Proceedings of the 3rd Scientific Conference of Rangeland Society of Tanzania (RST)

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Browsing Proceedings of the 3rd Scientific Conference of Rangeland Society of Tanzania (RST) by Subject "Indigenous knowledge"

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    Ecological restoration of degraded rangelands in East Africa: success and failure of traditional enclosure
    (Rangeland Society of Tanzania (RST), 2018) Saidi, Selemani Ismail
    ncreasing rangeland degradation in East Africa due to alarming land use pressure has created a serious debate which calls for quick land rehabilitation. Unsustainable utilization of range resources due to diversification of human economic activities have resulted to poor rangeland productivity. The projected increase in human population by 33% in 2050 implies more demand on scarce range resources which will intensify rangeland degradation if restoration measures are not undertaken. Although, rehabilitation plans have been developed in different countries within East African region, but implementation has been slow due to inadequate financial resources, lack of ecological restoration skills and failure to assimilate traditional range management practices. Poor integration of indigenous knowledge with ecological methods has resulted into limited constructive collaboration between scientists and local communities toward combating environmental degradation. Despite the fact that traditional range management practice using deferred grazing system (enclosure) has successfully conserved environment and improved the livelihood of some pastoral communities elsewhere but the practice is poorly adopted for up-scaling to other communities. Traditional enclosure has been used as rehabilitation strategy to restore severely degraded rangeland through quick vegetation recovery which subsequently reduces soil erosion, increase water infiltration and provide dry season feeds for livestock. This paper therefore reviews factors limiting adaptation and adoption of tradition enclosures for rangeland rehabilitation and hence recommends the best way for integration of local knowledge with ecological restoration methods for sustainable rangeland improvement.