• Development policy

Development policy

This paper analyses the issues surrounding the under-valuation of pastoral livelihoods as governments plan to replace pastoral grazing land with other land uses. It analyses the direct and indirect benefits of pastoralism and presents a framework for assessing the full contribution of pastoralism in East Africa through the concept of Total Economic Value (TEV). The framework goes beyond using the conventional criteria used to assess the benefits of pastoralism that purely relate livestock to their by-products (beef, milk, skins and hides).

The TEV framework is the first stage in a process aimed at convincing government that pastoralism offers the most cost-effective investment for the drylands of East Africa, particularly in a context of increasing climate variability induced by global climate change. The paper recommends that the next stages in this process need to involve the design of appropriate methodology and set of tools, followed by field based research to gather hard evidence of the ways in which pastoralism contributes to local and national economies.

In order to improve policy and legislation to addresses poverty, environmental degradation and conflict in East Africa’s drylands, this paper recommends an alliance between pastoral groups different stakeholders at different levels such as farming, tourism and conservation. These alliances are essential to develop the political and economic “leverage” necessary to ensure that improved knowledge of the value of pastoralism is used to promote the value of pastoralism.

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