Skip to main content

Advertisement

SpringerLink
Log in

Multiple Methods in the Study of Driving Forces of Land Use and Land Cover Change: A Case Study of SE Kajiado District, Kenya

  • Published:
Human Ecology Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

This landscape-scale study combines analysis of multitemporal satellite imagery spanning 30 years and information from field studies extending over 25 years to assess the extent and causes of land use and land cover change in the Loitokitok area, southeast Kajiado District, Kenya. Rain fed and irrigated agriculture, livestock herding, and wildlife and tourism have all experienced rapid change in their structure, extent, and interactions over the past 30 years in response to a variety of economic, cultural, political, institutional, and demographic processes. Land use patterns and processes are explored through a complementary application of interpretation of satellite imagery and case study analysis that explicitly addresses the local–national spatial scale over a time frame appropriate to the identification of fundamental causal processes. The results illustrate that this combination provides an effective basis for describing and explaining patterns of land use and land cover change and their root causes.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Blaikie, P., and Brookfield, H. (1987). Land Degradation and Society, Methuen, London.

    Google Scholar 

  • BurnSilver, S. B., Boone, R. B., and Galvin, K. A. (2003). Linking pastoralists to a heterogeneous landscape: The case of four group ranches in Kajiado District, Kenya. In Fox, J., Rindfuss, R. R., Walsh, S. J., and Mishra, V. (eds.), People and the Environment. Approaches for Linking Household and Community Surveys to Remote Sensing and GIS, Kluwer Academic Publishers, Boston, USA, pp. 173–200.

    Google Scholar 

  • Campbell, D. J. (1984a). Community Participation in Field Research: An Example From Kenya Maasailand. Occasional Paper 4, Center for Advanced Study of International Development, Michigan State University.

  • Campbell, D. J. (1984b). Response to drought among farmers and herders in Southern Kajiado District, Kenya. Human Ecology 12(1): 35–64.

    Article  ISI  Google Scholar 

  • Campbell, D. J. (1986). The prospect for desertification in Kajiado District, Kenya. The Geographical Journal 152(1): 44–55.

    Google Scholar 

  • Campbell, D. J. (1987). Participation of a community in social science research: A case study from Kenya Maasailand. Human Organization 46(2): 160–167.

    ISI  Google Scholar 

  • Campbell, D. J. (1993). Land as ours, land as mine: Economic, political and environmental marginalization in Kajiado District. In Spear, T., and Waller, R. (eds.), Being Maasai, James Currey, London, UK, pp. 258–272.

    Google Scholar 

  • Campbell D. J. (1998). Towards an analytical framework for land use change. In Bergström, L., and Kirchmann, H. (eds.), Carbon and Nutrient Dynamics in Natural and Agricultural Tropical Ecosystems. CAB International, Oxford, pp. 281–301.

    Google Scholar 

  • Campbell, D. J. (1999a). Response to Drought among Farmers and Herders in Southern Kajiado District, Kenya: A Comparison of 1972–1976 and 1994–1996. Human Ecology 27(3): 377–416.

    Article  ISI  Google Scholar 

  • Campbell, D. J. (1999b). A Socioeconomic Perspective on Land Degradation and Linkages to GEF Focal Areas—Biodiversity, International Waters and Climate Change. Paper prepared for the Global Environment Facility, Scientific Technical Advisory Panel, Bologna, Italy, June 1999.

  • Campbell, D. J., Gichohi, H., Mwangi, A., and Chege, L. (2000). Land Use Conflict in S. E. Kajiado District, Kenya. Land Use Policy 17(4): 337–348.

    Article  ISI  Google Scholar 

  • Campbell, D. J., Gichohi, H., Ried, R., Mwangi, A., Chege, L., and Sawin, T. (2003a). Interactions between People and Wildlife in Southeast Kajiado District, Kenya. Land Use Change Impacts and Dynamics (LUCID) Working Paper 18, International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI), Nairobi. Available at: http://www.lucideastafrica.org/publications/Campbell_LUCID_WP18.doc

  • Campbell, D. J., Lusch, D. P., Smucker, T. A., and Wangui, E. E. (2003b). Root causes of land use change in the Loitokitok Area, Kajiado District, Kenya. Land Use Change Impacts and Dynamics (LUCID) Working Paper 19, International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI), Nairobi. Available at: http://www.lucideastafrica.org/publicationsCampbell_LUCID_WP19.doc

  • Campbell, D. J., Gichohi, H., Mwangi, A., and Smucker, T. A. (2003c). Globalization and Local Heterogeneity: An Overview of Land use Issues in Loitokitok Division, Kajiado District, Kenya. Land Use Change Impacts and Dynamics (LUCID) Working Paper 21, International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI), Nairobi. Available at: http://www.lucideastafrica.org/publications/Campbell_LUCID_WP21.pdf

  • Campbell, D. J., and Olson, J. M. (1991). Environment and development in Kenya: Flying the Kite in Kajiado District. The Centennial Review XXXV (2): 295–314.

    Google Scholar 

  • Emerton, L. (1999). The Nature of Benefits and the Benefits of Nature: Why Wildlife Conservation has not Economically Benefitted Communities in Africa. Community Conservation Research in Africa: Principles and Comparative Practice, Paper No. 9, Institute for Development Policy and Management, University of Manchester.

  • Ewel, K. C. (2001). Natural resource management: The need for interdisciplinary collaboration. Ecosystems 4: 716–722.

    ISI  Google Scholar 

  • Farina, A. (1993). Editorial comment: From global to regional landscape ecology. Landscape Ecology 8(3): 153–154.

    Article  ISI  Google Scholar 

  • Fox, J., Rindfuss, R. R., Walsh, S. J., and Mishra, V. (eds.) (2003). People and the Environment. Approaches for Linking Household and Community Surveys to Remote Sensing and GIS, Kluwer Academic Publishers, Boston, USA.

    Google Scholar 

  • Fratkin, E. (2003). Herders, farmers, and townspeople: A comparative approach to transition and social change among livestock pastoralists. Anthropological Science 111(1): 114–114.

    ISI  Google Scholar 

  • Fratkin, E., and Mearns, R. (2003). Sustainability and pastoral livelihoods: Lessons from East African Maasai and Mongolia. Human Organization 62(2): 112–122.

    ISI  Google Scholar 

  • Galaty, J. (1994). Rangeland tenure and pastoralism in Africa. In Fratkin, E., Galvin, K. A., and Roth, E. A. (eds.), African Pastoralist Systems: An Integrated Approach, Lynne Rienner, Boulder, pp. 185–204.

    Google Scholar 

  • Geist, H. J., and Lambin, E. F. (2002). Proximate causes and underlying driving Gross of topical deforestation. BioScience 52(2): 143–150.

    ISI  Google Scholar 

  • Geoghegan, J., Villar, S., Klepeis, P., Mendoza, P., Ogneva-Himmelberger, Y., Chowdhury, R., Turner, B. L, and Vance, C. (2001). Modeling tropical deforestation in the southern Yucatan peninsular region: comparing survey and satellite data. Agriculture, ecosystems and environment 85: 25–47.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Githaiga, J. M., and Muchiru, A. N. (2003). Survey of Water Quality Changes with Land Use Type in the Loitokitok Area, Kajiado District, Kenya. LUCID Working Paper, 35, International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI), Nairobi.

  • Great Britain. (1934). Report of the Kenya Land Commission, September 1933, HMSO, London.

  • Gunderson, I., and Holling, C. S. (2001). Panarchy: Understanding Transformations in Human and Natural Systems, Island Press, Washington, DC.

    Google Scholar 

  • Guyer, J. I., and Lambin, E. F. (1993). Land-use in an urban hinterland: Ethnography and remote sensing in the study of African intensification. American Anthropologist 95(4): 839–859.

    Article  ISI  Google Scholar 

  • Homewood, K., Lambin, E. F., Coast, E., Kariuki, A., Kikula, I., Kivelia, J., Said, M., Serneels, S., and Thompson, M. (2001). Long-term changes in Serengeti-Mara wildebeest and land cover: Pastoralism, population, or policies? Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 98(22): 12544–12549.

    Article  ISI  Google Scholar 

  • Haugerud, A. (1995). The Culture of Politics in Modern Kenya, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge and New York.

    Google Scholar 

  • Huxley, E. (1935). White Man's Country, Lord Delamere and the Making of Kenya Volume II, Chatto and Windus, London.

    Google Scholar 

  • Jaetzhold, R., and Schmidt, H. (1983). Farm Management Handbook of Kenya, Ministry of Agriculture Kenya in Cooperation with the German Agricultural Team (GAT) of the German Agency for Technical Cooperation (GTZ), Rossdorf, W. Germany.

  • Jiang, H. (2003). Stories remote sensing images can tell: Integrating remote sensing analysis with ethnographic research in the study of cultural landscapes. Human Ecology 31(2): 215–232.

    Article  ISI  Google Scholar 

  • Kimani, K., and Picard, J. (1998). Recent trends and implications of group sub-division and fragmentation in Kajiado District, Kenya. The Geographical Journal 164: 202–216.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kinzig, A. P. (2001). Bridging disciplinary divides to address environmental and intellectual challenges. Ecosystems 4: 709–715.

    Article  ISI  Google Scholar 

  • Kitching, G. (1980). Class and Economic Change in Kenya: The Making of an African Petite-Bourgeoisie, Yale University Press, New Haven.

    Google Scholar 

  • Krugmann, H. (1996). Water management, use and conflict in small-scale irrigation: The case of Rombo. In Rached, E., Rathgeber, E., and Brooks, D. (eds.), The Kenyan Maasailand, Water Management in Africa and the Middle East—Challenges and Opportunities, IDRC Books, Ottawa, pp. 253–273.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lambin, E. F., Turner, B. L., Geist, H. J., Agbola, S. B., Angelsen, A., Bruce, J. W., Coomes, O. T., Dirzo, R., Fischer, G., Folke, C., George, P. S., Homewood, K., Imbernon, J., Leemans, R., Li, X. B., Moran, E. F., Mortimore, M., Ramakrishnan, P. S., Richards, J. F., Skanes, H., Steffen, W., Stone, G. D., Svedin, U., Veldkamp, T. A., Vogel, C., and Xu, J. C. (2001). The causes of land-use and land-cover change: Moving beyond the myths. Global Environmental Change-Human And Policy Dimensions 11(4): 261–269.

    Google Scholar 

  • Liverman, D., Moran, E. F., Rindfuss, R. R., and Stern, P. C. (eds.) (1998). People and Pixels: Linking Remote Sensing and Social Science, National Academy Press, Washington, DC.

    Google Scholar 

  • Low, D. A. (1963). The Northern Interior 1840–84. In Oliver, R., and Mathew, G. (eds.), History of East Africa, Volume One, Oxford University Press, Oxford, pp. 297–351.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lusigi, W. (1981). New approaches to wildlife conservation in Kenya. Ambio 10(2–3): 87–92.

    ISI  Google Scholar 

  • Maitima, J. M., Rucina, S. M., and Mugatha, S.M. (2003). Vegetation Survey in an Agro-Ecological Gradient in Embu – Mbeere, Kenya. Land Use Change Impacts and Dynamics (LUCID) Working Paper 33, International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI), Nairobi.

  • Mbogoh, S. G., Munei, K., and Thornton, P. (1999). CRSP Study on Wildlife, Livestock and Human Interaction in Kajiado District, Kenya: Results of the Economic Study. Draft Report, Nairobi: Global Livestock Collaborative Research Project.

    Google Scholar 

  • Nightingale, A. (2003). A feminist in the forest: Situated knowledges and mixing methods in natural resource management. ACME: An International E-Journal for Critical Geographies 2(1): 77–90.

    Google Scholar 

  • Norgaard, R. B. (1989). The case for methodological pluralism. Ecological Economics 1(1): 37–58.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Norton-Griffiths, M. (1996). Property-rights and the marginal wildebeest—an economic analysis of wildlife conservation options in Kenya. Biodiversity and Conservation 5(12): 1557–1577.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Norton-Griffiths, M., and Butt, B. (2003). The Economics of Land Use Change in Loitokitok Division of Kajiado District, Kenya. Land Use Change Impacts and Dynamics (LUCID) Working Paper 34, International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI), Nairobi. Available at: http://www.lucideastafrica.org/publications/Campbell_LUCID_WP34.doc

  • Norton-Griffiths, M., and Southey, C. (1995). The opportunity costs of biodiversity conservation in Kenya. Ecological Economics 12: 125–139.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ntiati, P. (2002). Group Ranches Subdivision Study In Loitokitok Division Of Kajiado District. Land Use Change Impacts and Dynamics (LUCID) Working Paper 7, International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI), Nairobi.

  • Ole Katampoi, K., Genga, G. O., Mwangi, M., Kipkan, J., Ole Seitah, J., van Klinken, M. K., and Mwangi, M. S. (1992). Kajiado District Atlas, Kajiado: ASAL Programme Kajiado, Republic of Kenya.

    Google Scholar 

  • Peet, R., and Watts, M. (eds.) (1996). Liberation Ecologies: Environment, Development, Social Movements, Routledge, New York.

    Google Scholar 

  • Petit, C., Scudder, T., and Lambin, E. (2001). Quantifying Processes of Land-cover Change by Remote Sensing: Resettlement and Rapid Land-Cover Changes in South-Eastern Zambia. International Journal of Remote Sensing 22(17): 3435–3456.

    ISI  Google Scholar 

  • Rindfuss, R. R., and Stern, P. C.(1998). Linking Remote Sensing and Social Science: The Need and the Challenges. In Liverman, D., Moran, E. F., Rindfuss, R. R., and Stern, P. C.(eds.), People and Pixels: Linking Remote Snsing and Social Science, National Academy Press, Washington, DC.

  • Rindfuss, R., Walsh, S. J., Mishra, V., Fox, J., and Dolcemascolo, G. P. (2003). Linking Household and remotely sensed Data: Methodological and Practical Problems. In Fox, J., Rindfuss, R., Walsh, S. J., and Mishra, V. (eds.), People and the Environment: Approaches for Linking Household and Community Surveys to Remote Sensing and GIS, Kluwer, Boston, pp. 1–30.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rocheleau, D. (1995). Maps, numbers, text, and context: Mixing methods in Feminist political Ecology. Professional Geographer 47: 458–466.

    Article  ISI  Google Scholar 

  • Rocheleau, D. (2001). Complex communities and relational webs—Uncertainty, surprise and transformation in Machakos. IDS Bulletin-Institute of Development Studies, 32 (4): 78–87.

  • Rocheleau, D., Thomas, B., and Wangari, E. (eds.) (1996). Feminist Political Ecology: Global Issues and Local Experiences, Routledge, New York.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rutten, M. M. E. M. (1992). Selling Wealth to Buy Poverty. The Process of the Individualization of Land Ownership among the Maasai pastoralists of Kajiado District, Kenya, 1890–1990, Verlag Breitenbach Publishers, Saarbrücken.

  • Schroeder, R. (1993). Shady practice: gender and the political ecology of resource stabilization in Gambian garden orchards. Economic Geography 69: 349–65.

    ISI  Google Scholar 

  • Serneels, S., Said, M. Y., and Lambin, E. F. (2001). Land cover changes around a major east African wildlife reserve: the Mara Ecosystem (Kenya). International Journal of Remote Sensing 22(17): 3397–3420.

    ISI  Google Scholar 

  • Smucker, T. (2003). Land Reform and Changes in Land Use and Management in Tharaka, Kenya. Land Use Change Impacts and Dynamics (LUCID) Working Paper 11, International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI), Nairobi. Available at: http://www.lucideastafrica.org/publications/Smucker_LUCID_WP11.doc

  • Smucker, T., Campbell, D. J., Olson, J., and Wangui, E. (2004). Community workshops as a participatory component of field research: Examples from Kenya. Land Use Change Impacts and Dynamics (LUCID) Working Paper 22, International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI), Nairobi. Available at: http://www.lucideastafrica.org/publicationsCampbell_LUCID_WP22.doc

  • Southgate, C. R. J., and Hulme, D. (2000). Competition, cooperation and conflict: The dynamics of resource management in Loitokitok, Kenya. In Woodhouse, P., Bernstein, H., and Hulme, D. (eds.), African Enclosures? The Social Dynamics of Land and Water, James Currey, London.

    Google Scholar 

  • Spear, T. (1993). “Being ‘Maasai’ but not ‘People of Cattle’: Arusha agricultural Maasai in the Nineteenth Century.” In Spear, T., and Waller, R. (eds.), Being Maasai, James Currey, London, pp. 120–136.

  • Spear, T., and Waller, R. (eds.) (1993). Being Maasai, James Currey, London.

    Google Scholar 

  • Stéphenne, N., and Lambin, E. F. (2001). A dynamic simulation model of land-use changes in Sudano-sahelina countries of Africa (SALU). Agriculture Ecosystems and Environment 85(1–3): 145–161.

  • Taylor, P. J. (1997). How do we know we have global environmental problems? undifferentiated science-politics and its potential reconstruction. In Taylor, P. J., Halfon, S. E., and Edwards, P. N. (eds.), Changing Life: Genomes, Ecologies, Bodies, Commodities, University of Minnesota Press, Minneapolis.

    Google Scholar 

  • Turner, B. L. II., Skole, D., Sanderson, S., Fischer, G., Fresco, L., and Leemans, R. (1995). Land-Use and Land-Cover Change (LUCC): Science/Research Plan. IGBP Reprot Series, 35. HDP Report, 7. IGBP, Stockholm.

  • Turner, M. (1999). Merging local and regional analyses of land-use change: The case of livestock in the Sahel. Annals of the Association of American Geographers 89: 191–219.

    Article  ISI  Google Scholar 

  • Turner, M. (2003). Critical reflections on the use of remote sensing and GIS technologies in human ecological research. Human Ecology, 31(2): 177–182.

    ISI  Google Scholar 

  • Walsh, S., and Crews-Meyers, K. A. (eds.) (2002). Linking People, Place, and Policy: A GIScience Approach, Kluwer Academic Publishers, Boston.

  • Wangui, E. E. (2003). Links Between Gendered Division of Labour and Land Use in Kajiado District, Kenya. Land Use Change Impacts and Dynamics (LUCID) Working Paper 23, International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI), Nairobi. Available at: http://www.lucideastafrica.org/publications/Wangui_LUCID_WP23.doc

  • Wangui, E. E. (2004). Links Between Gendered Division of Labor and Land use in Loitokitok Division, S.E Kajiado District, Kenya. PhD. Dissertation, Michigan State University, East Lansing.

  • Western, D. (1976). Amboseli; Integration of people, land and wildlife seeks to end the conflicts which threaten this national park. Parks 1(2): 1–4.

    Google Scholar 

  • Western, D. (1982). Amboseli National Park: Enlisting landowners to conserve migratory wildlife. Ambio 17(1): 11–19.

    Google Scholar 

  • Western, D. (1994). Ecosystem conservation and rural development: The case of Amboseli. In Western, D., Wright, R. M., and Strum, S. C. (eds.), Natural Connections: Perspectives in Community-based Conservation, Island Press, Washington, DC., pp. 15–52.

    Google Scholar 

  • Worden, J., Reid, R., and Gichohi, H. (2003). Land-Use Impacts on Large Wildlife and Livestock in the Swamps of the Greater Amboseli Ecosystem. Land Use Change Impacts and Dynamics (LUCID) Working Paper 27, International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI), Nairobi. Available at: http://www.lucideastafrica.org/publicationsWorden_LUCID_WP27part1.doc

  • Wu, J., and Hobbs, R. (2002). Key Issues and Research Priorities in Landscape Ecology: An Idiosyncratic Synthesis. Landscape Ecology 17: 355–365.

    ISI  Google Scholar 

  • Yin, R. K. (2003). Case Study Research: Design and Methods, Thousand Oaks: Sage.

    Google Scholar 

  • Zimmerer, K. S. (1994). Human geography and the new ecology: The prospect and promise of integration. Annals of the Association of American Geographers 84(1): 108–125.

    Article  ISI  Google Scholar 

  • Zimmerer, K. S. (2000). The reworking of conservation geographies: Nonequilibrium landscapes and nature-society hybrids. Annals of the Association of American Geographers 90(2): 356–369.

    Article  ISI  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Geography Department, African Studies Center, and College of Social Science, Michigan State University, 203 Berkey Hall, East Lansing, MI, 48824-1115

    David J. Campbell

  2. Geography Department, Michigan State University, 212 Geography Building, East Lansing, MI, 48824-1117

    David P. Lusch

  3. Program in Environmental Science, Policy and Geography, University of South Florida, St. Petersburg, FL, 33701

    Thomas A. Smucker

  4. Department of Geography and Human Environmental Studies, San Francisco State University, San Francisco, CA, 94132

    Edna E. Wangui

Authors
  1. David J. Campbell
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. David P. Lusch
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Thomas A. Smucker
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Edna E. Wangui
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Campbell, D.J., Lusch, D.P., Smucker, T.A. et al. Multiple Methods in the Study of Driving Forces of Land Use and Land Cover Change: A Case Study of SE Kajiado District, Kenya. Hum Ecol 33, 763–794 (2005). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10745-005-8210-y

Download citation

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10745-005-8210-y

Keywords

Search

Navigation