HAS MOBILITY INCREASED OVER TIME? PASTORAL MOVEMENT AND RANGELAND MANAGEMENT PRACTICES IN CHIFRA <i>WOREDA</i> OF THE AFAR REGION, NORTHEAST ETHIOPIA

This study was conducted in 2015 and 2023 for three months in Chifra woreda of the Afar National Regional State (ANRS). The results of the study show that pastoralists were less mobile prior to the early periods of the derg government and depended on clan-controlled rangelands for their livestock. Over the past fifty years, however, the rules of access to the rangelands have changed through ecologically-induced government intervention which prohibited exclusive clan-based land use. This change created an institutional vacuum and free access situation, and led to severe rangeland degradation. Pastoralists responded to these problems through building private and communal enclosures and adopting irrigated and rain-fed agriculture which caused sub-division of the rangelands and conflict among the rangeland users. Recognition for the existing and emerging property systems, including protection for communal rangelands and mobility, and hybrid governance can be the way forward for pastoral development in the woreda and beyond. This article was published open access under a CC BY-NC 4.0 licence: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ .