TERRITORIAL DIAGNOSTIC REPORT OF THE LAND RESOURCES OF SOMALILAND February, 2016 1 Acknowledgement This report is the outcome of cooperation of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations and SWALIM Project on one hand and the Somaliland Ministry of Environment and Rural Development on the other hand. We commend the effort of the SWALIM Project team members, in particular Hussein Gadain (SWALIM CTA), Saleem Ullah (NBSAP Consultant), Jeremiah Njeru (Capacity Development), Simon Mumuli (Land Resource Officer). We also commend the contribution of the land project team under which the territorial diagnostic study was undertaken, in particular Michael Oyat (Land Tenure Officer/Project Coordinator) and Ashebir Bekele (Territorial Development Consultant) for their inputs into the diagnostic process. The study has been made possible by the European Union through its generous financial contribution to the project “Rebuilding Confidence on Land Issues in Somalia”. Disclaimer The designations employed and the presentation of materials in this information product do not imply the expression of any opinion whatsoever on the part of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations and SWALIM Project or the European Union that funded the project concerning the legal status of any country, territory, city or area of its authorities, or concerning the delimitations of its frontiers or boundaries. This document should be cited as follows: Ullah, S al ee m , 2016. Territorial diagnostic report of the land resources of Somaliland, FAO-SWALIM, Nairobi, Kenya. 2 Table of Contents List of Acronyms .......................................................................................................................... 7 Acknowledgments ........................................................................................................................ 8 Executive Summary ...................................................................................................................... 9 1. Introduction............................................................................................................................. 13 1.1 Background ....................................................................................................................... 13 1.2. Introduction to the land resources of Somaliland ............................................................ 15 1.2.1. Climate ...................................................................................................................... 15 1.2.2. Landforms ................................................................................................................. 16 1.2.3. Soils: ......................................................................................................................... 16 1.2.4. Land use/land cover: ................................................................................................. 16 1.2.5. Land evaluation of Somaliland (Northern Area of Interest) ......................................... 17 1.3. Conclusion ....................................................................................................................... 18 2. Methodology ........................................................................................................................... 19 2.1. The Approach .................................................................................................................. 19 2.2. Integrated Methodologies Used for the Studies of Land Resources of Somaliland ........ 20 3. Climate and Ground Water of Somaliland ............................................................................. 24 3.1. Climate of Somaliland ..................................................................................................... 24 3.1.1. Climatic Zones .......................................................................................................... 25 3.1.2. Rainfall spatial and temporal distribution ................................................................. 26 3.1.3. Climate of the main landscapes of Somaliland ......................................................... 27 3.2. Groundwater Resources of Somaliland ........................................................................... 32 3.3. Run-off and Surface Water Resources of Somaliland ..................................................... 34 5. Landforms and Soils of Somaliland........................................................................................ 34 5.1. Landforms ........................................................................................................................ 34 5.2. Soils of Somaliland .......................................................................................................... 38 5.2.1. Occurrence and location of the soils of Somaliland: ................................................ 38 5.2.2. The productive potential of the soils ......................................................................... 39 5.2.3. Description of soil classes ......................................................................................... 42 5.2.4. Soils by Land forms of Somaliland .......................................................................... 44 5.2.5 Soils of Burco and Owdweyne ........................................................................... 48 5.2.6. Current use and recommendation for adequate management ................................... 51 6. Land cover and land use ......................................................................................................... 55 6.1. Landcover of Somaliland ................................................................................................. 55 6.1.1 Landcover of the coastal plain and piedmont: ........................................................... 59 6.1.2. Landcover of the mountains and highlands: ............................................................. 60 6.1.3. Landcover of plateaus ............................................................................................... 61 3 Map 15: Map of land cover of Plateau in Somaliland ........................................................ 62 6.1.4. Landcover of valleys ................................................................................................. 62 6.2. Land uses of Somaliland .................................................................................................. 63 6.2.1. Land use in the Coastal plains of Somaliland ........................................................... 64 6.2.2. Land use in the Mountains and highlands of Somaliland ......................................... 64 6.2.3. Land use in the Plateaus of Somaliland .................................................................... 65 6.2.4. Land use in the Valleys of Somaliland ..................................................................... 66 7. Production systems, livelihoods, Socio-economic and institutional factors ........................... 68 7.1. Demographic context ....................................................................................................... 68 7.2. Socio-economic context ................................................................................................... 69 7.3. Political situation ............................................................................................................. 70 7.4. Natural Resources Context .............................................................................................. 71 7.5. Public Service Delivery and Information Management Context ..................................... 74 7.5. The Livelihood context: a zonal perspective ................................................................... 74 8. Integration, Conclusion and Recommendations ..................................................................... 78 Challenges and Gaps in the sustainable management of the land resources of Somaliland: .. 82 Bio-physical challenges: ..................................................................................................... 82 Institutional & Capacity gaps: ............................................................................................ 85 Recommendations: ................................................................................................................. 86 4 List of Figures Figure 1 Somaliland climate zones ................................................................... 26 Figure 2: Somaliland mean annual rainfall spatial distribution ........................ 27 Figure 3: Climatic characteristics of the coastal landscape .............................. 28 Figure 4: Climatic characteristics of the Mountain and Highlands (Moist) landscape 29 Figure 5: Climatic characteristics of the Mountain and Highlands (Arid) landscape 30 Figure 6: Climatic characteristics of Plateau (Semi-arid) landscape ................ 30 Figure 7: Climatic characteristics of Plateau (Arid) landscape......................... 31 Figure 8: Climatic characteristics of Valley landscape. .................................... 31 Figure 9: Landform distribution in Somaliland ................................................ 37 Figure 10: Distribution of Soil types ................................................................ 39 List of Tables: Table 1: Summary of boreholes in Somaliland........................................................................... 34 Table 2: Physical and chemical properties of the