Determinants of pastoralists’ participation in rangeland restoration in Laisamis and Saku sub-counties, Marsabit County, Kenya

Rangeland degradation threatens the achievement of Land Degradation Neutrality (LDN) and Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) indicator 15.3.1 in sub-Saharan Africa. However, restoration efforts frequently overlook the psychological and institutional factors that motivate pastoralists to adopt restoration practices. This study employed an Extended Protection Motivation Theory (ePMT) framework to examine the determinants of pastoralists’ participation in rangeland restoration in the Laisamis and Saku sub-counties of the Marsabit County in Kenya. The rangeland in these counties continue to undergo degradation despite rangeland management efforts from the government. Reliability analysis confirmed that the ePMT constructs adequately captured the psychological, institutional, and economic factors influencing restoration practices. Ordinal logistic regression models were used to assess the effects of Extended Protection Motivation Theory (ePMT) constructs on the adoption of restoration practices among pastoralists in Laisamis and Saku Sub-counties, Marsabit, Kenya. The results show that response efficacy, perceived political willingness, perceived vulnerability, self-efficacy, and perceived incentives positively influence pastoralists’ adoption of restoration practices, while cost has a negative effect. Among the restoration-enhancing factors, response efficacy emerged as the strongest predictor ( β  = 1.629), followed by perceived vulnerability ( β  = 1.203), self-efficacy ( β  = 1.150), and perceived incentives (PIs) ( β  = 0.811). These findings suggest that pastoralists are more likely to engage in restoration activities when they perceive restoration measures to be effective, have confidence in their ability to implement them, expect economic benefits, and observe strong political commitment to restoration initiatives. Overall, the study demonstrates that coping appraisal exerts a greater influence on restoration behavior than threat appraisal. The findings provide empirical support for the extended PMT framework and highlight the need for restoration policies that strengthen local capacity, demonstrate the effectiveness of restoration interventions, provide appropriate incentives, and reinforce governance support alongside conventional awareness-raising programs.