Towards An Effective Cattle Grazing And Rearing Legal Framework: An Imperative For Environmental Protection

Abstract

When scholars write about environmental degradation in their publications,
they hardly mention cattle grazing and rearing as one of its causes. Nevertheless,
this activity, which has impacted the environment adversely, is a direct cause
of land degradation, threatens the resources and ecosystem’s services that
biodiversity provides, and is a threat to the Sustainable Development Goals
(SDGs), particularly SDG 15. Livestock pastoralism has intensified in Nigeria
in recent times, leading to greater environmental concerns and conflicts over
access to natural resources. A close scrutiny of Nigeria’s municipal laws
shows the absence of any statute that provides for the protection of the
environment from this economic activity except the recent anti-open grazing
laws enacted by some states. This seems to account for the unsustainable
management of cattle grazing lands among other factors. The recent conflicts,
killings and destruction of properties between herdsmen and farmers in Nigeria
is one of the consequences of ineffective management of access to natural
resources (land) and an ineffective regulatory framework for addressing the
environmental degradation resulting from unregulated grazing, which are
both exacerbated by climate change. An effective cattle grazing legal
framework, it is argued, is imperative to complement existing environmental
laws in addressing the environmental challenges occasioned by cattle grazing
and ongoing tensions.