Towards an Environmentally Sensitive Form of Pastoralism: an Indicative Cost-benefit Analysis

Abstract

This paper describes the environmental problems facing the development of Kenya’s arid and semi arid lands (ASALs) today. The problems arise because of a rapidly declining resource base in the ASAL as a result of overexploitation and misuse, following basic land use conflicts. The extent of the overutilisation or resource damage is not well known and varies from one agro-ecological zone to another and from resource to resource in the ASAL; those most affected include soil, water, range, forest, livestock and wildlife. As a result of increased population in the ASAL, these resources are under stress. Many of the development programmes do not ad- dressTHe"needs of the people who live in the ASAL. There is a need to shift the objective of ASAL development from a preoccupation with economic growth and the idea that ASA1 should make a contribution to CiNP through interregional trade and export to sustainable development that enables the communities in the ASAL to support themselves at a good a standard of living as possible. Drought and desertification are still a major drawback in the developmenLprocess of the arid and semi-arid regions despite long periods of environmental awareness. The study aims at finding a more environmental friendly form of land-use undertaking in the arid lands ol Kenya where Pastoralism is the main economic domain. In this respect,we compare the economic and environmental benefits of camels to those of cows.The analysis is done in a Cost-Benefit framework by considering the benefits accruing to camel keeping compared to those ot cattle keeping considering the two as alternative land- uses though they are not mutually exclusive. I he main findings ot the study were: Camel pastoralism is a more environmental friendly land-use undertaking than cattle pastoralism. The costs of camel keeping are very high but the returns from an economic point ot view are much higher showing that the risks of adopting camels in this arid environment are rather minimal. Adopting camels in this harsh environment is indeed an economic as well as an environmental plus to the pastoralists and will ensure that development programmes too,will address the needs of the pastoralists now as well as in the future. ‘