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

while the lowest mean temperature is 13˚C [15]. The mean annual rainfall ranges between 450 and 1,200 mm [49]. The region is featured with bimodal rainy seasons, with the short season falling between October and December, while the long rainy season falls between March and May [50, 51]. In normal years, the rainy season stretches from January to April [47, 52, 53]. The vegetation cover in the region ranges from grassland Maasai steppe to bushland in the lowlands and upland tropical thick forests growing on well-drained soils of fertile land, which is alternatively used for agriculture, mining activities, grazing, and game-controlled areas [47, 50, 54]. The vegetation cover in the low grassland and midlands of the region generally includes scattered trees and shrubs dominated by Acacia spp., Combretum spp., and Brachyste- gia spp. as well as grasses in the genus Cenchrus spp. and Cynodon spp. The dominant commu- nities of the Maasai tribe in the villages are engaged in social-economic activities such as livestock keeping, agriculture, mining, jewelry, and beekeeping. Livestock keeping is an impor- tant and main economic activity that forms part of family wealth and savings [1, 35, 55]. 2.2 Categorization of land uses and tenure types in northern Tanzania The Land Act of Tanzania (enacted in 1999) clarifies that “all land in Tanzania is public and is vested in the President as a trustee on behalf of all citizens” [56]. The law under the Ministry of Lands, Housing, and Housing Development is in charge of facilitating an equitable distribu-

tion of and access to land by all citizens [56]. Therefore, the Land Act Cap. 113 classified the Tanzanian land tenure into three main categories; (a) general land, (b) village land, and (c) reserved land. The general land refers to all public land with the exception of village land (including unoccupied open areas or unused village land) and reserved land. Village land refers to any part of the general land other than reserved land transferred to a village [57]. Its establishment is aimed at providing access of land to indigenous people living within and around reserves for settlement, agriculture (crop production and pastoralism), and infrastruc- ture (education, health, business, transport, and the related facilities). This is done with regard Fig 1. A map of the study area portraying the surveyed land uses of northern Tanzania rangeland. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0303649.g001 PLOS ONE Sustaining Alalili systems in rangelands of East Africa PLOS ONE | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0303649 May 16, 2024 4 / 24