The analyses showed that the rangelands both the sub-humid (Ariaal) and the arid lowlands
(Rendille) had shrunk during the previous three to four decades. Mobility had however remained as
the main strategies for land use for grazing through splitting of the herds between the mobile (fora)
managed in the remote rangelands, and home-based rangelands. Although it had been earlier
hypothesized that pastoral sedentarization contributed to degradation of vegetation around
settlements, the present research found no evidence of permanent degradation. In the sub-humid zone
an increase in bush cover, a decline in herbaceous species, or an increase in unpalatable as opposed
to palatable plant species was found according to herder assessments. For making comparisons, the
herders separated the biodiversity into those species that are desirable for livestock grazing and those
that are undesirable. For the herders, the qualitative changes in vegetation indicators were associated
with continuous grazing, banning the use of fire for range management, and episodic rainfall.
Ecologists on the other hand, considered the total species pool, which showed no variability across
land use gradients from the settlements compared to the benchmark.