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Effects and Implications of Enclosures for Rehabilitating Degraded Semi-arid Rangelands: Critical Lessons from Lake Baringo Basin, Kenya

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Land Degradation and Desertification: Assessment, Mitigation and Remediation

Abstract

The establishment of enclosures, denoting areas closed off from grazing for a specific period, is a well-known management strategy for restoring degraded semi-arid rangeland ecosystems. Range enclosure has profound ecological (biophysical) effects and a number of socio-economic implications that vary significantly, depending on local conditions. Understanding the consequences of the rising trend of rangeland enclosure is thus imperative for sustainable planning and management of these fragile ecosystems. Indeed, what administrators require is not a general policy for or against enclosure, but rather some understanding of the various effects of enclosure under different circumstances. Ultimately, researchers may be able to present policy-makers with a typology of different kinds of enclosure movements, and with a systematic discussion of the probable outcome of each kind of movement. Therefore, the spontaneous enclosure of the range by livestock owners may raise new problems, but may also permit new approaches to the development of the livestock industry in the arid and semi-arid areas in Africa. This paper seeks to highlight the effects and implications of using enclosures for rehabilitating degraded semi-arid rangelands and draw practical lessons to help us achieve increased restoration capability in the future.

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Acknowledgments

This study was made possible through the financial support provided by the Flemish Interuniversity Council (VLIR) of Belgium. We are indebted to all the Njemps Flats communal and private enclosure farmers who warmly welcomed us to their fields. Special thanks to the staff Rehabilitation of Arid Environments (RAE) Trust in Baringo and the Range Management Section, Department of Land Resources Management & Agricultural Technology, University of Nairobi, for kind assistance during the fieldwork.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Range Management Section, Department of Land Resource Management and Agricultural Technology, University of Nairobi, Nairobi, Kenya

    Stephen M. Mureithi

  2. Laboratory of Soil Science, Department of Geology and Soil Science, Ghent University, B-9000, Gent, Belgium

    Ann Verdoodt & Eric Van Ranst

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  1. Stephen M. Mureithi
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  2. Ann Verdoodt
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  3. Eric Van Ranst
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Correspondence to Stephen M. Mureithi .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Mediterranean Agronomic Studies, (CIHEAM), International Centre for Advanced, Via Ceglie 9, Bari, 70010, Italy

    Pandi Zdruli

  2. Sperimentazione in Agricoltura, Centro di Ricerca per Agrobiologia e la, Consiglio per la Ricerca e la, Piazza D'Azeglio 30, Firenze, 50121, Italy

    Marcello Pagliai

  3. Dept. Soil Science &, Archaeometry, University of Cukurova, Adana, Turkey

    Selim Kapur

  4. Depto. Ciencia y Tecnología Agraria, Universidad Politécnica de Cartagena, Paseo Alfonso XIII 52, Cartagena, 30203, Spain

    Angel Faz Cano

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Mureithi, S.M., Verdoodt, A., Van Ranst, E. (2010). Effects and Implications of Enclosures for Rehabilitating Degraded Semi-arid Rangelands: Critical Lessons from Lake Baringo Basin, Kenya. In: Zdruli, P., Pagliai, M., Kapur, S., Faz Cano, A. (eds) Land Degradation and Desertification: Assessment, Mitigation and Remediation. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-90-481-8657-0_9

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