Editorial: Pastoralists and agroecology

By and
19 December 2016

The intrinsic values of pastoralists’ way of life – cultural heritage, their animals and the ecosystems in which they live – are often shunned by today’s policy makers. On top of this, the services pastoralists provide to society at large are underestimated. This issue of Farming Matters explores the different ways pastoral societies are improving their situations. Notably, a special section focused on pastoralism in the Middle East exemplifies how pastoral societies struggle under challenging circumstances. Joining forces and adapting traditional governance to make their voices heard are some of the strategies of pastoralists fighting to maintain their culture. The experiences and perspectives here highlight the importance of pastoral societies for agroecology and the transformation of entire food systems.

Pastoralists all over the world do find ways to overcome the challenges that undermine their lifestyles Photo: Escola de pastores

Much like peasants and family farmers, pastoralists’ core activity is food production. For millennia, they have been producing milk, meat, fibre and hide, as well as providing ecosystem services in the world’s most challenging environments. Pastoralists are mobile or semi-mobile livestock keepers with highly evolved relationships between their breeds and the environment in which they live.

The environmental and cultural diversity of pastoral communities across the world is vast. Yet, there are common struggles that unite pastoral communities – with each other, but also with family farmers, fisher folk, rural workers and others seeking fair food systems. Above all, as producers wishing to maintain their way of life, food sovereignty is a necessity they strive to achieve.

Access and control over land

Survival of pastoral communities and their animals depends on their ability to access land and water. Pastoralists manage extensive tracts of land, including migratory routes, for grazing. This strategy takes advantage of ecological and climatic variability and defies popular belief that certain areas, often arid and mountainous, are uninhabitable and unproductive.

Over centuries, pastoral communities have maintained land as shared property, known as the commons. Use of the commons is usually regulated by customary tenure and enforced through customary law. But today, in many places there is tension between the objectives of customary and statutory (national) law. Moreover, customary law is often undermined or dismantled by national governments facilitating or turning a blind eye to land grabbing. For instance, most national governments pursue privatisation of common land to encourage investment in commodity production (industrial agriculture, mining), nature conservation or hunting reserves. Consultation with pastoral communities in this process is often inadequate or altogether non-existent.

The result is that pastoralists are losing access to and control over their lands. And the implications include livestock death, hunger and conflict between pastoralists and other land users. Besides this, the role pastoralists play as keepers of the land (see box) is becoming less viable and land degradation more prevalent. Other societal issues such as rural exodus emerge as well.

Privatisation of the commons is certainly not happening in a vacuum, and there are other factors contributing to these issues (e.g. climate change, conflict, corruption), but (re)securing pastoral communities’ land rights is cross-cutting and particularly illustrative when it comes to empowerment, the struggle to improve governance, and ultimately achieve food sovereignty.

Local and global voices

One way in which pastoralists make themselves heard at the regional and international levels is by forming alliances that participate in policy making fora. The World Alliance of Mobile Indigenous Peoples (WAMIP), the Arab Pastoralist Community Network (see the special section on the pastoralism in the Middle East) and the pastoralists’ constituency in the Food Sovereignty movement are but three examples. Margherita Gomarasca reflects on the way a group of pastoralists, representing more than 100 organisations from across the world, is shaping IFAD’s agenda through a statement that outlines their specific needs and priorities. These range from recognition of pastoral knowledge and culture to mobile services that suit mobile lifestyles.

Besides representation at the national, regional and international levels, pastoral communities often face another governance challenge at the local level. As Elizabeth Mpofu points out, traditional governance structures of pastoral societies often exclude women. But this is slowly changing. Pain Eulalia Mako explains how pastoral women in Tanzania, when supported with training on empowerment, are proving their capacity to lead their communities’ struggles for land. Moreover, the traditional male leaders are recognising women’s rights and supporting this kind of change in their communities.

New alliances

The example of improved women’s rights within pastoral communities shows that traditional governance structures and institutions are not static. In fact, adapting traditional governance is an ongoing strategy of pastoral communities working with other land users. A story from Somaliland illustrates this, showing how hybrid institutions that formally recognise traditional leaders are functioning relatively well when it comes to negotiating conflicting land uses.

Another aspect of adapting traditional governance relates to forming new alliances with, sometimes unlikely, partners. The Pastoral Parliament in Gujarat  is a good example of how diverse pastoral groups put aside cultural and religious differences to work together for a common cause. And in an article from Italy, we see that immigrants with a pastoral background are playing an important role keeping pastoralism alive at a time when most local youth migrate to cities. This in itself raises a whole host of policy questions around support for the integration of a new wave of pastoralists in Mediterranean Europe.

Finding a way

A common theme throughout this issue of Farming Matters is the spirit of collective action and cooperation. Pastoralists join forces to be better seen and heard, but also for economic empowerment and environmental sustainability.

Finally, from the stories presented here it is remarkable how, despite political marginalisation, pastoralists do find ways to challenge the policies that undermine their lifestyles. And there is a lot to learn from pastoralists’ experiences on the frontline of the struggle for land and their demands for a rights-based approach to achieving food sovereignty. This confirms that pastoralists are a crucial part of the agroecological movement.

Environmental benefits of pastoral systems
 
The agroecological principle of enhancing crop-animal interactions is usually discussed at the farm level. But when zooming out to the territorial level the interaction between livestock and vegetation (be it cultivated or naturally occurring) is a principle that pastoral communities embody. Extensive livestock grazing is an excellent example of managing biodiversity and soil fertility. For example, through the transport of seeds and insects by livestock, the migration of pastoralists and their flocks supports habitat connectivity and biodiversity.

Madeleine Florin (m.florin@ileia.org) and Diana Quiroz (d.quiroz@ileia.org) both work for ILEIA.