International Work Group for Indigenous Affairs (IWGIA)
Ced Hesse and Brigitte Thébaud
Guinea, Mauritania, Mali, and Burkina Faso have all passed specific legislation in support of pastoralism. This paper reports that while some of these laws provide an improved framework for the management of rangelands and greater tenure security for pastoralists, they contain conceptual and practical problems which may ultimately further marginalise pastoral people.
Crucially, the new legislation seeks to manage access to resources through complicated procedures controlled by various levels of government. In doing so, pastoral communities are disempowered as they neither understanding nor have any control over these provisions. Livestock mobility could be reduced and the authors fear that elites could ultimately capture exclusive rights to water and land. The report recommends that these issues be urgently addressed.
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