Publication: Land-use and Land-cover Changes in Pastoral Drylands

The ongoing fragmentation of pastoral drylands is a matter of concern throughout Africa. Using the example of rangelands in northern Baringo County, Kenya, that were under uniform pastoral use until the late twentieth century, we trace land-use and land-cover changes (LULCCs) since the 1980s. Based on ethnographic, historical, and remote sensing data, we show how bush encroachment and dryland farming have led to the increasing modification and conversion of formerly open rangelands and the diversification of livelihoods. These LULCC dynamics are related to and driven not only by internal processes of socioeconomic change (e.g., sedentarization, changing rangeland management practices, growing markets for small stock, increasing stratification, and cultural differentiation) but also by ecological processes such as wildlife defaunation and ecological invasions. Based on our findings, we suggest that a socioecological approach to Kopytoff’s notion of the internal African frontier can be helpful in framing these LULCC-related dynamics.

Greiner, C, Vehrs, HP, Bollig, M 2021, ‘Land-use and land-cover Changes in Pastoral Drylands: Long-term Dynamics, Economic Change, and Shifting Socioecological Frontiers in Baringo, Kenya’ Human Ecology, DOI.

More CRC News

portrait image of clemens greiner

Clemens Greiner Appointed Extraordinary Professor at the University of the Western Cape

Clemens Greiner, researcher in Project C02 Energy Futures, Academic Coordinator of the Global South Studies Center (GSSC) and adjunct Professor of Social and Cultural Anthropology at the ...
Read More »
Group of researchers during a visit to the Bonn Heritage Lab

Exploring Decolonial Heritage: A Visit to the Global Heritage Lab

In June, a group of Future Rural Africa researchers visited the Global Heritage Lab in Bonn. The Global Heritage Lab is a research hub and ...
Read More »
image of ruth hall, prof. at the university of the western cape

Ruth Hall Appointed Director of PLAAS

Ruth Hall, Professor at the University of the Western Cape (UWC) in South Africa, has been appointed Director of the Institute for Poverty, Land and ...
Read More »
map of green hydrogen infrastructure in southern Africa

Planning the Future: Comparing Green Hydrogen Strategies in Chile, Namibia, and South Africa

In their publication, Benedikt Walker and Britta Klagge (Project C02 Energy Futures) alongside Ravn Haid (University of Bonn) examine how spatial planning influences the development ...
Read More »
picture of a field with kale

Call for Workshop Scholarships: Transdisciplinary RLC Workshop on Rural Development and Smallholder Agriculture

The RLC Campus at ZEF, University of Bonn, Germany, offers scholarships for PhD students from Africa, Asia and Latin America, who are currently studying at ...
Read More »
Scroll to Top