Sustainable Pastoral Production System Under Pressure: - A case study of Somaliland’s pastoral production system

Sammanfattning: Livestock husbandry is the dominant system of production in Somaliland. Close to half of the population is involved and government revenue is heavily dependent on livestock exports. The production system has gone through a transformation from being self-sustaining to a market oriented production system. The increase of livestock export has led to wealth accumulation that has made investment possible in improving the recurrent problems with finding water and pasture. But over time such improvements also have brought pressure on the pastoral environment. Around the water points, new settlements have emerged, while illegal enclosures have started to disrupt the age-old pastoral migration between wet and dry season. The Somali state development policies, land reform programmes in particular, have further added to the problem by disturbing the pastoral tenure system, which governs the commons. This paper describes the pastoral mode of production, as it was prior to external influences, such as colonialism, market economy and state development policies. It further describes the transformation of the production system and the impact such changes have on the pastoral environment and the pastoral tenure system. The study discusses and concludes the necessity of reviving the traditional pastoral tenure system and its method of managing the commons, which previously made the pastoral sector sustainable.