The extensive savannah regions of Africa are in a state of transition. There are increasing pressures on land use, as a result of the conflicting interests of farmers, pastoralists, foresters, and conservationists. Although arid rangelands have been progressively degraded by drought and overexploitation, by incorporating local communities' expertise, natural resource management may be improved. More information is urgently needed on current natural resource management methods used by local communities.
Introduction; What determines livestock numbers?; Unreliable statistics?; Carrying capacity; A unique data set: the ERGO database; Data collection, coverage and contents; Sites surveyed and data collected; Accuracy of the data - are they reliable?; Data processing and analysis; Preliminary findings; Relationships between livestock and environment; Summary of preliminary findings; Implications; Recommendations for further study; References; Appendices