Abstract Extensive land degradation is a global problem that presents a critical threat to pastoralists’ welfare in East Africa and beyond. Although the reasons for this environmental problem are complex, it is likely to be exacerbated by communal land management practices that have become suboptimal due to changes in land access and population growth. In the present paper we make initial steps towards addressing the problem by exploring socio-psychological predictors of willingness to protect communal land from degradation among Maasai pastoralists in Northern Tanzania. Based on the social identity approach and existing evidence for the role of group processes in pro-environmental action, we have developed and tested a path model predicting willingness to protect communal land. The results demonstrate that community identification is linked to willingness to act via perceived development of action-consistent group and personal norms. In addition, multiple groups analysis demonstrated a number of gender differences within the model. The results are broadly consistent with the existing social identity models of pro-environmental action, extending them into a novel context, and offering practical implications for addressing the issue of pastoralist land degradation.

中文翻译：

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保护公地：缓解马赛牧民社区土地退化意愿的预测因素

摘要 大面积土地退化是一个全球性问题，对东非及其他地区的牧民福利构成严重威胁。尽管造成这一环境问题的原因很复杂，但由于土地获取方式和人口增长的变化而变得次优的公共土地管理实践可能会加剧这种情况。在本文中，我们通过探索保护坦桑尼亚北部马赛牧民公共土地免遭退化意愿的社会心理预测因素，为解决该问题迈出了初步步骤。基于社会认同方法和群体过程在环保行动中的作用的现有证据，我们开发并测试了一个预测保护公共土地意愿的路径模型。结果表明，社区认同通过行动一致的群体和个人规范的感知发展与行动意愿相关联。此外，多组分析表明模型内存在许多性别差异。结果与现有的亲环境行动的社会认同模型大体一致，将它们扩展到一个新的背景，并为解决牧民土地退化问题提供了实际意义。