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Recommended Strategy for Conflict Resolution of Competing High Pasture Claims of Settled and Nomadic Communities in Afghanistan

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Recommended Strategy for Conflict Resolution of Competing High Pasture Claims of Settled and Nomadic Communities in Afghanistan Recommended Strategy for Conflict Resolution of Competing High Pasture Claims of Settled and Nomadic Communities in Afghanistan United Nations Environment Programme This report was prepared by the United Nations Environment Programme with funding from the European Commission. First published in Kabul in 2009 by the United Nations Environment Programme. Copyright © 2009, United Nations Environment Programme. UNEP is committed to facilitating sound natural resource management and utilization, and to practical peace- making processes where these resources are threatened by conflict. This publication may be reproduced in whole or in part and in any form for educational or non-profit purposes without special permission from the copyright holder, provided acknowledgement of the source is made. UNEP would appreciate receiving a copy of any publication that uses this publication as a source. No use of this publication may be made for resale or for any other commercial purpose whatsoever without prior permission in writing from the United Nations Environment Programme. DISCLAIMER The contents of this report do not necessarily reflect the views of UNEP, or contributory organizations. The designations employed and the presentations do not imply the expressions of any opinion whatsoever on the part of UNEP or contributory organizations concerning the legal status of any country, territory, city or area or its authority, or concerning the delimitation of its frontiers or boundaries. Unless otherwise credited photographs in this report were taken by the UNEP Afghanistan Programme staff Cover image: © UNEP - Kuchis in Ghazni Author: Liz Alden Wily Layout: Matija Potocnik Table of contents Introduction 5 1 Purpose ...............................................................................................................................................5 2 Audience .............................................................................................................................................5 3 Focus ..................................................................................................................................................5 4 Strategy ...............................................................................................................................................8 5 Sources ...............................................................................................................................................8 Part I Background 13 1 The resource .....................................................................................................................................13 2 Highland pasture use ........................................................................................................................13 3 Degradation .......................................................................................................................................17 4 Coming into conflict ..........................................................................................................................19 5 The current crisis ...............................................................................................................................20 6 Looking to the roots of the conflict ...................................................................................................22 7 The legal status of pastureland and rights ........................................................................................24 Part II Strategy 29 1 Grievances ........................................................................................................................................29 2 Lessons learned ................................................................................................................................31 3 Parameters ........................................................................................................................................38 4 Recommended process ....................................................................................................................45 5 Programme requirements ..................................................................................................................52 References 56 Annex A: Draft protocol proposed by the mediation team in respect of Nawor pasture, 2006 ..........62 Annex B: Extracts from selected laws relating to the status of pasture rights ...................................65 Annex C: Examples of settled-nomad relations in the pastures in the North .....................................72 Annex D: Examples of Hazara-Kuchi relations in Bamyan province before the civil war ...................76 Annex E: The twenty commonest rules in community based pasture management in Bamyan province .............................................................................................................83 Annex F: Procedural and legal recommendations for community based pasture management as arising from FAO/SALEH piloting ....................................................................................84 Annex G: The proposed procedure for formalizing pasture agreements as tested by RLAP in 2006 ..................................................................................................90 Annex H: The area of Hazarajat in 1880 ..............................................................................................92 Annex I: Recomended interventions by AREU for resolving the Behsud Hazara Kuchi conflict .......93 Endnotes 94 Glossary Central highlands the mountainous region of central Afghanistan Community hamlet, village or village cluster Community based used here to refer to an integrated approach to enabling a rural pasture management community to clarify pasture tenure through inter-community conflict resolution and agreement and to set up and operate a community directed management system for rehabilitating and sustainably using the pasture Hazara the cluster of groups with a shared language, history and culture living within Hazarajat Hazarajat the central area of Afghanistan today largely bounded by the central highlands and foothills Hindu Kush a main mountain range of the central highlands and often used to refer to the whole highlands area Koh-i-Baba a main mountain range of the central highlands running east to west and providing the boundary between Bamyan and Yakawlang Districts to the north (Bamyan Province) and Panjab and Behsud Districts to the south (Wardak Province) Kuchi nomadic pastoralists used mainly in reference to those of Pashtun ethnicity Nomad a mobile livestock keeper, including short, medium and long range seasonal movements between winter and summer pastures Pasture a named area of rangeland used specifically for grazing Rangeland an agro-ecological category of land, generally semi-arid and used mainly for green grazing but also available for wildlife, fodder harvesting and other uses Transhumance short-distance seasonal migration of people and animals, practised by some nomads and also settled populations 3 Acronyms Used AREU Afghanistan Research and Evaluation Unit CBPM Community Based Pasture Management CBNRM Community Based Natural Resource Management FAO Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations MAIL Ministry of Agriculture, Irrigation and Livestock NRC Norwegian Refugee Council RLAP Rural Land Administration Project SALEH Sustainable Agricultural Livelihoods in Eastern Hazarajat Project SDO Sanayee Development Organization UNAMA United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan UNEP United Nations Environment Programme Dari Terms Used Alafchar rangeland Aylak Hazara summer camp area on high pastures Aighal/aygal Traditional Hazara practice of reserving degraded pasture for three to seven years against grazing and bush/grass harvesting Baayer barren land Bikr virgin, uncultivated or arid land Butar shrubs collected in Hazarajat for winter fodder or fuel Beg a Hazara leader and/or landlord Cabal pasture grasses Charagah pasture Firman deed or ownership or access right Jerib one fifth of a hectare Jihad religious war Lalmi rainfed farming Maldar livestock keeper including nomads when not referred to as Kuchi Maraa pasture Mawaat barren or arid land Qurut dried yoghourt curds made in summer for winter consumption Shura/Jirga Traditional community councils or meetings 4 Introduction b) the Ministry of Agriculture, Irrigation and Agriculture (MAIL) which holds responsibility for the sound use and management of 1 Purpose pastureland; and The objective of this document is to lay out c) UNAMA, donors and project actors like UNEP a possible road map through which conflicts and FAO which are contributing directly to between settled populations and nomads over access to summer pastures may begin to be new strategic approaches for the longer-term resolved. It does not attempt to resolve the conflict safety of the resource. but to lay out factors which need to be taken into account and to suggest a workable process. 3 Focus The overall goal is to advance peace and sustainable The focus of this strategy is the pastures (or ‘rangelands’) pasture utilization, impeded by these conflicts. of Afghanistan. The terms pasture, pastureland and rangeland are used interchangeably. 2 Audience Pastureland is a substantial but fragile and The road-map is prepared for all stakeholders including dangerously degraded resource. Its future is put settled and nomadic communities themselves and into further jeopardy by continuing conflict
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