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Olson, J.M., Misana, S., Campbell, D.J., Mbonile, M. and Mugisha, S., 2004. The spatial pattern and root causes of land use change in East Africa. Land Use Change Impacts and Dynamics (LUCID) Project Working Paper 47. International Livestock Research Institute, Nairobi. |
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The overriding finding of the LUCID land use changes analyses is how rapidly farming and agro-pastoral systems have changed. Small-scale farmers and pastoralists have changed their entire system several times since the 1950’s. New land uses have been developed, and existing land uses have been transformed. In sum, the most significant land use changes have been: 1) an expansion of cropping into grazing areas, particularly in the semi-arid to sub-humid areas, 2) an expansion of rainfed and irrigated agriculture in wetlands or along streams especially in semi-arid areas, 3) a reduction in size of many woodlands and forests on land that is not protected, 4) an intensification of land use in areas already under crops in the more humid areas, and 5) the maintenance of natural vegetation in most protected areas. These changes have allowed many more people to live on the land as farmers and agro-pastoralists, and the systems have shown flexibility and adaptability in face of changing international and national economic and political structures. Diversification, towards a mixture of crops and livestock, cash and food crops, and farm and non-farm income, has been a critical means for households to reduce their risk in face of these changes. Amid the complexity of socio-economic and environmental driving forces of the land use changes across space and time, six factors appear to explain a large part of the dynamics of land use change in East Africa: 1. Government policy, laws and regulations 2. Economic factors 3. Population growth and migration 4. Changes in land tenure arrangements 5. Access to markets 6. Environmental conditions. Despite the rapid evolution of systems responding to these forces, rural poverty is common and key environmental resources are becoming increasingly scarce, contested and/ or degraded. The LUCID team found that poverty, poor land management and land degradation are much more common and persistent in marginal environments, especially, the remote, semi-arid zones. |
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