NIPSS seeks ECOWAS enhancement of Regulation on Transhumance across Region.
Ifeanyi Valentine, Monrovia.
The National Institute for Policy and Strategic Studies of Nigeria
(NIPSS) has called on the Economic Community of West African States
(ECOWAS) to harmonize and enhance the implementation of transhumance
regulation between member states.
This is in the bid to integrate the traditional stock routes used by
different pastoralist clans, customary transhumance corridors and
grazing areas.
The call was made in a presentation delivered by Ambassador Usman Sarki,
Directing Staff of NIPSS, on the Nigerian Legislation on Transhumance
and management of disputes between herdsmen and farmers at the
Parliamentary Seminar on Transhumance and Intercommunity conflicts
organized by the ECOWAS Parliament, convening in Monrovia.
Amb. Usman said that there is a need for ECOWAS to develop a
Twenty-year Plan for Transhumance Risk Mitigation and Reduction with a
view to creating the enabling environment for peaceful coexistence
between herders and farmers.
He said that the plan should take into consideration long-term
measures such as demographic stabilization, climate change impact
assessment, hydrological survey, establishment of regional grazing
reserves, and development of grazing corridors between and among
ECOWAS Member States.
Discussing the background of transhumance in West Africa, Usman said
that the region’s traditional migratory linkages and exchanges of
people, goods and services predicated on the historic and age-old
long-distance trade in commodities like cattle, fish and other
essential have of late been disturbed by factors like conflicts.
“Receding surface waters in many areas of West Africa occasioned by
drought and climate change, as well as reduced grazing areas have also
impacted heavily on the lifestyle of pastoral farers and adversely
affected the scope of their economic activities.
“A very important characteristic of both sedentary and pastoral
farmers in the ECOWAS region and indeed in most of Africa, is that
they are both relegated to the subsistence and informal levels” Usman
stated.
Furthermore, he said pastoral farmers have been left to their own
devices in almost all African countries, with little or no support
from governments or attention towards their modernization.
He added that Disputes between farmers and herdsmen is attributed to
land ownership, and grazing of livestock by herdsmen.
He stated further that destructions of crops by herdsmen among others
have existed for a long time, and hence, there is the need for
harmonization which can be realized through strict adherence to the
ECOWAS Protocol Decision of 1998 and Regulations on Transhumance of
2003.
“ECOWAS should promote gender specific policies and empowerment
programmes at grassroots levels, develop youths empowerment policies,
identify opportunities for farmers and herders to maximize the use of
available spaces, establish mechanisms for monitoring of transhumance
activities across West Africa, develop early warning and horizon
scanning strategies to anticipate and prevent conflicts related to
transhumance activities, and seek international support for such
policies” Usman opined.
Ifeanyi Valentine, Monrovia.
The National Institute for Policy and Strategic Studies of Nigeria
(NIPSS) has called on the Economic Community of West African States
(ECOWAS) to harmonize and enhance the implementation of transhumance
regulation between member states.
This is in the bid to integrate the traditional stock routes used by
different pastoralist clans, customary transhumance corridors and
grazing areas.
The call was made in a presentation delivered by Ambassador Usman Sarki,
Directing Staff of NIPSS, on the Nigerian Legislation on Transhumance
and management of disputes between herdsmen and farmers at the
Parliamentary Seminar on Transhumance and Intercommunity conflicts
organized by the ECOWAS Parliament, convening in Monrovia.
Amb. Usman said that there is a need for ECOWAS to develop a
Twenty-year Plan for Transhumance Risk Mitigation and Reduction with a
view to creating the enabling environment for peaceful coexistence
between herders and farmers.
He said that the plan should take into consideration long-term
measures such as demographic stabilization, climate change impact
assessment, hydrological survey, establishment of regional grazing
reserves, and development of grazing corridors between and among
ECOWAS Member States.
Discussing the background of transhumance in West Africa, Usman said
that the region’s traditional migratory linkages and exchanges of
people, goods and services predicated on the historic and age-old
long-distance trade in commodities like cattle, fish and other
essential have of late been disturbed by factors like conflicts.
“Receding surface waters in many areas of West Africa occasioned by
drought and climate change, as well as reduced grazing areas have also
impacted heavily on the lifestyle of pastoral farers and adversely
affected the scope of their economic activities.
“A very important characteristic of both sedentary and pastoral
farmers in the ECOWAS region and indeed in most of Africa, is that
they are both relegated to the subsistence and informal levels” Usman
stated.
Furthermore, he said pastoral farmers have been left to their own
devices in almost all African countries, with little or no support
from governments or attention towards their modernization.
He added that Disputes between farmers and herdsmen is attributed to
land ownership, and grazing of livestock by herdsmen.
He stated further that destructions of crops by herdsmen among others
have existed for a long time, and hence, there is the need for
harmonization which can be realized through strict adherence to the
ECOWAS Protocol Decision of 1998 and Regulations on Transhumance of
2003.
“ECOWAS should promote gender specific policies and empowerment
programmes at grassroots levels, develop youths empowerment policies,
identify opportunities for farmers and herders to maximize the use of
available spaces, establish mechanisms for monitoring of transhumance
activities across West Africa, develop early warning and horizon
scanning strategies to anticipate and prevent conflicts related to
transhumance activities, and seek international support for such
policies” Usman opined.
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