Changes in pastoralist commons management and their implications in Karamoja (Uganda)

Abstract

This article analyzes the progression from traditional to current pastoralist practices and the contemporary diversification of livelihoods of the Jie group of the Karimojong in the Kotido district in Karamoja (Uganda). the focus is on changes of land use, framed by the commons debate. We identify factors that have forced the Karimojong to abandon their traditional mobile pastoral lifestyle and to adopt new income-generating activities, including charcoal production and brick-making, which may have detrimental effects on local forest and soil cover. These have included repeated enclosure of common grazing lands by colonial and postcolonial governments. We conducted empirical research (interviews and focus group discussions) in 2012. They confirm the superiority of traditional pastoralist practices (in terms of safeguarding sustained productivity of pastures) compared to the current situation. An important factor leading to current unsustainable pastoralist practice involved the mass acquisition of firearms by the Karimojong in the 1970s and 1980s, violent cattle raiding and subsequent unequal disarmament and establishment of army-controlled cattle herding. This radical enclosure of the commons by the government, linked to impoverishment of a large part of the population in terms of cattle numbers, has necessitated the emergence of new, potentially environmentally detrimental livelihoods for the Jie. However, the escalation of the firearm crisis cannot be seen in isolation from a century of commons enclosure by governments, curtailing traditional practices and leading to insecurity and impoverishment of the Karimojong. The situation is exacerbated by current policies of the Ugandan government, geared to agricultural sedentarization, which may be unsustainable given the local natural and climatic conditions. Key Words: Pastoralism, Karamoja, environmental degradation, commons, political ecology, colonialism RésuméCet article analyse la progression des pratiques traditionnelles à la diversification contemporaine des moyens de subsistance du groupe Jie du Karimojong dans le district de Kotido à Karamoja (Ouganda). L'accent est mis sur les changements d'utilisation des terres, encadrés par le débat sur les communes. Nous identifions les facteurs qui ont obligé Karimojong à abandonner leur mode de vie pastoral mobile traditionnel et à adopter de nouvelles activités génératrices de revenus, y compris la production de charbon de bois et la fabrication de briques, ce qui peut avoir des effets néfastes sur les forêts et les sols locaux. Ces facteurs ont inclus l'enclos répété des pâturages communs par les gouvernements colonial et post-colonial. Nous avons mené des recherches empiriques (entretiens et discussions en groupes de discussion) en 2012. Les résultats confirment la supériorité des pratiques pastorales traditionnelles (en termes de sauvegarde de la productivité durable des pâturages) par rapport à la situation actuelle. Un facteur important qui a mené à une pratique pastorale insoutenable actuelle a été l...

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