Community Rangeland Administration: Focus on Afghanistan

Abstract

"Nearly all of the pastures in Afghanistan are officially owned by the State, but used by families, clans, or tribes, including nomadic groups which herd sheep, goats, cattle and camels across semi-arid lands. Under the traditional informal arrangements which have existed for the use of these lands, differences of opinion can emerge. Also with security of tenure not assured, the users are not motivated to invest in the improvement of these lands. To address these issues procedures have been developed to draft agreements among the village leaders and elders as well as leaders of nomadic groups as to who are the legitimate users of pasture parcels.

"Following the formalization of these agreements among the legitimate users of these pastures, their signing and witnessing by village leaders, and delineation of pasture parcels to which the agreements refer on satellite imagery, these documents are archived in the care of a villager named by the Elders in a safe house or room in the village. Copies are filed with Provincial government land administration institutions.

"The Woluswali Pasture Land Specialists of the Ministry of Agriculture, Irrigation and Livestock work with the community pasture managers on designing and implementing pasture improvement plans for each pasture parcel, and review the user agreements for completeness and clarity. The Head of the Woluswali also reviews the agreements for completeness and clarity, and verifies that its terms do not infringe on the rights of users from other villages and are in accord with regional development plans."