GRAZING LAND TENURE AND LIVELIHOOD SECURITY:

A STUDY OF TWO CLUSTERS OF VILLAGES IN THE GAMBIA

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1.0 Introduction

For a number of years it was accepted wisdom that the Sahara Desert was advancing southward. Some scientists suspected a "natural" climate change but most blamed human action. Among other offenses, Africans who lived south of the Sahara in and near the Sahel were said to be guilty of allowing their livestock to overgraze. Today, however, the very idea that the Sahara Desert is advancing is questioned (see Pearce, 1992). While the existence of generalized, Sahel-wide desertification has not been clearly proven, that there are significant local environmental crises occurring in and near the Sahel can hardly be doubted. One thing that we can be sure about is that more research is needed into all of these issues - desertification, climate change, land degradation, and overgrazing - and into the relationship between them.

The Gambia, a small country lying just south of the Sahel, is not immune to such environmental challenges and according to the recent Gambia Environmental Action Plan (GEAP, 1992:7) loss of soil fertility "is potentially one of the most serious environmental threats in The Gambia." Mechanization of agriculture along with a growing human population has led to more and more Gambian land being brought under cultivation. The reduction in the amount of uncultivated land, the climatic drying trend that began in the early 1970s, and larger livestock populations have contributed to concerns within the Gambian government and some international development agencies about overgrazing. Changes in land tenure systems are often suggested as a means of reducing overgrazing and the Gambian government appears to be preparing to alter or perhaps radically transform the land tenure system that prevails in the rural areas. Since the mid-1980s, the government has been undertaking a number of rangeland projects, and lately it has been engaged in ongoing research into traditional land tenure. Furthermore, in 1990 it passed the State Lands Act, which, if fully implemented, would completely transform the traditional land tenure system.

However, rural Gambians rely on livestock and the land for production, savings, and survival, and any changes to the land tenure system would have the potential to greatly affect the strategies that are used to provide for year-to-year and day-to-day security. In considering various ways to protect land resources, such as altering the land tenure system, planners and policymakers must not relegate the people who depend directly on the land for their survival to a residual level of importance. We must avoid what Robert Chambers (1987) has called "environment thinking" and its "weakness of starting with physical problems rather than people." (1987:6) He argues that "the thinking and strategies advocated and adopted [by many of those who give environmental considerations a high priority] have largely perpetuated conventional top-down, centre-outwards thinking." (1987:1) Davies, et.al. (1991:15) echo this view and express the fear that concern over the environment among donor countries "could emerge in the context of food production . . . placing - at its most extreme - environmental concerns above those of improved food security."

Chambers suggests replacing environment thinking with sustainable livelihood thinking (SLT). In SLT, the focus is not on "a poverty line defined in terms of consumption," but on livelihoods, with an emphasis on "both short-term satisfaction of basic needs and long-term security." (1987:15) Sustainable Livelihood Thinking

takes sustainability from [environment thinking], linking with the need of the poor for long-term security for themselves and their children. . . . SLT centres on enabling poor people to overcome conditions which force them to take the short view.

(Chambers, 1987:15)

If this mode of thinking is applied to the problems associated with grazing land in rural Gambia- if, in other words, we put the rural poor first in our analysis- then the problem for rural Gambia becomes one of deteriorating livelihoods and security rather than one of overgrazing, soil degradation, and loss of grazing land, per se. The task for the development planner is to ensure that poor people and their concerns stay at the focal point of the development process.

The focus of this research, conducted over a seven month period from October 1993 through April 1994, was on livelihood security strategies, grazing land tenure, and the relationship between the two. The primary goal of the research was to construct a model (or models) of livelihood security strategies for rural Gambian households with special attention to how those strategies relate to livestock and grazing land tenure. This approach was taken because the relationship between land tenure systems and livelihood security strategies is a profound one and any alterations to the land tenure system are likely to have a number of effects on livelihood security. By trying to construct a model of security strategies inductively, an attempt is made to achieve a holistic understanding of these strategies and their relationship to the land tenure system. The second goal of the research was to use any model that was constructed to examine potential modifications to the tenure system as they apply to grazing land, to examine how those modifications might affect livelihood security, and to explore policy implications arising from that examination. This analysis of land tenure policy issues will be guided by a concern for what effects government interventions will have on the poorest Gambians, those whose security is most precarious.

The methods used in the field research were primarily qualitative and the approach to analysis was one of finding connections and patterns. My understanding of the literature on security and land tenure on the one hand and my understanding of the results of the field research on the other have influenced each other. The entire process of research and analysis was iterative. Therefore, for this thesis, a traditional structure with clear separations between literature review, methods, results, and analysis would have resulted in a disjointed flow of ideas. Instead, the structure of the thesis is based more on concepts than on stages of the research process.

Chapter Two presents background information on The Gambia relating to the biophysical environment, land use, and legal provisions relevant to rural land tenure. Chapter Three discusses livelihood security, land tenure, and the link between these two subjects. A description of the field research methods follows in Chapter Four. In Chapter Five an overview of traditional land tenure in rural Gambia, based largely on information from secondary sources, is given, followed by a more detailed description of the tenure system at the two study sites, based on findings from the field research. Chapter Six describes livelihood security strategies that households at the two study sites employ, and frames that discussion in terms of a conceptual model - "the three lines of defense." Chapter Seven presents further findings that reveal the linkages between land tenure and security. In this chapter an attempt is also made to synthesize these two subjects. The final chapter draws policy considerations from the earlier discussion and considers implications for rural development planning in general.

The field research began in early October, 1993 at the end of what many rural Gambians said was the best rainy season they had had in the past few years. Despite the improvement in rainfall that year, providing for the security of their families continued to be a struggle for most of the people that I interviewed. Many of the strategies that they use to provide for security depend upon the land and resources on the land. With this research I not only examine livelihood security strategies and the land tenure system in The Gambia, but also attempt to synthesize these two subjects and to produce some new insights into each. The final product will, I believe, be of interest both to those concerned about land tenure and livelihood security in general, and to those who must make practical decisions about Gambian land tenure systems in particular. Furthermore, the application of Sustainable Livelihood Thinking to the analysis of these issues will be a useful example for development planners who are looking for intellectual tools that help to focus attention on the concerns of the rural poor.

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