Effects of a grazing permit market on pastoralist behavior and overgrazing in Kenya
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 15550759 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Austin A Scheetz (0000-0001-5887-4606, Yale University, corresponding author), Eli P Fenichel (0000-0002-7649-8250, Yale University), Daniel I Rubenstein (0000-0001-9049-5219, Princeton University) |
| Year | 2022 |
| Volume | 17 |
| Issue | 3 |
| Pages | 035002-035002 |
| Publication date | 2022-02-14 |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Environmental Research Letters (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 1748-9326 • E-ISSN: 1748-9326 |
| Publisher | IOP Publishing (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1088/1748-9326/ac54cc |
| OpenAlex | W4212954622 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 1 |
| References cited | 31 |
The success of market-based mechanisms in reducing conflicts and internalizing externalities depends on their ability to clarify property rights amongst heterogenous resource users. We investigate the effectiveness of novel markets in achieving their goals using the case study of grazing markets in Laikipia County, Kenya. In this system, sheep- and goat (shoat)- and cattle-rearing pastoralists negotiate land access for cattle with neighboring cattle ranchers. Using data on pastoralists’ livestock and contracting preferences and a model of pastoral herd management, we show that contracting for cattle grazing access on private property alters relative input shadow prices for grazing resources in communal pastoral lands, ultimately resulting in relieved cattle grazing pressure. However, the permitting process is less attractive to pastoralists who prefer rearing shoats instead of cattle. These shoat-rearing pastoralists instead fill some of the vacated space with shoats instead of purchasing permits themselves. This leakage offsets some of the conservation benefits arising from the contracting program and results in a greater share of shoats in the communal herd mix. Approximately 0.59 cows’ worth of free space persists on the commons per permit sold, indicating reduced grazing pressure, but this represents a small proportion (3.8%) of the total livestock in the system. The narrow introduction of the cattle-focused permit market and lack of strong management institutions on the commons dampen the permitting program’s conservation benefits, necessitating further interventions. Alleviating these factors and dramatically scaling up the program has the potential to turn the permitting system into a successful conservation tool
Agriculture · Business · Commons · Economics · Geography · Grazing · Grazing pressure · Herding · Livestock · Maasai · Market access · Microeconomics · Natural resource economics · Overgrazing · Pastoralism · Property rights · Socioeconomics · Tanzania · Animal Diversity and Health Studies · Land Rights and Reforms · Rangeland Management and Livestock Ecology · Ecology
Eliciting risk preferences
Paying for Ecosystem Services—Promise and Peril
Sex differences and statistical stereotyping in attitudes toward financial risk
Stability of African Pastoral Ecosystems
Historical Ecologies of Pastoralist Overgrazing in Kenya
The global status and trends of Payments for Ecosystem Services
Private Property Rights and Community Goods
From Cattle to Goats
Risk and Uncertainty among the Maasai of the Ngorongoro Conservation Area in Tanzania
A holistic approach to natural resource conflict
Making Negotiated Land Reform Work
Voluntary Compliance with Market‐Based Environmental Policy
East African Pastoralism in Transition
Maasai group ranches, minority land owners, and the political landscape of Laikipia County, Kenya
Pastoralism Under Pressure
| Citations per year | 1 |
|---|---|
| Citation span | 2025 - 2025 (1) |
| Highly cited | No |