The practice of transhumance represents an ancestral form of socio-economic activity in West and Central Africa, cohabiting delicately with sedentary agricultural practices and the protection of natural resources. As one of the major occupations in the Lake Chad region, livestock-breeding holds a considerable economic importance in each of the four countries. Around 80% of the livestock breeding in the region involves mobile pastoral systems, including transhumance, underscoring its importance as a vector for ensuring food security and socioeconomic wealth. However, the general conditions for transhumant pastoralism have deteriorated significantly. High population growth, economic development, urbanization, and infrastructure expansion are causing increasing land consumption. The designation of protected areas reduces land available for agriculture and livestock. The associated reduction in land available for grazing is offset by an increasing number of livestock. The ever-increasing demand of rapidly growing mobile livestock for water and fodder, as well as secure grazing routes and resting areas, is exacerbating conflicts over scarce natural resources with negative impacts on social cohesion between mobile livestock and sedentary arable populations. In response to the growing challenges, the Peaceful and Inclusive Transhumance in the Lake Chad Region (PETRA) project aims to contribute to the peaceful management of cross-border transhumance in the Lake Chad region of the border corridor between Chad, Cameroon, Nigeria, and Niger. PETRA's approach is holistic, considering both the horizontal issues surrounding mobile pastoralism and their interactions and consequences on the ground as well as the vertical interdependencies between the local communities, the regional authorities, the broader regulatory framework and the (inter)national institutions. The project aims to enhance the potential of transhumance in the Lake Chad Region as a vector for a peaceful, sustainable, and inclusive development. To this end, PETRA promotes the development and use of preventive conflict management tools in the context of transboundary transhumance by regional, national, and local actors. The project is being implemented by Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH, in collaboration with the Lake Chad Basin Commission (CBLT) and the Commission Economique du Bétail, de la Viande et des Ressources Halieutiques (CEBEVIRHA) on behalf of the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) with a duration of three years (2023 - 2026). The project comprises three components: - Governance: The PETRA project, together with its partners and local communities, will develop governance tools and participatory crisis prevention strategies for inclusive transboundary transhumance; - Local conflict prevention: In collaboration with local authorities and institutions, PETRA will implement measures aimed at a peaceful and inclusive management of transboundary trans-humance into local planning while focusing on gender equality. Dissemination of good practice: The project will focus on the widespread dissemination of best practices on crisis-preventive management of transboundary transhumance.
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