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Promoting better and more sustainable livelihoods for people in Africa’s drylands

We work at multiple levels and in partnership with others, carrying out research with African and European partners on policy issues of direct concern to poor people living in Africa, building the capacities of these and other groups to act on the results of this knowledge in an informed and equitable manner. We complement the ongoing work of partners in Africa - civil society, development agencies, research institutions, local and national governments - by disseminating research findings, brokering meetings, facilitating dialogue, organising training, and lobbying read more...

Recent Updates...

NEW! Haramata 52 : Bulletin of the Drylands

                     In this issue:

Debate: Anchoring gender in African realities; A spectacular case of regeneration in Niger

Focus on…China in Africa: Chinatown in Dakar; Timber trade in Mozambique

Reports: So why don't they plan for droughts in pastoral areas?  Making land reform work for those who need it least - a lesson from South Africa

Also includes the regular sections: News; Innovations; Books and Resources and Takeaway more....

Legal empowerment for local resource control: Securing local resource rights within foreign investment projects by Lorenzo Cotula

Read the Executive Summary (78 KB)

Security of local resource rights is a major challenge in many parts of Africa. The analysis of relevant law reveals that resource rights associated with more powerful interests tend to enjoy greater legal protection compared to those held by local resource users. However, legal tools accompanied by adequate capacity-building efforts can help redress this imbalance and strengthen protection of local resource rights. This report draws lessons from experience of using legal processes to secure local resource rights within the context of foreign investment projects in Africa.

Latest Drylands Issue Papers:

for more information click here

146 Emergent or illusory? Community wildlife management in Tanzania

Gestion communautaire de la faune sauvage en Tanzanie
Fred Nelson
145 Trees are our backbone – Integrating environment and local development in Tigray Region of Ethiopia

Les arbres sont notre épine dorsale – Intégration de ’environnement et du développement local dans le Tigray en Ethiopie

Yohannes GebreMichael and Ann Waters-Bayer

144 Land registration in Mali – No land ownership for farmers? Observations from peri-urban Bamako

Les paysans maliens exclus de la propriété foncière? Les avatars de l’appropriation par le titre foncier
Moussa Djiré

143 Landless women, hopeless women? Gender, land, decentralisation in Niger

Femmes sans terre, femmes sans repères ? Genre, foncier,décentralisation au Niger  Marthe Diarra and Marie Monimart

142 Pastoralism: drylands' invisible asset?

Le pastoralisme, richesse cachée des zones arides ?

Ced Hesse and James MacGregor

141 Conflicts between farmers and herders in north-western Mali  

Conflits entre agriculteurs et éleveurs au nord-ouest du Mali

Sabrina Beeler

RECENT PUBLICATIONS

Changes in "customary" land tenure systems in Africa

edited by Lorenzo Cotula, IIED/FAO, March 2007

This study explores changes in customary land tenure systems in Africa, identifies the factors driving such changes, analyses their livelihood implications and draws lessons for development policies and programmes.

Estimating the economic significance of pastoralism: the example of the nyama choma sector in Tanzania Juliana Letara, James MacGregor, Ced Hesse

Issue no. 14 of the Pastoral Civil Society in East Africa newsletter now online!

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