This paper represents part of an area of work which analyses the linkages between rights to land and water. An initial scoping paper explored the interface between land and water rights (LSP Working Paper 10: Hodgson, S. (2004). “Land and water – the rights interface”). It is complemented by two regional analyses: this Working Paper and LSP Working Paper 25: IIED. (2006). “Land and water rights in the Sahel: Tenure challenges of improving access to water for agriculture”.

Water development in pastoral dry lands of Africa has always been a priority for humanitarian and development agencies and for governments. However, over the last decades, experts have raised an increasing concern about its numerous adverse effects as illustrated below. Thébault (1990:25)

“The pastoral hydraulic is seriously contested by the donors, more and more reluctant to develop infrastructures which are potential sources of problems, and by the Sahelian governments who revise their strategies in this secto.” Prior (1994:31- 45)

“Water source developers have repeatedly ignored the sociological significance of water and its critical influence upon pastorals decision making. Often, this lack of understanding has resulted in bloody and fatal conflicts, destruction of pumping equipments and the degradation of the surrounding land. “While there has been a gradual, though belated, recognition among policy-makers of the environmental folly in indiscriminate development of permanent watering points, development agencies continue to be attracted to this form of intervention.” Scoones (1994: 35)

“Water development should continue to be a priority in areas where water is a limiting factor (…) However, the development of water points should be carefully planned in terms of density (risk of irreversible degradation, loss of eco-system resilience) and in terms of access to tenure of resources and changes to these which may be induced by the new development.” Bruce & Mearns (2002: 15)

“The literature is replete with examples of misguided World Bank and other donors support projects. Examples include borehole development in Botswana and group ranches in Kenya, both of which have exacerbated conflict over resources and contributed to elite capture of higher-value, better-watered land, uncontrolled privatisation of common pastures and severe environmental degradation.”

Trends and missing links

Pastoralists’ access to water, for both human and animal consumption, is a major element of their livelihoods and of the management of pastoral natural resources (water, pasture, land, trees). It is basically determined by infrastructure/investments and technologies (for physical control of and access to water) on one hand, and by institutions (rules in use, power relationships, cooperation/coordination, and/or competition) on the other.

It has been observed that change in water tenure (i.e. water rights) and in the concrete physical control of access to water has often induced changes in the appropriation of pastoral land. i.e. de facto appropriation of pastoral land surrounding those water resources by the groups or persons controlling and appropriating water.

The following trends have been observed: 1) environmental degradation and induced displacements involving conflicts and exclusions; 2) enclosures and conflicting appropriation of the new water resources and the surrounding grazing areas; and 3) new practices of private trucking and marketing water resulting in de facto exclusion of vulnerable groups from their access to water that were previously managed as common property.

The linkages at work in these processes are complex and play a major role in the competition for scarce resources in pastoral dry lands, especially considering the frequent negative socio-economic impacts of hydraulic infrastructures (e.g. boreholes, underground cemented cisterns, canals). Understanding and addressing these linkages adequately is a major challenge for sustainable livelihoods and poverty reduction in pastoral areas.