Africa's Two Great Evils: 'Soil Erosion and Soul Erosion' Pressure on Customary Institutions for Common Property Resources Management; East Africa Case Study in Reference to the Maasai

Abstract

"Maasai pastoralists are the largest group in East Africa practising common property rights. This paper highlights land tenure arrangements and customary land management institutions. It discusses the causes underlying increasing resource scarcity, decreasing resource access, and pastoralists' displacement from their lands. The paper argues that these changes have been possible because the pastoral mode of production is not understood by those with political and economic influence. With the breakdown of customary or local management institutions, Maasai pastoralists have been disempowered and put into a situation of increasing dependency."