Boundary-making, resource governance and conflict: Exploring the capacity of land reform to promote sustainable pastoralism in East Africa

Pastoralism is the main livelihood in the drylands of East Africa; it is well adapted to conditions dictated by climate variability, making pastoralists well-positioned to adapt to the effects of climate change.

However, the capacity of pastoralists to access resources vital for their livelihood is under threat from a recent rush in investments and the privatization of pastoral land. A solution has been sought in the form of land reforms that formalize customary resource rights.

While some praise these reforms for securing pastoral land, others argue that formalization will jeopardize communal resource rights, and lead to conflicts.

Focusing on the opportunities and constraints that are created by boundary-making in the pastoral borderlands of Kenya and Uganda, this project will make an innovative contribution to the debate over the efficacy of customary land reforms to secure communal land and enable climate resilient forms of pastoralism.

Regional dynamics of land reforms are rarely considered in academic analyses or by stakeholders involved in their implementation. This is problematic in a region where pastoralists regularly traverse international boundaries.

The project’s multi-scalar approach to boundaries will provide a rare scientific lens to understand how land reforms in one country impact, and are contingent upon, those in another.

Through stakeholder collaboration, the results will generate innovative governance mechanisms for land reform implementation.