Tenure security in the drylands, including rangelands of Ethiopia, is poor. Because of the collective and multidimensional characteristics of land use and access in these areas, rights (ownership, access and use) are difficult to define and protect; policies and legislation if they exist, fail to adequately address these issues. Planning has been top-down with decisions made about drylands without the knowledge, input and support of dryland communities.Migration into drylands by nonlocals, as well as out-migration by the youth in particular has become common, meaning that groups and communities are more diffuse and fluid than previously. The authority of customary governance institutions is being increasingly undermined and opposed as a result.
