APA-Addis Ababa (Ethiopia) Experts have called for implementing regional and continental land policies and conventions to address unfolding cross border conflicts involving dwindling pastoral resources in Africa.
The call came on Thursday at the 2023 Conference on Land Policy in Africa at the African Union (AU) headquarters in Addis Ababa, Ethiopian capital. The conference discussed implementations of cross border land policies and ways to address conflicts arising from movements of pastoral communities across the continent.
One of the speakers and land policy expert in Burkina Faso Hubert Ouedraogo said the pastoral communities in Africa are under threat due to dwindling pastoral resources and widespread conflicts as they cross borders searching for pasture land and water bodies.
“The continental frameworks, regional protocols and conventions as well as cross border legislation have been poorly or not implemented and failed to address problems faced by pastoral communities in Africa,” Ouedraogo said.
According to figures released at the conference, the pastoral communities in Africa constitute 265 million of the African population.
He urged African governments and regional economic communities to promote the continental land agenda and work on the implementation of those frameworks and conventions or adapt new ones that will bring about lasting solutions.
Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) expert and one of the speakers Esther Obaikor said pastoral communities in Africa are facing conflicts as they go deeper and deeper in neighboring countries in search of water and pasture as most of the borders in the continent are not official.
“Pastoralists do not respect borders but they follow grass and water and this usually creates conflict in the region and when pastoralists move there is lack of clarity among the host communities as to why they are moving,” she said.
She said the conflicts are happening frequently due to scarcity of pasture land and water which has been aggravated due to climate change and drought.
“Climate change has exacerbated conflict and that has led a lot of instability in terms of resource sharing and African governments and regional communities as well as civil society organization should find common cross border solutions to the movement of people and the movement of cattle across the continent,”
According to the expert, new protocols are nearing ratification by the African Union and regional blocs, aiming at establishing cross border land policies, finding alternative conflict resolution and sharing resources among the pastoral communities across borders.
MG/as/APA