Sustaining indigenous Maasai Alalili silvo-pastoral conservation systems for improved community livelihood and biodiversity conservation in East African rangelands

covered by large and small-sized Alalili systems respectively in the absence of medium size. In the open areas, about 43.5%, 28.3%, and 28.2% of its total communal Alalili area were covered by small, large, and medium-sized Alalili systems respectively (Table 1). 3.2.5 Area coverage of private Alalili systems across land use. GCA had the highest area coverage of private Alalili systems with a total proportion of 71% of the total private Alalili area. WMA had private Alalili systems with an area covering 15% of the total private Alalili area while those in the open areas covered 14% of the total private Alalili area. On the other hand, no private Alalili systems were found in NCA. Considering the area of private Alalili sys- tems across sizes within land uses, it was found that in GCA, about 84.9%, 9.3%, and 5.9% of its total private Alalili area were covered by large, small, and medium-sized Alalili systems respectively. In the WMA, about 67% and 33% of its total private Alalili area were covered by large and small-sized Alalili systems respectively and no medium-sized Alalili systems were observed. In the open areas, about 41.5%, 38.8%, and 19.7% of its total private Alalili area were covered by large, medium, and small-sized Alalili systems respectively (Table 1). 3.3 Overall abundance and distribution of Alalili enclosures A total of 119 individual Alalili silvo-pastoral conservation systems were recorded in the study area. The identified traditional systems generally showed a spatial distribution across the study area (Fig 6).

3.3.1 Overall abundance and distribution across types of Alalili. There was a significant variation (χ2 = 47.3, df = 1, p < 0.001) of abundance between communal and private Alalili systems. The highest abundance of Alalili systems was recorded under the communal category which comprised 82% compared to 18% of Alalili systems that were recorded under the private category. Communal Alalili systems generally depicted the highest spatial distribution across land uses compared to that of private Alalili (Fig 6). 3.3.2 Overall Alalili abundance and distribution across land use and class-size. The abundance of Alalili varied significantly (χ2 = 39.2, df = 3, p < 0.001) from GCA to other land use categories whereby, 50% of Alalili systems were recorded from the GCA. The NCA had an Fig 6. General distribution of the surveyed Alalili types across rangeland areas of Northern Tanzania. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0303649.g006 PLOS ONE Sustaining Alalili systems in rangelands of East Africa PLOS ONE | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0303649 May 16, 2024 12 / 24