Water-use permits and water accessibility for livestock in Tanzania

Abstract

The system of water-use permits in the Ruaha sub-basin, Tanzania, has failed to guarantee smooth accessibility of water to pastoralists. Due to the allocation of wateruse permits for irrigation agriculture without considering the interests of the pastoralists, re-allocation of designated livestock watering points for other uses, and the lack of formal documents for protecting livestock watering points have rendered pastoralists to being non-entitled to water. Although there are some possible ‘windows’ of cooperation between holders of collective water-use permits and pastoralists, however there are more challenges that makes those windows to be ineffective.

Keywords: water-use permit, water resources, pastoralists, Ruaha sub-basin, Tanzania