Improving governance of collective lands in semi-arid pastoral systems in Southwest Angola

Improving governance of collective lands in semi-arid pastoral systems in Southwest Angola - Implementing the integrated territory/landscape management through the FAO Green Negotiated Territorial Development approach (GreeNTD)

David Tarrasón, Territorial Development and Ecosystem specialist

Damiano Luchetti, Programme Officer, FAO Natural Resources Management and Environment Department

Txaran Basterrechea, Chief Technical Advisor of RETESA Project  

Paolo Groppo, Territorial Development Officer 

Introduction

In the semiarid southwest Angola, the ecosystems’ capacity to provide valuable services is under great pressure due to changes in managing common natural resources (mostly pastures and water), as well as from the effects of climate change, causing land degradation. Indeed, the poor conditions of the land are associated with the loss of traditional practices of pasture management, including the lack of strong and functional customary institutions. In addition, the increase in human and animal population intensifies the pressure on communal pastures, thus provoking conflicts between farmers and herders.

The RETESA project (“Land rehabilitation and rangelands management in smallholders’ agro-pastoral production systems in southwestern Angola”) which is a project owned and implemented by the Ministry of Environment of the Government of Angola with technical and methodological assistance from The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and financed by the Global Environmental Found (GEF) focuses on a large region that embraces the transhumance routes of the pastoralist populations moving livestock along rainfall patterns and pasture/grass availability, through the Provinces of Namibe (Virey, Bibala and Camucuio municipalities) and including part of the provinces of Huila (Quilengues municipality) and Benguela (Chongori municipality). It stretches over approximately 700 km and has a population of about 340 000 inhabitants of which 40 percent are classified as poor.

Herders leave their residence with their animals in the months of May-June and return in the months of October-November, when the raining season starts. The ownership of cattle is a social status symbol therefore these are not being sold on a regular basis. Demand for land is affected by conflict between peasants and commercial farmers, returning refugees reclaiming their land-use rights, low soil fertility, limited areas of agricultural/grassland areas with adequate rainfall. With a growing population placing pressure on these areas, commercial cattle ranchers encroaching upon traditional grazing lands closing cattle corridors, and a changing climate posing new threats, traditional cattle raisers need explore sustainable management strategies to sustain augmented cattle numbers, increasing degradation which negatively affect livelihoods. Furthermore, Finally, perceived expansion of the desert to normally marginally suitable agricultural production areas is resulting in less edible pasture, especially in the driest part of the area. 

The approach used

The project aims at strengthening capacities at different levels, from local to provincial, to prevent and reverse land degradation in the region, and cope with climate change. The objective is to contribute to the design and implementation of territorial development plans negotiated and agreed between the different actors for an integrated management of natural resources combining the peasant and pastoral sectors.

In line with the approaches used for Integrated Landscape Management, the project promoted a multi-stakeholder dialogue on resource management opportunities through a local adaptation of the GreeNTD territorial development approach, developed by FAO. GreeNTD is a multidisciplinary and multilayers approach combining a set of well-established participatory tools. The approach provides tools and concepts in the search for options for a Sustainable Land Management, from the recognition of the needs and looking at the visions of the stakeholders operating and interacting within a given territory. 

The project conceives the territory (used in this project as a sort of synonym to landscape) as the spatial dimension of the social system interactions, which are mediated by the broader social, economic, and political settings (i.e., actors and governance system) and the related ecosystems functions and services (i.e., resource system and resources units). 

A complex spatial and multi-scaled approach is needed in this project as the social dynamics of pastoralists and the groups who interact with them, are associated with the movement of livestock long the transhumance route, and use/ownership rights act at different spatial scales.  

Six territorial development plans covering different levels (from local to regional) and different purposes have been implemented. Four plans focus on enhancing management practices of smallholder agro-pastoralists (2 at local, 1 at communal, 1 at municipal level). One plan is oriented to the prevention / resolution of conflicts between peasants and herders, at communal level. The sixth plan covers the entire route of transhumance, and represents a future scenario, built connecting the five previous plans.

The management plans work at different scales and target rangeland rehabilitation through improved range and herd management practices for smallholder agro-pastoralists. Territorial development plans address different levels, from local to regional. A specific challenge will be to scale up the process to administrative level scales where decision-making and policies occur.

Methodology

Guided by the GreeNTD approach stakeholders have agreed on the design, negotiation and implementation of territorial development plans for an integrated and sustainable management of natural resources.

During 2015 and 2016 a Land Degradation Assessment in Dryland Areas (LADA) assessment was carried out in the project area and valuable information obtained to understand the ecosystems and their services. Maps elaborated during the LADA assessment also present climatological and NDVI information. 

The first step of the GreeNTD approach involves a holistic diagnosis of the territory, with the objective of facilitating the process of consensual decision making in solving questions related to the management of natural resources, in this case the pasture areas. The diagnosis is also key to promote rural development as it involves all the actors of the territory/landscape. Building a common vision for sustainable land management practices is an essential part of governing the landscape and of programming in the pursuit of equitable and sustainable territorial development. Negotiation plays thus a key role in increasing the legitimacy of the entire process.

The project supports the creation of robust governance mechanism along the entire participatory process of negotiation among stakeholders to manage territories, at different scales. To achieve this, three main challenges are to be addressed: 1) reinforce stakeholders’ participation; 2) explore and put in place innovative strategies to involve women in the process; 3) Reinforce the “space for discussions”, deliberations and consensus building.

The development plans (outlined above) pursue to improve governance of pastoral lands, through recovering traditional decision-making spaces, in that region of Angola the traditional “Jango Pastoril” negotiation space has been rehabilitated after long time of being neglected. The rehabilitation of the Jango Pastoril is instrumental to enabling stakeholders to explore adaptive strategies for sustainable land management practices and simultaneously improve local livelihoods through the enhanced flow of multiple ecosystem services.

Agreed plans and negotiation spaces should support the restoration of the multifunctionality of the area and its ecosystems. The main pillars of this multifunctionality are: i) the agro‐ecological, social and historical context of the territory, and the heterogeneity of stakeholders (herders, farmers, administration, traditional authorities, women, etc.) having different needs and expectations for agro-pastoral activities (economic returns, local product, ecosystem services, cultural and traditions, etc.); ii) local livelihoods (security, sustainability), and  iii) the complex bundle of access and usage of common rights for natural resources, including land and water. 

Key issues addressed  

- continued learning and adaptation,

The adaptation of field techniques and guidelines to local context facilitated the learning process and ownership of stakeholders. 

Field visits, participatory mapping and training activities proved key to increase confidence by local actors and offered the possibility to continue discussions thus improving the learning exercise.

During the training activities, the facilitator tried to involve all the participants in order to help them connect with their experience and acquire new knowledge in their daily practice. In addition, have been placed to reflect, analyse and understand governance from a gender perspective, to act and transform reality.

- common concern entry points;

Climate change has great implications for semiarid pastoral systems, so is exacerbating the inherent variability of its environment, brings extreme events such as droughts. Nomadic pastoralist has been historically adaptable, however, their capacity for adaptation have been decreasing and needs to be strengthened to better manage climate variability.

Improve pastures management is a strategic entry point. Overall, efforts have been made to improve the governance of pastoral systems. All stakeholders, ultimately, saw benefits deriving from a change in rangeland management practices, as an entry point of dialogue. 

- Main ecosystem and ES provided by them: 

Three main ecosystems dominate in the area: 

• Desert, predominating in Virey Municipality, characterized by three ecological groups: i) arid areas with clusters of ground vegetation adapted to the lack of water and the movement of the sand; ii) dry open Savannah in a transitional zone between the desert and the Mopane woodland, with an increase of number of plants per surface, witnessed scarce shrubs and little ground cover; iii) the low lying areas and river vasins can also be considered as vegetative communities.  Main species are Faidherbia albida, Combretum and Ficus.
• Mopane woodland, predominant in the Bibala and Camucuio Municipalities, dominated by Colophospermum mopane, and other species less abundant such Acacia nigrescens, Adansonia digitate, Combretum imberbe, Kirkia acuminate, Sclerocarya birrea, 
• Miombo Woodland, in Municipalities of Quilengues and Chongori, dominated by trees of the subfamily Caesalpinioideae of the Leguminosae, mainly of the genera Brachystegia, Julbernardia and Isoberlinia. Common grasses include the genera Hyparrhenia, Andropogon, Loudetia and Digitaria (Frost 1996).

The main activities in the area include pastoralism and subsistence agriculture (maize and sorghum mainly, and to a lesser extent millet, manioc, and cowpea). Agriculture business in the area has relevance due to their intense use of marginal lands along the main rivers. Those exploitations are mainly based on tobacco, maize, sunflower, and also cotton at some location. The extensive shrub and grassland areas are dominated by transhumant livestock moving with rainfall patterns. Before the war, the area was characterized by an intensive (given the ecological conditions) livestock system with continual contact between humans and cattle through the interrelationship of cattle raising, milk utilization, and farming. The 2011 cattle head count was 135 154 in Benguela, 1 656 845 in Namibe, and 691 043 in Huila provinces (FAO Country stat, 2012). Nowadays livestock is managed through transhumance moving along rainfall patterns and pasture/grass availability. 

Ecosystem services from these ecosystems provide important contributions to the livelihoods: provisioning services used by rural households (mainly goods to communities as fruit, wild vegetables, mushrooms, insects or honey, medicinal plants, fuelwood, and building materials); supporting and regulating services include the cycling of nutrients, which is important to the region’s agriculture, carbon cycling, and the regulation of water and soil movements. These ecosystems support agriculture by keeping soil fertility and structure of surface soil to make it available for agriculture. Woodlands provide habitat for livestock production in pastoral regime. The pastoral activity, in fact, profits these ecosystems in an integrated manner based on the mobility of livestock; important cultural services include, traditional knowledge and cultural identity (e.g., maintenance of sacred sites with high cultural significance, and the dwelling places of powerful ancestral spirits, traditional sites where the communal decisions are taken, such “Tchila”, “Elau” or “Omuiti-ompela”, and the new Jango’, etc.). Finally, tourism could represent an important cultural service in the future and a contributor to local and national economy. 

- multiple stakeholders;

The approach aims to promote multi-stakeholder dialogue through the development of specific activities leading to increased stakeholder participation at all levels (livestock breeders, farmers, traditional authorities, local and municipal government, practitioners, etc.) and, with particular attention to involve women. This represents an excellent opportunity to promote changes in the structural and entrenched dynamics associated with livestock management. 

- negotiated and transparent change logic;

Dialogue is the crucial element in the search for viable options for sustainable management of resources (especially grazing areas), capable of responding to the needs and visions of the different actors who act and interact in a single territory. Reaching agreement on how to achieve the common goal then became the focus of the negotiation. In order to promote a fair and transparent negotiation, the active engagement of actors is critical, as is the development of a sense of ownership towards the entire process coupled with a sense of social legitimacy of the entire process. The more actors will feel as “owning” the process, the more they will actively participate thus developing a final product that will be socially legitimized by all participants, thus limiting the role of the external honest broker.

- clarification of rights and responsibilities;

The agreement is based on a set of criteria and clarifies the differentiated roles, duties and responsibilities of all parties that focus on contract outcomes (e.g., range management strategies) and agreed decisions (i.e., how to manage them) socially legitimized.

Steps followed for the landscape approach application

The process steps are developed in four main phases: 

Phase 1: Diagnosis of the current situation: 

Visualization of the territory taking into account the actors involved and the territory seen as a socio-ecological system. The focus is put on the interactions mediated by social, economic, and traditional configurations (i.e., actors and governance system), and related ecosystems (i.e., land and natural resources). 

First, the limits of the territory have been recognized by local stakeholders, demarcated by mountains, rivers, and even more traditional and cultural aspects, such as ritual spaces.

Second, an in-deep actors’ analysis to better understand the role they play that shapes the relations between them and the modalities of governance. Recognition of the role of women in access to natural resources, decision-making spaces and ownership of rights was also explored.

Third, participatory mapping of land use, to explore the local natural resources, especially pasture and water points. The maps are key to discuss about adaptive strategies in the next phase.

Fourth, governance analyses to describe the characteristics and relationships between the main actors / institutions, and explore power asymmetries in relation to access / use of natural resources. It was explored the Importance of the attributions of the three dimensions of governance in relation to the management of natural resources, in particular pasture lands: representativeness, distribution of authority and accountability mechanisms. 

Phase 2: Horizons: dialogue and proposals.

This phase focuses on creating spaces for dialogue between stakeholders at different levels, to discuss about management options, on the basis of concrete, coherent and feasible proposals. The strengthening of the pastoral Jangos is key to maintaining in time the process of decision-making and collaboration between the actors involved and to stimulate participation in the dialogue of the issues that affect the sustainable management of the pastures. 

Phase 3: The negotiation process. 

This phase aims of reaching consensus among actors for the sustainable management of resources. The issues discussed in the previous phase allowed to arrive at a consensual proposal for the creation of pasture reserve areas, with the final objective to reach an agreement on the socially legitimized management options and, propose initial actions to implement it.  

Phase 4: The sustainability of agreements.

The last phase, has the decisive aim to contribute to concretize, and formalize (if possible) of the resolutions agreed through dialogue and negotiation among all parties.

Key messages and lessons learned

The Project aims at improving land and resource management in a vast area where different territories are interconnected, through the transhumance tracks. So we need to have a vision of the territory and link it with actors, so that territory represents the spatial dimension of the social system interactions that is related to a set of ecological conditions. Indeed, social and the ecological levels interact and different goals need to be achieved by the different stakeholders, e.g., pastoralists, peasants, private, etc.  

The experience in Angola demonstrates the value of the GreeNTD framework to face these challenges, with the aim of adopting an integrated approach involving multiple-stakeholders and multi-scale dimensions. Creating a climate of confidence and building credibility and trust amongst the parties throughout the process is as important as the results themselves.

4. Short conclusions and next step     

Building the capacity of communities in negotiation processes to enhance governance of common property resources is a big challenge. This is a complex activity that may produce key and long-lasting project results if appropriation is achieved at local and upper levels. Create robust governance mechanism is crucial along the entire participatory process of negotiation among stakeholders to manage territories (at different scales). 

These tasks require a multidisciplinary perspective and a creative team with technical capabilities to tackle the complexity.