Traditional woodland management techniques of African pastoralists

Over thousands of years, pastoralists in arid and semi-arid Africa have developed a set of principles and strategies that have enabled them to meet their physical and social needs in a harsh and variable environment. Under conditions of relatively low population density — pastoralist societies are generally characterized by very low fertility rates and high infant mortality — these strategies also resulted in the sustained management of key natural resources, particularly range and woodlands. Recently, however, rapid population growth and an associated series of external pressures including crop expansion into rangelands, nationalization of land by governments, forced sedentarization, expanding urban and rural demand for fuelwood, and indiscriminate water development, have combined to upset the delicate balance between the herders and their fragile environment.