BRIEFS 
Collective land rights: an essential asset for Pastoral communities in order to sustain their livelihoods and the environment in the Andean Altiplano
Pastoral communities are facing increasing pressure on their livehoods due to depletion and degradation of their productive resources. Land tenure plays a decisive role in sustaining pastoral productive systems. However, these communities are also facing pressures on their land as a result of misconceptions about pastoralism, changing demographics, urbanisation, climate change, and environmental degradation. In addition, public policy has not always favoured the development of pastoralism. Instead, public policies has promoted individualisation of land tenure. Individual land tenure is inconsistent with the sustainability of pastoral productive systems as it does not support sustainable practices such as mobility. On the other hand, these practices are supported under collective land tenure. Given that pastoral communities reside in areas characterised by arid and semi-arid conditions, and where alternative uses of land such as crop farming may not be possible, this policy brief argues for the maintenance of collective land tenure as it enhances the sustainability of pastoral productive systems.
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Key Lessons:
- Strengthening the local and customary institutions for land management and governance through the recognition of collective land access rights. In the Altiplano this leads to the recognition and formal regulation of the Condominium and other collective based land tenure regimes. We must further the discussion of how to recognize customary collect rights in the region.
- Stimulating the formation of small and medium herders’ associations in order to increase their access to a greater quantity and diversity of pastures. This would help to support more sustainable resource management that will confer benefits in terms of increased incomes. In Peru the Ministry of Agriculture is helping pastoral peasant communities with loans when they have enough resources: land, water and labour to develop their business as Alpaca fibre producers. This state support may be expanded to pastoral families with lesser access to resources by promoting their association.
- Promoting the continuity of local sustainable management practices, such as resource tracking among pastoral families through programs that showcase and reward such practices. In Peru the Ministry of Environment and Ministry of Agriculture are promoting sustainable production practices in the context of climate change through new programs such as Haku Wiñay for peasant producers. Pastoral communities’ sustainable production practices in dry and semi-dry ecosystems can certainly be incorporate into similar programs as well.
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