Land & Water

Protecting shared grazing through joint village land use planning

The International Land Coalition case study “Protecting shared grazing through joint village land use planning” is situated in Kiteto District, Manyara Region of Tanzania. A legal framework exists in Tanzania for Village Councils to prepare participatory village land use plans, and to establish joint village land use plans and land use agreements that allow sharing grazing land across village boundaries. Despite this legal basis for rangeland protection and sharing resources across villages, the OLENGAPA grazing area shared by the villages Olkitikiti, Lerug, and Ngapapa, was until 2015 facing encroachment, fragmentation and loss to crop farming due to lack of resources and capacity to implement existing policies and legislation. For this reason the Sustainable Rangeland Management Project (SRMP) piloted joint village land use planning (JVLUP) in two districts, following the National Land Use Planning Commission Guidelines for participatory village land use planning.

After agreement was obtained from the three villages to proceed with the JVLUP exercise, participatory mapping of the rangeland resources took place. The maps formed the basis of both the three individual village land use plans and a joint one. The joint mapping process initiated discussions over shared resources, which would lead to the joint land use agreement. To this effect a joint village land use management committee (JVLUMC) was established.  It was also a starting point for data collection on demography, village administration, land tenure and size of land holdings, socio-economic facilities, settlement patterns, and economic and livelihood production systems in the villages, as a basis for the development of individual village land use plans (VLUPs). To obtain a high standard of spatial accuracy for their VLUPs, the rangeland resource maps were digitized through ground-truthing and the transfer of information onto  1:50,000 scale topographic maps, using hand-held GPS units.

After approval by the Village Assemblies of the individual VLUPs the JVLUMC discussed the harmonization issues needed to ensure contiguity and adequacy of grazing land across the three VLUPs, and resolution mechanisms for potential conflicts between different groups of users. The proposals from the JVLUMC were then presented to each respective Village Council for adoption, and then to the respective Village Assemblies for approval. This was later followed by (1) a Joint Village Land Use Agreement  in which the three villages committed themselves to respect the boundaries of areas identified for the sharing of resources, (2) official recognition of the village land boundary maps by the Ministry of Lands, Housing and Human Settlements, and (3) issuance of Certificates of Customary Right of Occupancy (CCRO) by the District Council.

The main lesson from this experience in Northern Tanzania is that through the process of JVLUP and the issuance of CCROs  the traditional practice of sharing resources over a larger landscape can be formally protected. Facilitation of a process of JVLUP is challenging and requires skills in conflict resolution and mediation, particularly between different land user groups.In order to efficiently select villages for joint land use planning, it is essential that they have a joint interest and commitment in sharing resources, such as grazing land and water, across village boundaries. A District Land Use Framework Plan could help identify clusters of villages that do have sharable resources. At the policy level,  JVLUP needs an enabling environment. In Tanzania, since District Councils are currently underfunded for VLUP and the capacity of local government officers needs to be strengthened in order to better contribute to the complex processes involved, including negotiation and conflict resolution.

Source (link)
Scale
Locality/Farm/Site, Watershed/Basin/Landscape
Type
Educational materials
Applicability
Locality/ Farm/ Site, Watershed/Basin/Landscape
Category
Integrated biophysical and socio-economic/negotiated approaches/tools
Sub-Category
Spatial planning (urban/rural)
Thematic areas
Land management/planning, Social - participatory approaches
User Category
Policy maker, Facilitator, Stakeholder