Towards enhanced pastoral development projects engineering: effects on rangeland governance

Abstract

The Tunisian experience on rangeland and pastoral development during the four last decades shows that pastoral development projects engineering has encountered several problems due to the complexity of rangeland resources, territories, societies, and institutional settings. The relative weakness of these projects has often been explained by the hostility of biophysical conditions, by the scarcity and vulnerability of natural resources and by socio-economic constraints. However, limited attention has been paid to aspects related to management and projects engineering. The objective of this policy brief is to depict some of the current constraints and opportunities faced by three pastoral investment Project Management Units (PMU) in South Tunisia, while characterizing the wider impact of these projects on rangeland governance. A list of lessons learned, and some recommendations will be considered to help the future design of similar projects with strong outcomes in terms of rangeland governance We further aim to list the type of pastoral investments which induce strong changes in rangeland governance.