Fauna, Fire, and Farming: Landscape Formation over the Past 200 years in Pastoral East Pokot, Kenya (original) (raw)
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Pastoralism, Biodiversity, and the Shaping of Savanna Landscapes in East Africa
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Journal of Eastern African Studies, 2016
Oral evidence from pastoral Pokot on vegetation changes in the rangelands of northern Baringo District points to major changes in structure and biodiversity composition over the past century. A landscape of perennial grasses has turned into an Acaciadominated bush-land. Pelil (Acacia nubica), talamogh (Acacia mellifera), or anyua (Acacia reficiens), which characterise the pastoral landscape today, have increased rapidly since the 1950s. This article compares perceptions of current changes in grass compositions with former accounts, highlighting local assessments of declining high-quality grasses such as abrute (Brachiaria deflexa, Setaria homonyma) or puyun (Eragrostis cilianensis). The changes described are linked to a number of causal factors (high grazing pressure, restriction of pastoral mobility, increasing population numbers), allowing us to historicise the profound change in landscape vegetation. The costs and benefits of bush encroachment are also examined. The tremendous increase in goat numbers, and the sizeable growth of camel herds, is closely connected to the increased availability of fodder plants for browsers. The article concludes by contrasting the views expressed on landscape by Pokot elders with scientific accounts of environmental change.
Biodiversity and Conservation, 2014
For centuries, pastoralists have influenced savanna ecology through their construction of settlements, traditional movement patterns in search of forage, water and safety for their livestock. Construction of settlements initiates localised changes in the vegetation due to clearance of vegetation at construction and collection of construction materials. During the occupation period a lot of dung is deposited in and around settlements. When pastoral families abandon settlements and move away, they leave behind mud huts and livestock corrals surrounded by fences. These sites become nutrient-rich patches supporting a different abundance and diversity of plants and large mammals compared to the rest of the savanna. This study aimed to broaden our understanding of how pastoral land use influences plant diversity in East African savannas. Past work on the effects of settlements has been done in dry places (\600 mm rainfall) with relatively poor soils. To complement and extend these studies, we selected a contrasting site with high
Ecosphere, 2017
Herbivory and fire are important drivers of ecosystem processes within African rangelands. We explore whether mid-Holocene African savannas were dominated by herbivory as a means of cycling nutrients, and whether fire perhaps played a lesser role than today. Evidence from savanna ecology, paleoecology, and historical literature indicates higher herbivore densities in mid-Holocene and pre-colonial times compared to present. While fire may increase or decrease forage availability for herbivores, depending on the nutrient status of the environment, herbivory tends to decrease fire intensity and frequency by decreasing fuel loads. Given this competitive relationship between fire and herbivory and the higher herbivore densities of the past, we suggest that some fire-dominated present-day savannas are the product of anthropogenic alterations in herbivore and fire regimes, including the increasing use of fire as a tool for managing ecosystems. We discuss whether managing for an alternative stable state dominated by herbivory could stimulate ecosystem processes such as nutrient cycling and production, and whether this will achieve the same management objectives traditionally satisfied by fire. Management implications may include the adaptive manipulation of herbivore densities over time and space to maintain an appropriate carrying capacity for the rainfall and soil nutrient status of the area, occasional use of fire, and including a diversity of herbivore functional guilds.
2003
In both Shinyanga, Tanzania and Turkana, Kenya, woodlands have been degraded over time, due to agricultural expansion, clearing to eradicate tsetse fly, famine camps, and past policy failures. This study analyzes the reasons for degradation, and examines what the key factors are which led to successful restoration of woodlands in both Shinyanga and Turkana. The study covers approximately fifteen years of restoration work, and is based on past and on going work, combined with action research. Basing the restoration on clearly identified local needs for tree products, and reviving and recognizing local institutional arrangements for natural resource management has been key to success. Turkana pastoralists in northern Kenya, and Sukuma agro pastoralists in Shinyanga, Tanzania, show how important trees are as components of natural resource and risk management in dry, risk-prone environments. The Turkana demonstrated that they can restore and manage forests to provide vital dry season and drought time food and fodder as a key component of land and risk management. Using traditional institutions and management systems, the people restored over 30,000 Ha. of Acacia woodland. In Shinyanga, the Sukuma revitalized the institution of Ngitili, or enclosure, and broadened its usage to include a wide range of woodland goods and services. Over 15 years, approximately 250,000 Ha were restored. External support was small and sensitively applied to foster local ownership. One crucial element of this, is the safety net functions that the restored forests fulfill during dry seasons, and drought times. As a result, risk is mitigated, and livelihoods can be better secured and improved. BACKGROUND-A PAST HISTORY OF DEGRADATION AND LACK OF ACKNOWLEDGEMENT OF IMPORTANCE OF LOCAL NATURAL RESOURCE MANAGEMENT Both the Sukuma and Turkana have customary mechanisms for conserving important areas of woodland as a source of multiple products for livestock and people, especially during dry and drought times. Traditional knowledge about natural resource management is an important basis for improving land use (Barrow et al. 1992; Dery et al. 1999). Farmers, through years of traditional experimentation, have developed strategies to cope with environmental and production problems (Otsyina et al. 1993). "Ngitili", or enclosure, in Shinyanga involves the conservation of range lands for use in the dry seasons. Ngitili developed in response to acute fodder shortages due to droughts, diminishing grazing land due to increased cropping, rapidly declining land productivity, and shortages of herding labour (Kilahama 1994; Maro 1997; Otsyina et al. 1993). While the Turkana have well-developed means of coping with dry and drought times through the setting aside of reserved grazing areas (Amaire), and family owned areas of important trees (Ekwar (Barrow 1990). These traditional mechanisms are important for the management of natural resources, but have been, until recently, ignored as tools for development and change. As a result the degradation that has taken place has been mainly due to external changes and interventions. Shinyanga region was extensively forested (Malcolm 1953), varying from Miombo woodland to Acacia bushland in the drier areas. Forest and woodland degradation in Shinyanga region has been caused by the clearing of forests to eradicate tsetse flies, over-grazing, uncontrolled bush fires, clearing of land for agricultural expansion and increased wood demand, in particular for fuel (Barrow et al. 1988): Eradicating Tsetse Fly: Between 1925 and about 1947 major efforts were made to clear forests in unreserved land to eradicate tsetse flies. However, from the early 1980s, complete clearing of forests was stopped. Currently, selective felling of some trees and shrubs is practised (Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock 1997). Cash Crop Expansion: In the early 1900's, agricultural production in Shinyanga region was confined to subsistence crops like sorghum and millet. By the early 1940s, large scale cultivation of cotton and tobacco had been introduced, accompanied by extensive clearing of forests, which has been the major source of deforestation in
Woodlands and Livelihoods of African Pastoralists: The Massai of Kajiado, Kenya
Journal of Social Sciences, 2001
A survey study was conducted in Kajiado district, Kenya to document families and species of woody vegetation important in the livelihood systems of the Maasai. Data was collected from a total of 150 pastoralists comprising of the youth (< 30 years), middle-aged (31-50 years), and elderly (> 51 years) age group. The study revealed six key roles of woody vegetation, that is, medicinal, environmental signals, homestead and corral fencing, woodfuel, livestock fodder, and poisons to livestock. For each category, the most common families and species of woody plants were reported.
Mid- to late-Holocene vegetation dynamics on the Laikipia Plateau, Kenya
The Holocene, 2005
Interactions between Holocene environmental changes and human subsistence strategies in semiarid parts of eastern Africa are relatively poorly understood because of a paucity of sites where contemporaneous archaeological and palaeoenvironmental records are preserved. This paper presents new AMS '4C-dated palaeoenvironmental evidence of midto late-Holocene vegetation changes, in the form of pollen, charcoal, mineralogical and &'Cb,Ik data, from a floodplain location on the Laikipia Plateau, Kenya, and in the context of information on modern plant-environment relationships, existing and new archaeological and historical data, and published palaeoclimatic records. Although relatively poorly resolved, the evidence indicates more wooded and relatively humid conditions compared with the present from before c. 6600 BP to c. 1900 BP. Evidence for vegetation changes over the last two millennia is more finely resolved and indicates increased burning and the expansion of fire-modified Acacia bushland c. 1900 BP and grassland c. 1700 BP. Burning to improve and extend pasture, and possibly to eradicate diseaseprone habitats, may have been facilitated by prolonged periods of moisture deficits that might also have facilitated the spread of food production technologies. Vegetation changes c. 700 BP are associated with evidence for the occurrence of fires locally and could represent the activities of people and their animals close to the study site.
African Journal of Range & Forage Science, 2014
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