32989 Integrating the Indigenous Knowledge of Borana Pastoralists into Rangeland Management Strategies in Southern Ethiopia R clusters to the neighbouring SomaliAd- NotesKI angeland management in Borana: past and present ministrative Region. This effectively denied the Borana access to the most Pastoralists' indigenous knowledge (IK) fertile pastures, destroyed reciprocal about ecology and social organisation led to arrangements between Borana and rangeland-management strategies appro- Somali pastoral communities and fu- priate to deal with the erratic rainfall inAf- elled ethnic conflict. The extension rican drylands. Herd mobility was tradition- services favoured cultivation within ally practised as the key strategy to make valuable grazing areas and blocked use of the scattered rangeland resources herd movements. The official ban on on a large scale. Communal resource-ten- rangeland burning and the establish- ure regimes were designed for extended ment of private commercial ranches user groups to coordinate access to shared exacerbated the disruption of the grazing resources in normal years and to Borana's traditional resource-use sys- allow for negotiations over use of key re- tem. The experience in Borana show http://www.worldbank.org/afr/ik/default.htm sources during times of scarcity. The very clearly that ignoring pastoralists' Borana pastoralists in southern Ethiopia IK contributes to progressive degrada- and northern Kenya developed an excep- tion of rangelands, erosion of important tionally efficient system of managing natu- social structures and poverty among ral resources. The supply of permanent the pastoral population. water was limited to clusters of deep wells The challenge for future pastoral de- in a central area. Access to water deter- velopment planning is to design practi- mined the utilisation of the surrounding pas- cal concepts for revitalising tures. Herds were moved between dry- pastoralists' IK. The solution is not to and wet-season pastures. Social romanticise this, but rather to support No. 81 organisation coordinated and enforced de- the proven practices and to redirect cisions in rangeland management among June 2005 multiple resource users. Specialised in IK Notes reports periodically on cattle husbandry, the Borana reached an Indigenous Knowledge (IK) initiatives outstanding level of productivity in terms of in Sub-Saharan Africa and occasionally livestock and rangeland resources. on such initiatives outside the Region. However, research and development inter- It is published by the Africa Region's ventions ignored the Borana knowledge Knowledge and Learning Center as part of an evolving IK partnership and skills in rangeland management. Inter- between the World Bank, communi- ventions aimed at increasing rangeland ties, NGOs, development institutions production started in the 1970s. Construc- and multilateral organizations. The tion of watering ponds in wet-season graz- views expressed in this article are those of the authors and should not be World Bank ing areas was intended to release grazing attributed to the World Bank Group pressure from the dry-season pastures. In- or its partners in this initiative. A stead, it opened the wet-season area up for webpage on IK is available at // year-round grazing and attracted www.worldbank.org/afr/ik/ unconrangelands and two important well default.htm 2 external interventions in order to support pastoralists' strate- graded rapidly. The herders from Web had no wet-season gies in securing their livelihoods. Innovative approaches are grazing areas for their mobile herds and became confined to needed to integrate indigenous and external knowledge in areas closer to the deep wells. Within this group of development planning and decision making. Lessons can be pastoralists, the gap in wealth remained less and most house- drawn from research that explored possibilities of IK-based holds continued to cooperate in managing very small herds. pastoral development in the Borana rangelands of southern This comparison shows that possibilities for herd move- Ethiopia. A stepwise approach generated specific knowl- ment have been drastically reduced.Availability of water lost edge on pastoralists' rangeland-management strategies and its function of regulating the spatial organisation of grazing. helped to understand the current constraints to applying The Borana have almost ceased to distinguish between pas- them. tures for milking herds and pastures for more mobile herds. Separate grazing systems evolved in Dida Hara and Web, reinforced by different socio-economic trends. Analysing Steps in exploring IK-based rangeland management pastoralists' IK thus revealed the rationale of local range- land-management strategies and the negative effects of in- Identifying IK in rangeland management terventions in the name of pastoral "development". Two locations in Borana were compared. These differed in terms of functions within the traditional grazing system and Comparing changes in indigenous institutions the extent of external interference. Web is a traditional dry- Changes in Borana institutions regulating natural resource season grazing area with one of the oldest clusters of deep management were analysed through participatory commu- wells. Dida Hara is a former wet-season grazing area nity meetings. Following the traditional rules, the elders in where the construction of watering ponds induced year- Dida Hara and Web were invited to delegate participants to round grazing and uncontrolled settlement. On the basis of the meetings, held at the traditional meeting places. The pastoralists' rangeland classification, seasonal land-use pat- pastoralists were split into two groups and drew Venn dia- terns were identified. Participatory land-use mapping was grams to show all institutions relevant for natural resource combined with GPS measurements of land-use categories use ­ one group depicting the current institutions and the and with herd mobility calendars. other depicting the situation before the development inter- Herd movements have reduced considerably over time: 30 ventions. The groups jointly presented the completed Venn years ago, Borana rangeland management was organised diagrams and discussed the differences. over large areas.. The permanent encampments were clus- The comparison showed how the organised access to tered near the traditional deep wells, the only permanent natural resources had been disturbed. Traditionally, large- source of water. During rainy seasons, the pastoralists led scale land-use planning was coordinated by complex institu- the herds to very distant pastures. This dispersed the grazing tional networks. The right of free access to water and pas- pressure. During dry seasons, the lack of surface water tures for all Borana was regulated by trusteeships for each forced the herds back to the pastures around the wells. The well held by a specific clan. Appointed supervisors handled milking herds were grazed in the inner circle around the the daily administration of the wells. Water management at wells, and the other animals were kept in the outer circle. clan level was supported by institutions determined by graz- The herders ­ being in close contact with their herds, the ing locality. Elders' committees coordinated the access of natural environment and other herders ­ knew exactly livestock to each well with the use of nearby pasture. Fur- where to move their animals in order to find available forage ther committees were responsible for the shared grazing ar- and water resources. eas. The responsibility for local land-use planning was con- Development interference restricted herd mobility, and dif- ferred to sub-committees in the settlement clusters, ferences emerged between the two locations. One year af- neighbourhoods and single villages. Social security, including ter the last drought in southern Ethiopia, there were scarcely the peaceful resolution of conflicts over resource use, was any herd movements in Dida Hara, the location where wa- assured by local clan representatives. Directives for good ter-development interventions had been made, but mobility governance for the entire Borana society were supported by was still pronounced in Web. Settlements in Dida Hara had a complex administrative system including a legislative as- expanded rapidly, as long-distance wet-season movements sembly that reviewed existing prerogatives and obligations. were no longer needed. A few wealthy Borana established Special counsellors were appointed as mediators within the very large herds, whereas most households barely sustained institutional network. their livelihoods from livestock. Households cooperated The governmental introduction of local administrative units much less in herding, their animals were more likely to die ­ "Peasant Associations" (PAs) ­ undermined the flexible during droughts, and the formerly abundant pastures de- control through experienced elders. Younger community 3 members, inexperienced in pasture management, were ap- animals to live solely off the livestock. Households with cam- pointed and given powers of decision-making at local level. els (an innovation in herd composition made by the Borana in The additional transfer of authority for formal education, re- response to changing rangeland conditions) were more mo- lief and extension to the PAs further undermined the author- bile than others. More households in Web kept camels than ity of the traditional institutions. Today, the elders' commit- in Dida Hara. tees are no longer able to apply their knowledge. This has Greater mobility was linked to larger herd size and/or ca- caused conflicts between generations and within the com- pability of organising cooperative networks.As herds are be- munities. The committees for the large-scale coordination of coming smaller and family members forced to engage in herd movements have almost lost their function. Instead, im- other activities, cooperation is essential to support mobility. mediate-response reactions are made by the village heads Therefore, it is anticipated that the ongoing socio-economic and formal administration. The multiple cross-linkages of the differentiation and the loss of negotiating networks and infor- indigenous institutions for land-use planning to the indigenous mation flow will lead to further reduction in mobility. institutions for social security have been almost completely destroyed. Mediation by the traditional governance body is Initiating and encouraging multi-stakeholder platforms now minimal. Representatives from the local communities, research, de- Nevertheless, the Venn diagrams show that ­ despite the velopment and the government were invited to multi-stake- erosion of most indigenous institutions ­ those concerned holder workshops at the end of the field research. The objec- with administration of water (such as the deep wells in Web) tives were to give feedback to those involved in the study have retained their importance. The essential principles of and to discuss the implications for sustainable rangeland water management have been transferred to the newly con- management. The workshops also provided platforms for structed ponds in Dida Hara. To regain control over range- joint reflection to support ongoing efforts in participatory de- land management, elders at both locations started to negoti- velopment planning. ate with the PA Committees to re-implement traditional di- The participants affirmed that pastoral IK was under- rectives for restricted settlement and thereby stop the over- utilised. Their statements matched with the study recom- utilisation of the rangelands. mendation to focus on herd mobility in order to generate con- Analysis of the existing pastoral institutions involved in crete options for improved rangeland management. This controlling mobility revealed weaknesses in power struc- helps to define institutional responsibilities such as land-use tures and related conflicts. Enforcement of decisions for us- planning at the level of local encampment clusters, grazing ing, maintaining and rehabilitating rangeland resources has reserves controlled by committees of mobile herders, partici- been severely weakened. Shortage of pasture and water, as patory monitoring and evaluation by genuine organs within well as inter-ethnic conflicts, led to disregard of directives. the traditional system, and mediation among the stakeholders The deteriorating procedures for negotiation weakened the by sensitised pastoral representatives. The role of govern- information and communication structures needed to coordi- ment is to facilitate enforcement of the decisions. nate herd movements in time and space. However, the dia- grams also revealed the Borana's organisational expertise and still viable social structures. The current initiatives of the Conclusions elders show that pastoralists can be innovative in adapting The Borana's IK has been exposed to external and internal their strategies to changing conditions. disturbances, but persists in some applied rangeland-man- agement strategies and negotiation networks. External sup- Determining socio-economic profiles of pastoral port is justified to facilitate structures for continuous pastoral households experimentation and negotiation networks. External support An in-depth survey was made of 60 households in Dida Hara is justified to facilitate structures for continuous pastoral ex- and Web to determine socio-economic features favouring perimentation and negotiation. Multi-stakeholder platforms herd mobility during and after the last drought. During the can provide a framework for participatory exploration of the drought, mobility was similar in Dida Hara and Web, as herd potentials and constraints of IK-based development. The movements were driven by the crisis. The only clear trend preceding steps allow an informed debate mediated by de- was that households selling their animals at export markets velopment agents. These agents should also support pastoral were those which were most mobile. In the year after the communities in redefining their objectives and further devel- drought, mobility was higher in Web than in Dida Hara. Mo- oping their innovations. A fundamental challenge is the bility of households increased when they were part of larger implementation of a favourable pastoral policy. This depends herding groups and was higher for households with enough on the willingness to learn from pastoral IK, to ensure a 4 transparent information exchange and to agree on concerted and economic marginalisation hinder progress. However, development actions. exploring ways to support mobility and the pastoral control of Restructuring mobile rangeland management will not turn resource use makes development efforts more tangible and back the clock or overcome the fact that many Borana target-oriented. Backstopping mobile pastoralists for political households depend on additional sources of income and can organisation and the constructive use of networks can help no longer survive on pastoralism. Population growth, recur- keep IK alive and constructive. rent droughts, lack of investment opportunities, and political This article was written by Sabine Homann and Barbara Rischkowsky, Department of Livestock Ecology, Giessen Uni- versity (contact sabine.homann@agrar.uni-giessen.de). It is based on Sabine Homann's PhD research conducted in southern Ethiopia in 2000­2002 with financial and logistical support from the Tropical Ecological Support Programme (TOEB/GTZ), Germany, and the Borana Lowlands Pastoral Development Programme (BLPDP/GTZ), Ethiopia.