Perception and attitude of pastoralists on the use and conservation of rangeland resources in Afar Region, Ethiopia

Introduction: Community perception plays a significant role in rangeland resource management. Traditional rangeland management practices by the pastoral communities are based on accumulated knowledge in connection to their local environment. Pastoralism played a vital role in food production and sustaining its inhabitants in arid environment for millennia. However, national policies and development interventions in East African pastoral systems have often overlooked pastoralism while centered on the modernization of agricultural sector for economic development and poverty reduction. Methods: We used household survey, focus group discussion, key informant interview, and individual questionnaire to understand the perceptions and attitude of Afar pastoralists towards rangeland resource use and conservation practices, as well as impacts of development intervention on traditional rangeland resource use and conservation practices. The data were analyzed using index ranking and descriptive statistics. Results: The results showed that livestock holding per household was higher on average (22.90 ± 2.27 Tropical Livestock Unit (TLU)) in the non-intervened woreda than in the intervened woreda (8.30 ± 3.85 TLU). Respondents mentioned that livestock productivity was adversely affected by a number of factors such as invasion of Prosopis juliflora (Dergi Hara), shrinkage in the capacity of rangelands (Beadu and Bebea’), and recurrent droughts. Scarcity of grazing resources attributed to the invasion of Dergi Hara and drought created livestock feed crisis with strong implication on the livelihood of pastoralists. Our results showed that the traditional resource management practices such as mobility, herd splitting, and diversification had a role to contribute to the improvement of rangeland management and conservation of biodiversity. Traditional rules and seasonal-based grazing patterns of riversides during drought were perceived as key elements for rangeland resource management and conservation of rangeland resources in the study area. Conclusions: Communities’ perception showed that the traditional practices of rangeland management systems are effective and environmentally sustainable. In contrast, inappropriate development interventions put rangelands under severe pressure. Although development interventions were aimed at improving the condition of Afar rangeland, they could not bring any enduring solution in terms of improvement of rangeland resources. © 2016, The Author(s).