Effects of livelihood-diversification on sustainability of natural resources in the rangelands of east africa: Participatory field studies and results of an agent-based model using the knowledge of indigenous maasai pastoralists of Kenya

Abstract

Like similar societies in Africa, livelihood-diversification has become a common socioeconomic and ecological adaptation among the Maasai pastoralist inhabitants of the rangelands of Kenya, East Africa. A participatory study conducted with the Maasai of Kenya reveals that, although majority of the households derive their sustenance directly from traditional rainfall-dependent livestock husbandry, over 70 % have diversified into other systems of livelihoods. It is important to note that rainfall-dependent pastoralism, including Maasai-pastoralism, is a major economic backbone within the rangelands that characterizes much of Kenya, and indeed the greater Horn of Africa. Maasai pastoralists contribute greatly to the country’s livestock industry, to sustainable utilization of rangeland resources, and to local food security. The on-going livelihood-diversification, therefore, not only triggers changes in Maasai livelihoods, but it also shapes the sustainability of natural resources in the rangelands. Thus, the interactions between environmental, social and economic conditions that will likely result from climate change could cause a cascade of deleterious effects on the sustainability of ecosystems and natural resources in the rangelands of East Africa. The objective of this chapter is to understand how knowledge, values, and preferences in environment and natural resource management in Maasai-pastoralism compare to emerging trends as Maasai’s production system continues to diversify. I provide an approach to better understand the structure and dynamics of Maasai-pastoralism across scales vis-à-vis resource management. The premise of this chapter is that Maasai pastoralists, the key stakeholders in resource management in the rangelands they inhabit, have the greatest knowledge about environment and natural resource management and therefore provide considerable expertise to understanding the interaction between climate change, human behavior and livelihoods, and social and ecological dynamics.