increased, while palatable grass species had declined. Herders blamed official banning of fires, episodic rainfall and grazing pressure for the change. From the herders' perspective, changes in vegetation structure and composition reduced land-use suitability for livestock production; while from an ecological perspective, overall classical land degradation was not confirmed. The differences could influence utility of the land. The paper discusses the results in the wider context of global environmental conventions using the IKEM framework.

Keywords:

• INDIGENOUS KNOWLEDGE
• ECOLOGICAL METHODS
• GLOBAL ENVIRONMENTAL CONVENTIONS
• LAND DEGRADATION
• PASTORALISTS
• SEDENTARISATION