Tanzania rangelands: National dialogue proposes new measures for sustainable land use and conflict-free use of rangelands

Key recommendations whose implementation will ensure the sustainable and conflict-free use of rangelands in Tanzania were proposed last month following a national dialogue of land sector stakeholders in the country.

Promoting village land use planning is one way of securing the future of Tanzania’s rangelands (photo credit: ILRI/Fiona Flintan).

The proposed measures include:

• upscaling village land use planning and particularly joint village land planning where resources such as grazing area shared across village boundaries;
• increasing the budget allocation for livestock development;
• developing improved legal frameworks to support pastoralism and livestock keeping;
• promoting dialogue between state and non-state actors and strengthening pastoral associations to increase lobbying of the government for greater attention to pastoralism;
• improving cross-sectoral coordination and enhancing cooperation between ministries;
• increasing research to generate evidence on livestock to inform livestock interventions;
• building the capacity of farmers and pastoralists in participatory rangeland management and sustainable land management; and
• harmonizing the ongoing policies to promote livestock and wildlife co-existence in rangelands.

The national dialogue took place in Morogoro town on 26-27 February 2018. It was attended by 36 representatives mainly from civil society, and non-governmental organizations working in rangelands. Participants developed key recommendations and policy statements that will be presented at a high-level meeting with the government later this year.

‘It is important to have a common vision for the future of pastoralism in Tanzania if pastoralism is to survive as a land use system’, said Ole Adam Mwarabu, co-chair of the NES Rangelands Working Group of Tanzania’s National Engagement Strategy (NES) on land.

Among the key challenges in rangelands management discussed were:

• lack of information on livestock and livestock issues;
• improving the productivity of pastoralism as a land use system;
• the marginalisation of indigenous knowledge on pastoralism and rangelands; and
• the need for harmony in legal frameworks such as the Wildlife Conservation Act No 5 of 2009 and the Village Land Act No 5 of 1999.

The dialogue was organized by the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI)-led Sustainable Rangeland Management Project (SRMP), the Ministry of Livestock and Fisheries, the National Land Use Planning Commission, and local civil society organizations including the Agricultural Non-State Actors Forum (ANSAF), the coordination unit of NES and  the NES Rangelands Working Group. NES is supported by ILC as a structure and process through which ILC members and partners can mobilise, connect and influence land issues at national level.

SRMP aims to improve rangeland management through securing grazing land and the development and implementation of rangeland management plans. It is implemented by ILRI in collaboration with the Ministry of Livestock and Fisheries and the National Land Use Planning Commission. It is funded by the International Fund for Agricultural Development, Irish Aid, ILC, ILRI and the Government of Tanzania.