Kenyan Rangeland Rehabilitation

"Opuntia stricta is a problematic invasive cactus species in many of the world’s drylands, including Laikipia, Kenya. This project focuses on Makurian Group Ranch, a communally managed rangeland in the Mukogodo area of Laikipia. The members of this Maasai community are pastoralists whose livelihoods depend on livestock husbandry and the O. stricta invasion is perceived as a more serious threat than insufficient grazing... As funding is limited and local communities are strongly motivated to control O. stricta, manual clearing has been proposed by the group ranch members despite its labour intensiveness. The group ranch members compose the vast majority of the stakeholders and have driven this restoration project from conception, through planning and implementation and, in later stages of the project, will lead the monitoring and evaluation."