Land investment reconfiguring Eastern Africa’s pastoral drylands

The rush for land and resources in sub-Saharan Africa is often happening alongside regional projects to upgrade and expand infrastructure. The urgency to unlock untapped economic potential has generated heated debate around the social and environmental impacts, as well as consequences for livelihoods, rights and benefit sharing. More than ever before, the gaze of global investment is directed to the pastoral drylands of Africa. The book Land investment & politics: reconfiguring Eastern Africa’s pastoral drylands (2020, 224pp, Suffolk: James Curry), edited by Jeremy Lind et al, examines how land investment has impacted on the land and natural resource uses and social organisation in the Eastern African drylands where, given ecological uncertainty and patchy distribution of resources, adaptability and flexibility have been the basis for sustaining pastoralists’ livelihoods.

The book is not available for posting on the CELEP website but the excellent introductory chapter “The politics of land, resources & investment in Eastern Africa’s pastoral drylands is open access. For a detailed summary of the book, see John Galaty’s book review published in Pastoralism 11:21 (2021).

Posted on 15 May 2022 in Pastoralism & Extractives, Pastoralism & Natural Resources, Pastoralism, Policy & Power