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.

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Somaliland, the autonomous region of northern Somalia, is a predominantly pastoralist country. Pastoralists dominate the economy and play an important role in governance. Livestock exports account for around 90 % of export earnings, and pastoralism has the capacity to withstand and recover from droughts, thanks to mobility, large herd sizes and strong social capital. Households tend to move towards ‘pastoralism +’ – maintaining traditional livestock keeping while taking on new activities like agriculture. Some 30 % of the population are now agro-pastoralists, 54 % remain semi-mobile pastoralists, and 16 % are urban residents.

Sources of conflict

Common property systems and customary law prevail in the rangelands, while private property and ‘modern’ law are the norm in urban areas. In agro-pastoral areas, a combination of the traditional and modern models prevail. These regulatory mechanisms support export-oriented pastoralism and a healthy private sector. But in recent years, they are under strain due to rapid population growth, an expatriatefuelled real estate boom, and increasing government intervention. Weakening customary law means more environmentally destructive charcoal production, more enclosures on rangelands, and new settlements established by urban and expatriate investors.

Communities empowered

There is always a decision to make, and at the local level, village committees are responsible. Committee heads handle everything from minor personal disputes to large land issues. They consult widely, and on bigger issues also with traditional leaders, aqils and sultans, hereditary clan or sub-clan positions. All is governed by traditional Somali law (Xeer) with clear rules for land management, but village heads face many issues for which Xeer does not provide straightforward answers.

A recent story from Dheenta shows how resource use was negotiated by a strong, capable and progressive village committee, representing and respected by its community. The committee has authority to allocate land and oversee transactions, working with district and central governments but has the power to overrule them. Hargeisa’s Amal Construction Company began quarrying around Dheenta in 2014, and approached the village committee for permission to use bulldozers. This was granted on condition that impacts would be limited. But when grazing land was damaged, the committee told Amal to stop work. Discussions followed, and Amal was allowed to resume operations only when they agreed to employ and train local youth and abide by new rules to protect farms, pasture, shrubs and water points.

Somaliland
 
Somaliland celebrated 25 years of independence in May 2016. Not bad for a country that doesn’t officially exist! Once British Somaliland, it joined with the former Italian Somalia in 1960, but declared independence after the government collapsed in 1991. It has its own currency, customs, passports and EU-monitored free and fair elections, but remains unrecognised by the international community. Puntland to the east is also semi-autonomous, meaning the Mogadishu government effectively governs only (parts of) south Somalia. Neighbouring French Somaliland became the Republic of Djibouti in 1977.
 
Power relations underlie land governance in Somaliland. Governments, elites and vested interests wield power to seize land from communities. But, powerful clans and an armed population resist ‘land grabbing’ and can frustrate infrastructure development. The government claims ultimate ownership of land and issues titles and deeds, but cannot effectively oversee land sales. The government’s capacity to re-assert its authority and strengthen land use policy, laws and enforcement is severely limited. In this partial vacuum, basic functions such as maintaining a land registry are performed by UN agencies. Also, NGOs work with communities to prevent rangelands enclosures and maintain or re-establish seasonal grazing reserves. However, in many instances the success of such projects are hindered by power relations that do not favour traditional pastoralist communities. But in the eastern provinces of Sool and Sanaag gun ownership by pastoralists has enabled local people to protect their institutions, traditional culture and kinship networks.

Villagers ‘win’ again

In 2013, the government granted rights to the Turkish oil company Genel Energy for oil exploration in the pastoral heartlands of Somaliland. First greeted with enthusiasm and hopes of oil wealth, issues of land rights emerged when exploration began. PENHA (Pastoralist and Environmental Network in the Horn of Africa was conducting consultations in the pastoral village of Sanyare when the first fleet of Genel trucks came sweeping in. There was consternation. What was going on? Who were these people? Heavy vehicles damaged fodder shrubs and trees, and problems quickly deepened. Said one aggrieved local leader, “if they behave that way now, what about when they find oil?” Another implored that, “we shoot at our own people to stop them cutting acacia trees for charcoal, so how can we allows others to clear them away?”

Communities were deeply concerned about what discovery of oil would mean for their future. “We don’t know what’s underneath the ground, but we know what’s on top of it – and they are destroying it,” one elder said. “And if they find what they are looking for, how do we know that we’ll get anything out of it?” Would their land ownership be maintained? Would they have to abandon their pastoral livelihoods? If so, would they be given compensation and a share of the benefits? Tensions eventually led to armed clashes. The village committee talked with clan elders and traditional leaders in other affected communities. The consensus: shut down Genel’s operations. Local leaders told the government, and that was the end of that. Genel suspended work and pulled out in September 2013, but recently announced a desire to return, this time working alongside communities. This was welcomed, with proper consultation. In Somaliland, unlike elsewhere, local people call the shots.

Emerging hybrid institutions

Somaliland’s upper house of parliament is reserved for traditional leaders, and elsewhere we see the development of hybrid institutions that formalise roles for traditional institutions. This mix of traditional and modern law and institutions works well, allowing the development of strong Somali-owned businesses in water supply, telecommunications and aviation – sectors where foreign companies dominate in most of sub-Saharan Africa.

Traditional, common property ownership is not synonymous with ‘backwardness’ and economic stagnation

Expanding positive outcomes

Pastoralism will continue to be central to Somalia’s economy, even with the growth of service-oriented urban areas and farming. But to reduce the risk of conflict, participatory and inclusive processes for land management and land policy development must become the norm. Formal institutions need to work with traditional ones, with constructive debate and decisions made at the community level, building collaboratively towards coordinated decision-making at national and regional levels. Traditional, common property ownership is not synonymous with ‘backwardness’ and economic stagnation. Traditional institutions are compatible with progress, and traditional leaders are not opposed to change. They are ready to negotiate, and to participate in designing new approaches.

Sadia Ahmed (penhasom@gmail.com) is country director for PENHA-Somaliland, Hargeisa, Somaliland. John Livingstone is policy and research officer, Amsale Shibeshi is regional programmes coordinator, and Nick Pasiecznik is research associate.

This article builds on a paper by Sadia Ahmed and John Livingstone, ‘New participatory approaches to land governance and conflict resolution in Somaliland’, presented at the International Resilience, Research and Innovation Conference, Djibouti, 26-28 October 2015.

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The Matrouh governorate stretches west of Alexandria to the Libyan border, and all the way south to the Siwah Oasis. Matrouh is a coastal desert governorate which is known for its traditional tribal character. In Matrouh, the Bedouin traditions of generosity, chivalry, noble ethics, cooperation, and respect for our heritage are passed from one generation to the next. But the same traditions restrict the work of women outside the household.

In 2004, the Desert Research Center of the Egyptian Ministry of Agriculture and Land Reclamation, set up a wool spinning and manufacturing unit, the first of its kind in Matrouh. The General Council of the governorate, which maintains the unit building, funded the purchase of equipment for drying and sterilising, carding and spinning the wool, as well as a quilting machine. I joined one of the first training courses, and as a trainee the idea of preserving our Bedouin heritage occupied my thoughts. I saw that we had to teach young girls how to earn an income with traditional weaving methods, and this became my mission.

Training a new generation

Three years later, in 2007, with the help of a number of other women at the wool spinning and manufacturing unit, we started an initiative to teach women and girls how to produce handicrafts using traditional weaving techniques. We taught them more than just the act of weaving: the threads and colours we use are related to the environment and to the general context we live in. It is as if we are putting our feelings and senses into each piece of work. The traditional designs used are alhawaya, alareej, alshabor and alnawayri.

My mother taught me how to use the masad for weaving. But to teach others I needed first to find women who could work outdoors and help me teach young girls about our traditional designs. This was not easy, but I was lucky to find Zainab, from whom I learnt a lot about tools and techniques. I also found two young women who were very interested in our local heritage and who, at the same time, had a lot of experience producing handicrafts. We have been working together since then, exchanging ideas, acquiring new skills, and improving what we do.

Among the many activities we engaged in, the most influential was the training of 90 girls inside the spinning and manufacturing unit. Many of them came from the Wadi Alramel village, and were trained by women from the same village. Afterwards, we also made an effort to work with disabled girls, including those who are blind. During the training sessions we encourage the Bedouin girls to follow in the footsteps of their ancestors and use traditional designs. We try to use local materials and inputs, such as yarn from sheep wool of different colours.

The need to preserve our local heritage through traditional handicrafts is not widely recognised, but it is important in many ways. Our traditional heritage is closely related to what Bedouin women do. It is also strongly linked to the pastoral communities of the Matrouh governorate, where many different economic, environmental, social and educational factors are involved. Moreover, handicrafts are an important source of income for women and their families.

Families in this desert area depend primarily on their animals, and using the wool that is otherwise discarded provides them with an alternative source of income. The use of easily available raw materials (making natural dyes, for example, from onion leaves or curcuma), means that no additional costs are involved. Above all, this work provides income opportunities to the Bedouin women as it is work they can do at home. Due to the local traditions, women can find it very difficult to work outside of their homes or to travel to other villages. One of the reasons why our work has been such a success is because we take these limitations into account when planning where to do trainings, making it much easier for women to participate.

We taught them more than just the act of weaving

Not an easy road

But I also faced many difficulties when I started working. It was not easy to convince the Bedouin families or the local authorities of the importance of what we were doing. Many of them openly questioned the benefits, wondering if it was worth investing any time or money. In addition, it was difficult to go to places like Alqura and Nuju’. Women cannot freely leave their houses, so it was necessary to meet women in their homes. I also had to get the approval of my parents to travel abroad, and working outside, and travelling long distances between pastoral clusters was challenging.

I had expected that many men would not support the training initiative, as their wives and daughters would become more independent as they would earn their own income. This is why I decided to talk to them first, and to present what we were planning to do. We were able to convince families to let their daughters and wives participate, by highlighting the financial and educational possibilities this could bring, in addition to the cultural benefits. Given the general difficulties women face in working outside the home, it was important to find partners who would support the cause. The participation of Sheikhs and village elders was positive, as they welcomed the idea. They understood that this move would reflect positively on all Bedouin women. The Matrouh radio station also helped us reach all families directly and promoted the trainings, explaining what we wanted to achieve, and encouraged listeners to join us.

My personal journey

My work in the spinning and manufacturing unit helped me discover something I really wanted to do and develop further. In only two months, with the encouragement of all those involved, I was promoted and became a team supervisor, and went from being a trainee to a trainer for other girls and women. These changes took place rather quickly because I had a dream and I really wanted it to come true.

During the past four years I have gained a lot of experience and I have become more known in the field. In 2011 joined a meeting organised by the World Alliance of Mobile Indigenous People, WAMIP, in India. I participated alongside 50 other pastoralists from many other countries. Later, I also joined other global pastoral gatherings, in Kenya in 2013 and in Morocco in 2015. I am also a member of the Arabian Pastoralist Communities Network. I have come to know many institutions that work in the field of pastoralism and handicrafts, most of which are interested in building women’s capacities.

My work in the spinning and manufacturing unit helped me uncover and pursue my dream. Along the way, I found many supporters, but also came up against people who did not see the benefits of my work. Nevertheless, I am convinced of the benefits of keeping our ancestors’ traditions alive, and of involving women in the process. These ideas reflect what we do and who we are: our heritage is alive in our traditions, customs and crafts, and also in the food we eat every day. It is true that the general context is difficult, and that living in the desert is challenging. But we can learn a lot from our heritage and culture.

Eaetemad Rafallah Abdallah (eatemad2011@gmail.com) works at the Center of Sustainable Development as manager of the wool spinning and manufacturing unit.

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Over centuries, pastoralists have created a large number of livestock breeds that are of enormous value for food sovereignty: they convert the vegetation of drylands and other uncultivable areas into food. They turn ‘waste’ into protein and they do this enormously efficiently – in contrast to the high-input breeds developed in the North that depend on feed that needs to be specially grown with fertilizer, pesticides, diesel, etc..

When we look at the true cost of producing feed, pastoral livestock, ranging from alpacas to yaks, is one of humanity’s greatest assets. Representing an important part of domestic animal diversity, pastoralists’ breeds come under the purview of the Global Plan of Action for Animal Genetic Resources, as well as the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD).

But pastoralists’ breeds cannot be reduced to assemblages of genes. They represent knowledge accumulated over generations, not only of their keepers, but also learnt behaviour of animals that is passed on from one generation of livestock to the next: how to make use of natural environments, both individually and as a socially organised population. Survival and performance under extreme conditions is not just a matter of physiological traits and instinct but also of learnt behaviour. That’s why it makes no sense to try to conserve these ‘animal genetic resources’ as frozen semen or embryos. In order to maintain and develop their potential to produce protein in the most climatically volatile regions of the planet they need to be kept and conserved in-situ under the guardianship of their keepers.

The Nagoya Protocol for Access and Benefit-Sharing, an add-on to the CBD from 2012, includes the provision for countries to support Community Protocols in which communities detail the genetic resources and traditional knowledge that they are the custodians of, as well as the conditions under which they would give prior informed consent and provide access.

Pastoralists from India, Pakistan, Iran and Kenya have already taken the initiative to develop such Biocultural Community Protocols in which they explain their situation and outline the conditions under which they can continue to act as stewards of their remarkable herd animals and to ensure ‘access’ in the future.

As the global community begins to look into the role of agriculture in climate change, it is time for more pastoral communities to join this effort and for international organisations to support the endeavour!

Ilse Köhler-Rollefson (ilse.koehlerroll@googlemail. com) is a researcher, writer, activist, teacher and trainer working towards socially responsible and ecologically sustainable livestock development. She is associated with the League for Pastoralist Peoples Endogenous Livestock Development and Lokhit Pashu-Palak Sansthan.

More information about access and benefit sharing of animal genetic resources can be found online.

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Dana is a small mountain village about 1300 metres above sea level in the south of Jordan. The place has been inhabited for more than 4000 years,and the architecture that stands today was built in the traditional Ottoman style in the 15th century. For hundreds of years, people from the Ata’ta tribe, originally pastoralists, lived there. This was the case until recently, when the people of Dana suffered two great injustices. The first occurred in the 1960s when they lost their customary land to a reforestation project, and the second when their land was turned into a nature reserve in the early 1990s. As a result, most of Dana’s families moved to the nearby ‘new’ village of Qadisiyah. The current population is about 15,000 people, all of whom either lived in Dana or are descendants of the original Dana population.

Unheard voices

Dana’s population tried to stop the reforestation project and the establishment of the reserve, but they lost both battles. They lacked sufficient information to effectively protest, and did not know about their rights. They were unable to compete against the power and influence of the reforestation department (a government department) or against the organisation managing the reserve which had influential contacts in the capital, Amman. The only compensation received from the organisation managing the nature reserve was the promise of 500 job opportunities which never materialised.

In 1994, in order to face the challenges that came with the loss of their land, some of Dana’s families organised themselves into a cooperative which is now known as the Dana and Qadisiyah Local Community Cooperative (or the Dana Cooperative). Yet they soon saw that without key contacts in Amman, they had few opportunities to influence the decisions made about their land.

This was confirmed when one of the young members discovered online that an international meeting had taken place in Dana a few years before. One of the outcomes of the meeting was the ‘Dana Declaration’, which stipulated that conservation projects consider the rights of local communities. Ironically, although the meeting took place in the village of Dana, the people of Dana had not been informed.

Instead, only those employed by the nature reserve had been invited to attend. Quite surprisingly, the meeting was held in English. None of the attending employees understood English, and the purpose and outcomes of the meeting were not explained to them. Another irony is that one of the meeting’s organisers was the organisation managing the nature reserve, but they themselves have not taken the declaration into consideration.

Building a network

Finding out about the Dana Declaration meeting was a turning point for the community and its cooperative in many ways. The members of the Dana Cooperative understood the importance of the internet and of the English language for communication outside of their community. They set up an IT and community centre in Qadisiyah which has become an important space for community members to learn computer and language skills, as well as to organise education and awareness raising programmes. Besides strengthening the community from the bottom up, the cooperative began to broaden their network.

They contacted other pastoralist and indigenous communities in similar situations, tapping into their networks and alliances, and learning about their local and international achievements. The cooperative took every opportunity to meet international and United Nations organisations to find out what these organisations were doing, and what support they were able to offer. Using these new ‘friends’, the cooperative built a robust network, part of which developed into the World Alliance of Mobile Indigenous People (WAMIP). The Dana Cooperative was one of the cofounders of this alliance which was created in Segovia, Spain in 2007. The first general meeting of the alliance included hundreds of participants.

Since then, the cooperative has participated in different international events, meetings, negotiations and consultations. For example, they have contributed to the development of the Voluntary Guidelines on the Responsible Governance of Tenure of Land, Fisheries and Forests in the Context of National Food Security (2012). The cooperative was able to discover what several international organisations were doing in other parts of Jordan, and connected with the World Initiative for Sustainable Pastoralism (WISP), and the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN).

The Arabian Pastoralist Community Network

At one of the meetings of the World Alliance of Mobile Indigenous People (WAMIP), the Dana Cooperative suggested that WAMIP needed to deepen its work. In order to bring about the necessary changes at a local level, the cooperative suggested that WAMIP should work first regionally, then nationally and then at a local level, and that by working in this way, WAMIP would benefit from the international environment and support available.

In December 2013 in Nairobi, WAMIP made the decision to start regional networks. At the same time, the Arab delegation attending the meeting suggested that the Arabian Pastoralist Community Network (APCN) be formed. The delegation proposed that the APCN be independent from WAMIP, but work closely with them and other international alliances for the benefit of pastoral communities.

In April 2014, with the support of IUCN’s West Asia office, the APCN held its first meeting. Representatives of pastoralist communities from different Arab countries were invited to attend and participate in the establishment of the network. The aims are to develop a large alliance powerful enough to support local pastoral communities in Jordan and in other Arab countries, and to encourage decision makers and stakeholders to support local pastoral populations. One way to do this is to give local communities control over their resources, while supporting them manage these resources in a sustainable way. This will enhance the pastoral communities’ participation in and contribution to the national economy. It will also help to protect the local ecosystems by working with those who directly benefit from and reside in these ecosystems.

Local roots

The Dana Cooperative has developed good relationships with the local branches and offices of various international and intergovernmental organisations. This has provided opportunities for local and national support, and the opportunity to link with other groups and pastoral communities. The cooperative, although a relatively small organisation, has used regional and international alliances to develop a sphere of influence and a regional network that affects positive change at the local level.

In short, this is the story of a small organisation which has used regional and international alliances to develop a sphere of influence and a regional network, and with it promote change at a local level. It has had a positive impact because, while reaching out to international organisations, the cooperative’s members have not lost sight of their community’s strengths, weaknesses, challenges and opportunities.

The journey towards empowerment has not been easy, but it has provided the opportunity to reach out to similar communities in Jordan, the Arab world and beyond. Helping to share experiences, knowledge and practical ideas, the organisation has supported other organisations to strengthen skills and knowledge and fulfil objectives that service and enhance their communities. This, in turn, contributes towards food security, and has a strong economic, social and cultural impact. There is no doubt that this experience is relevant to local communities struggling under similar circumstances.

Khalid Khawaldeh (Khalid.Khawaldeh@yahoo.com ) is the Coordinator of the Arabian Pastoralist Community Network.

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Animal production constitutes 48 % of the total agricultural sector in Palestine. Just under half of the sector is made up from small ruminants, namely sheep and goats. But the reality of herders in Palestine, shaped by the occupation, is difficult. Fodder for their herds is not easy to come by as they cannot freely access the necessary inputs – land, water and seeds. Moreover, this is compounded by inadequate health services for their herds and a lack of marketing channels for their products.

In this context, since September 2013, Oxfam Italia has been implementing the Food Security Governance project, in partnership with the Palestinian Livestock Development Center in Tubas, the Union of Agricultural Work Committees in Gaza, and the Pales tinian Agricultural Cooperatives Union in Ramallah. Its activities were designed to support goat and sheep herders in the governorates of Jenin, Tubas, Nablus, Jericho, Jerusalem, Bethlehem, Hebron and Gaza, to improve their living standards and achieve food security. The project focused on supporting herders to increase their awareness of their rights and their ability to protect their property and manage their animals in a sustainable way given their resource constraints.

Challenges compounded

Due to the Israeli occupation, herders’ movements are severely restricted. They risk being deported if their land and pastoral areas are confiscated, or when military trainings take place. This applies to all municipalities and clusters, even though the risk varies between them depending on the distance from the settlements or from cities such as Jerusalem, Hebron and Bethlehem – where the threat to land confiscation is the highest. This situation contributes to overgrazing and the inability to access water. In combination with irregular rainfall patterns, and the lack of a comprehensive programme to manage the few remaining pastoral areas, the result is insufficient fodder throughout the year.Growing fodder crops is also frustrated by the climate, the lack of access to land as well as prohibitively expensive seeds due to high transportation costs, taxes and rising prices on the international market.

In terms of animal health, support from private and public institutions has not been sufficient. For herders, this is a constant concern, especially because of the high costs of drugs and veterinary services. Moreover, the Ministry is not able to provide the necessary vaccines against diseases such as brucellosis, Rift Valley fever and chlamydia. Finally, when animals are to be sold, herders face a lot of problems in terms of quality, security and distribution, leading to significant losses. They lack marketing channels and protection from imported products in the local markets. Moreover, the individual herders often lack the skills to improve the quality or add value to their products. It is thus not surprising that the number of families in Palestine whose livelihoods depend on raising sheep and goats declined significantly between 1990 and 2015. In this period, the number of female sheep and goats declined from 1.5 million to 730,000.

Recognising the communities’ needs

In discussions with all herders, the project field team analysed this general context and identified the communities’ needs. One important strategy that they decided to pursue was to set up local committees within each cluster so that local communities will be able to organise and play a more effective role in solving their problems and ensuring that the authorities recognise their situation. More than 75 commitees were formed, each of them made up of at least seven individuals from the cluster, including men and women of all ages. Two members from each committee act as focal points, representing their cluster in all meetings that take place outside their cluster.

As a first step to claim their rights in front of the most relevant decision makers and authorities, the focal points of all the pastoral clusters in each governorate met at the Governorate Committee, joined by representatives of the Agriculture Directorate, the local Government Directorate, and a representative of the local council of  each cluster. Three main meetings were held. The first meeting took place in February 2014 and included cluster focal points from Jenin, Tubas and Nablus. The second was in April 2014, including cluster focal points from Jericho-Jerusalem. The third meeting was in June 2014, with the cluster focal points from Bethlehem– Hebron. In total, around 140 herders and an additional 60 representatives of the Ministry of Agriculture, the Ministry of Local Government, local councils, municipalities and some elders participated in these meetings.

Their best asset is their own community’s capacities and resources

After the meetings at the governorate level, the focal points looked at the best way to address their cluster’s problems. The main conclusion was that expecting aid from others is a short-term solution which, most often, does not meet the community’s needs. They were keenly aware that their best asset is their own community’s capacities and resources, and that increasing awareness of their rights would be paramount. The Alsahel Company, a specialised group based in Ramallah, trained the community representatives on how to build a problem tree, to systematically identify and tackle the problems of their cluster. They focused on local solutions considering the resources that were both available and accessible.

Greener pastures

One of the solutions that has been implemented is the regeneration of the remaining pastoral spaces. The herders cooperated with the Agriculture Directorates in each governorate, under the supervision of the Ministry of Agriculture, to do this. Their work has helped to reduce families’ production costs as healthier pastures naturally lead to more available fodder and healthier animals. A flow-on benefit has been that with healthier herds, the quality of their products has improved and this has opened up more marketing options.

All participants agree that all parties needed to join efforts – including the Ministry of Agriculture, the cooperatives and the civil society associations, all breeders and the international financing institutions. They need to prepare a medium-term plan for the sustainable exploitation of the available resources, and to work in a complementary manner. This is a sector that needs the attention of decision makers and specialists, providing guidance and support when needed and running awareness-raising campaigns among breeders, as the best way to ensure positive results and impact.

The most important elements, however, are the pastoralists themselves. The increased interest in self-reliance supports the notion that community participation is a way to ensure the continuous practice of pastoralism in the region. This understanding paved the way for other creative projects within each cluster. A real change occurred in the way the herders looked towards the future, as they started to rely on themselves to defend and develop their livelihoods.

Atef Mahmoud Mohammad Beni Odeh (azmouti1964@hotmail.com) is an agronomist specialised in animal productivity. He works for the Palestinian Livestock Development Center and is the project coordinator of the Food Security Governance project.

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Bedouins have lived in the Negev desert and Galilee for thousands of years. By means of mobile herding and farming, they thrived in a heterogeneous ecosystem with different levels of aridity. They selected sheep and goat ecotypes creating pure breeds and refined a livelihood characterised by sensitivity for the environment, hospitality, openness and ingenuity. But since the 1940s, they have faced enormous challenges. Especially since the Israeli occupation in 1967, most Bedouin families have gradually become sedentary. This is largely the result of having a growing number of families and livestock confined in a relatively small area; and at the same time, the adoption of alternative sources of income. But it is also a result of the presence of Israeli settlers and competition for land. Since 2014, a total of 3,860 new settlement units have been announced, and it is estimated that today, there are more than 500,000 settlers in the West Bank.

Problems when ‘hanging in’

Bedouins who have not stopped raising animals stillsee themselves as pastoralists. They feel that theirculture and, essentially their livelihood strategies, have not changed. But they are not always ready to respond to the new challenges. The process of fencing and confining small and large ruminants in pens and stables brings several needs. For instance, replacing grazing with the purchase of forage, and providing animals with well water are common challenges in terms of organisation and finances. Investing in proper animal housing and buying hay or agricultural by-products requires funds and knowledge. It also forces people to adopt proper hygiene practices for disease prevention – especially when there are no veterinary services. These aspects are all connected to an overall farm management strategy, and include the need to develop and implement a business plan.

For many reasons, those who have joined a sedentary life have not received the necessary support from the authorities, nor have they benefited from the plans, policies and services that have been tried at different levels. Bedouins have secured sufficient food for their communities. But the Palestinian Authority has not been able to secure the funds which are necessary, nor the expertise and skills, to provide the support they need. Making a difficult situation even harder, the West Bank has seen record levels of animal diseases and zoonoses in the past few years (such as brucellosis, chlamidiosis, toxoplasmosis and salmonellosis). All of them affect animal production and reproduction, and many affect humans as well. International organisations have provided support and tried to address these issues with both emergency and development initiatives that try to work with Bedouins and address their needs.

Sourcing support

Among these initiatives, one of the most promising has been the establishment and growth of the Palestinian Livestock Development Center (PLDC), based in Tubas, since 2004. PLDC pursues the development of the rural animal production sector, focusing on small ruminants. In order to do this, it delivers technical services to farmers, and at the same time it works to develop the technical capabilities of small ruminant breeders. PLDC is an endogenous self-help initiative established by members of the Palestinian civil society and Bedouin pastoralists. At the moment, it has 400 members each paying 120 shekels per year (about US$30). This gives them the right to vote in all meetings, to elect its authorities, and also to receive services.

With five veterinarians and two agronomists working as mobile units, they deliver veterinary assistance and artificial insemination services. Diagnosis is supported by a fully equipped laboratory, while feed is produced by two mills. It also plays another important role: it helps the Ministry of Agriculture to fulfill its role as implementer of veterinary policies for delivering prophylactic vaccination, animal disease diagnosis and artificial insemination. Since 2007, PLDC has received support from Oxfam, and it has therefore been able to reach a larger number of people, covering the area controlled by the Israeli Civil Administration (also known as Area C).

A good example

Even if sedentarisation is not the preferred route of all pastoralists, it is seen by many as an inevitable process, and as a trend which is unlikely to stop. But when Bedouins settle down permanently, they still see themselves as pastoralists, even if under different conditions. Therefore, they need support for adapting to these new conditions. The authorities often consider that their contribution to the local or regional GDP is negligible, and therefore not worthy of any investment. In many cases, the international aid system has helped fill these gaps, but the possibilities of providing a sustainable contribution are limited. Endogenous initiatives supported by external actors seem to be a successful approach, even if it is clear that they need to be nurtured for several years before they can stand on their own feet. PLDC is showing that local solutions are the best option.

Alesssandro Cristalli (allesandro.cristalli@oxfam.it) is program development advisor for Oxfam, specialised in livestock based sustainable rural development.

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Catalonia

Shepherd school

While it is true that pastoralism is increasingly revalorised across Europe, the number of flocks and shepherds in the region remain low. For a great part, this is due to the lack of economic opportunities for rural youth, who opt for other livelihood strategies. To address this problem, a handful of initiatives seek to facilitate generational renewal by providing future pastoralists with the support and training they need. One of these initiatives is the Escola de Pastors de Catalunya, a shepherd school created in 2009. The school’s objective is to support new peasants interested in pastoralism and to show that peasant agriculture is economically viable. The course lasts one year and includes theoretical and practical modules. At the school, apprentices spend time acquiring theoretical knowledge that ranges from animal breeding to renewable energies and from botany to conflict resolution. Moreover, they gain practical experience by attending seminars and working alongside veteran shepherds. After developing technical and managerial skills, shepherds may choose to settle as livestock farmers or as transhumant shepherds. Another problem facing new peasants is access to land. To tackle this problem, the school works closely with Terra Franca, a non-profit born in 2013, that brings together land owners and new peasants under common agroecological projects.

For more information contact Escola de Pastors (info@rurbans.org).

Niger

Informed choices

Communities in North Dakoro, Niger, face increasingly unpredictable weather triggering emergencies, and a reduction in pasture and water availability. This situation that puts pastoral livelihoods in danger is due to the impacts of climate change and an increasing herders’ population (largely due to conflicts in neighbouring countries). The community has implemented SCAP (Systèmes Communautaires d’Alerte Précoce). It is a communitybased Early Warning System developed with the support of CARE. Community members collect, share and analyse relevant indicators and information that helps herders to cope with the unpredictable circumstances. Information concerning rainfall patterns, availability of water and pasture, opening dates of fields, the location of annual festivals, prices of goods and animals in local markets, or the existence of possible epidemics are collected. The information is transmitted through mobile phones that are charged using community managed solar panels. Pastoralists are now able to make more informed choices, taking action when an emergency is announced, or predicted. For example, when a bad season is announced and a shortage of pasture expected, pastoralists can reduce their herds by selling some animals before it’s too late, and using the income to buy food and medical products for the rest of the herd.

For more information contact Hiya Maidawa (mhiyamaidawa@ gmail.com).

China

Tibetan herders diversify their options

In 2010, the Kegawa Herders Cooperative was established in a Tibetan pastoral region of Qinghai Province, China. Following decades of centrally-planned development, this was the first time in many years that local community members had come together for a common purpose on a purely voluntary basis. They began to develop a range of creative ways to advance community interests based on local resources and knowledge. The government quickly recognised the value of this grassroots initiative. Now with over 90 families as members, the cooperative produces and sells livestock-related products which provide employment and generate income for the community. This ‘coop’ approach is now upheld by the government and favourable policies support its replication. Through such community-level governance of natural resources, new economic opportunities have been identified and maximised (for example, the sale of yak wool for production of high-quality thermal clothing), and now there is more collaboration amongst pastoralists. Equally, environmental monitoring occurs regularly – including of wildlife, grasslands, and glaciers – and climate awareness and environmental conservation (including the charismatic snow leopard) are new trademarks for these Tibetan herders. Moreover, pastoral voices are heard more effectively and widely than before, social cohesion and empowerment are increasing, and new opportunities are being trialed and demonstrated. People’s sense of identity is also being restored and strengthened, with increasing pride in Tibetan cultural heritage and in pastoral livelihoods.

For more information contact Dr. J Marc Foggin (foggin@plateauperspectives.org).

Mexico

Sailing to pastures new

Transhumant beekeeping is not the first thing one thinks of when talking pastoralism. Yet, mobile beehives are common practice in modern apiculture. Like most pastoralist societies worldwide, transhumant beekeepers face many obstacles that challenge their livelihoods and lifestyles. In Mexico, many beekeepers are looking for ways to extend the usually short blossom period and they do so by looking for new pastures for their colonies. Beekeepers in the coastal state of Veracruz have extended their niche to mangrove forests, which they reach by motor boats. The success of producing honey this way has become such, that fishermen in other states in the Gulf of Mexico have started adopting mobile apiculture as well. With the support of researchers from ECOSUR, experienced beekeepers train fishermen in beekeeping in a farmerscientist partnership that started in 2012. With this move to new pastures, everybody wins. Fishermen have an alternative source of income and transhumant beekeepers reach local markets thanks to the advisory support of ECOSUR, which helps raising awareness amongst consumers who usually don’t eat honey. Moreover, researchers observe how beekeeping, once again, contributes to local economies and conservation of fragile ecosystems.

For more information contact Rémy Vandame (remy@ ecosur.mx)

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Oxfam, International Land Coalition, Rights and Resources Initiative. 2016. Oxfam GB. 52 pages. ISBN: 9780855986766
Although protecting half the world’s land, indigenous people and local communities formally own only 20 %, with the remainder being vulnerable to land grabs. This report has been published alongside a call to action by the International Land Coalition (ILC), Oxfam, and the Rights and Resources Initiative (RRI), together with more than 300 organisations and communities all over the world. They aim to double the amount of community owned land by 2020.The report explains why protecting community lands is so important. Pastoralist communities have long been considered the cause of desertification but actually play an essential role in combating climate change and providing food security. Recognising their role as pillars of environmental adaptation is one of the core messages of this report.

Youth: The future of reindeer herding peoples

International Center for Reindeer Husbandry. 2015. 126 pages. http://reindeerherding.org/ projects/eallin/full-report/
This report was presented in April 2015 to the Arctic Council Ministerial Meeting in Canada. It is the result of more than four years of community based workshops where more than 160 young reindeer herders from Russia, Mongolia, Finland, Sweden and Norway confronted each other in the context of the EALLIN project. EALLIN means ‘life’ in the Sami language, because, “for us, the reindeer is everything. If we lose the reindeer we lose our language, our culture, our traditions and the knowledge to move in the nature.” Issues such as health, loss of cultural heritage, technology access, lack of education, land access and predators are brought up in the report, reflecting the most urgent struggles that young herders in the circumpolar area are facing, and that need to be tackled if their lifestyle and cultural heritage are to be protected.

The Governance of Rangelands: Collective Action for Sustainable Pastoralism

Pedro M. Herrera, Jonathan Davies, Pablo Manzano Baena (Eds). 2014. Routledge, 298 pages. ISBN: 9781138785144
https://www.book2look.com/embed/9781317665168
Grasslands, shrublands, savannahs, and woodlands: these are rangelands, often communally managed by the pastoralist communities inhabiting and crossing them. Despite evidence of the beneficial effects of livestock mobility and communal governance in these areas, often governmental policies are eroding the autonomy of these grassroots systems. So how can pastoral communities adapt their traditional institutions to a constantly changing environment, taking advantage of the latest innovations? How can lost or degraded institutions be recovered? Can new institutions be created from scratch where lacking? These are the main questions explored in this publication, through a variety of success stories in pastoralist governance. The eleven case studies from the Middle East, Africa, Asia and America set an example based in cooperation, providing resources for the improvement of pastoralist governance: from legal steps, such as securing the rights of pastoralist communities on their territories, to participatory systems, that strengthen the voice and visibility of the communities.

The path to greener pastures. Pastoralism, the backbone of the world’s dryands

Andreas Jenet, Nicoletta Buono, Sara Di Lello, Margherita Gomarasca, Cornelia Heine, Stefano Mason, Michele Nori, Rita Saavedra, Koen Van Troos. 2016. VSF International.
Vétérinaires Sans Frontières International supports small scale farmers through projects focused on livestock production, animal health and welfare. This report provides practical recommendations for policy makers and institutions to deal with the struggles of pastoralist communities. The publication presents an extensive account of the current state of pastoralism, with surveys of members and leaders of pastoralist communities in eight hotspots around the world, and various informants in 26 countries in Africa, Latin America, and Asia. The economic, human, cultural, social and political capital of pastoralist communities is recognised here, as their relevance in biodiversity conservation, food safety, income and employment generation in drylands and marginal areas becomes clear. The recommendations elaborated call on policy makers, asking them to recognise the value of pastoral communities promoting their involvement in the management of water resources, reforestation programmes, and climate change adaptation. A new approach is suggested, that draws on ‘community capital’ to promote its growth.

More on pastoralisme
 
UNEP (United Nations Environment Programme) and IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature) have neatly summarised the discussion around pastoralism in the context of the post 2015 agenda. A list of overlooked facts, myths, and emerging issues leads to the recommendations for strengthening sustainable pastoralism, ranging from improved access to technologies,to the promotion of consumer awareness. Some relevant issues for pastoralism are also touched upon in the recent report by the High Level Panel of Experts on Food Security and Nutrition on the roles for livestock.
 
Launched last year by the FAO and other partner governments and organisations, the Pastoralist Knowledge Hub is an online platform for practitioners, advocates, and pastoral communities to learn, share and connect. It offers a selection of materials, from reports, to videos and toolkits related to every dimension of pastoralism – social, economic, political and environmental. The Hub is also meant to promote discussion among pastoralist organisations, allowing them to share news, concerns and issues they need to discuss with fellow pastoralists or with the support of experts. It is hoped that pastoralist communities might find in the hub a space to project their voices into the political arena and have more influence over policy debates.
 
Taking a look back, in 2010 ILEIA published an issue of Farming Matters titled, ‘Going for more animals’. The discussion around strengthening pastoralism and the need for better policies was already relevant and the magazine also offers successful examples of nomadic livestock management.

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La Payunia Provincial Reserve is located in the Malargüe Department, in the south of the Mendoza province in Argentina. The reserve covers approximately 6,540 km2 of state-owned and private lands. It was created in the 1980s in order to preserve the rich flora, fauna, archaeological and scenic beauty of the area. As is the case for other protected areas created in that period, the participation of local people in the design and establishment was very limited. Due to the harsh living conditions, limited amenities and lack of basic services, as well as remoteness from markets and schools, La Payunia is sparsely populated, with only about 150 people living in 42 family groups. These families are widely dispersed and separated from each other. The local economy is based on extensive grazing of goats and sheep to a lesser extent. Limited state and private investment in management has led to low animal productivity, adverse selling conditions, low income, and consequently exacerbating economic marginalisation and environmental degradation.

Conflict resolution

Under these challenging circumstances, in 2005, some inhabitants of La Payunia and surrounds asked the Provincial Department of Renewable Natural Resources for technical advice in order to develop an alternative source of income, and also to reduce conflicts between domestic livestock and guanaco populations. To put some of the advice in to action, they decided to set up the Payun Matru Cooperative. The goal of the cooperative was to implement live shearing of guanacos in order to link conservation with improving their economic situation. The cooperative also aimed to preserve their local culture and encourage young people in particular to remain in the area, rather than leave for nearby cities.

Environmental authorities saw the initiative as a way of creating incentives for local people to accept and help secure the Payunia Protected Area, and to contribute towards guanaco conservation. Thanks to the active work of the cooperative’s president and the technical advisors, the project gained support from several local and international stakeholders, and the cooperative’s social capital increased over the years.

A growing network

The ability of the cooperative to collaborate with multiple partners contributed towards the shearing project’s resilience and created a safety net. As the project developed, collaborations emerged with local and national Departments of Renewable Resources, field biologists and conservation NGOs. This gave the cooperative members more visibility. For example, they participated in conferences and met with government ministers. This increased their negotiating power with potential clients, and they became more empowered – both politically and economically.

The experience merged community development with scientific research and with time, the guanaco captures became ‘open air labs’, where IUCN´s Animal Welfare Protocol for guanaco captures was developed and many young scientists were trained. Cooperative members improved their management and shearing methods and have become experts on guanaco management with high animal welfare standards. Recently, several members were hired by producers from Patagonia to share their expertise on guanaco management.

Towards value adding

The cooperative was always keen to sell processed goods instead of raw guanaco fibre. Given the intensive labour requirements to process the fibre, the next step was to get a semi-industrial mill. In 2012 the Argentinean Ministry of Science and Technology launched a call for proposals targeted at smallholders who could develop camelid fibre value chains. Public-private consortia had to be established in order to apply for this funding so the cooperative formed a consortium with the National Research Council, the National Institute of Industrial Technology and Malargüe Municipality. They were awarded funding to develop the technology needed to support the establishment of a guanaco fibre value chain that would benefit local pastoralists. The project financed some infrastructure for guanaco capture, the installation of a fibre processing plant in a remote village near the protected area, import of specialised machinery from Canada (including the necessary adaptations), capacity building and, the development of guanaco products and by-products.

The guanaco
 
The guanaco (Lama guanicoe) is the largest native herbivore and main consumer of vegetation in arid and semi-arid environments of South America. Because of this, the guanaco plays a fundamental role in the local ecology. For instance, it is the main prey of the largest native carnivore, the puma. From a historic and cultural perspective, this species has been essential for the survival of local populations for 10,000 years. More recently, they were used by Tehuelches, Onas and Yamanas indigenous groups for clothing, food and shelter. Guanaco fibre is amongst the finest animal fibres, yet value chains are rather under-developed.

Challenges

The processing plant was installed in mid-2015 and since then, cooperative members have learnt how to process guanaco fibre in order to produce different products, such as dehaired fibre, tops and yarns. They also learnt how to process other animal fibres such as vicuña, llama, sheep and cashmere as well as to produce felt. Women tend to work at the mill, whereas most of the guanaco management activities are performed by men. At the moment, all members keep their own economic activities alongside their work with the cooperative because income is still limited.

A challenge, which is shared between the cooperative and other private producers, relates to the lack of an established, transparent market for guanaco fibre and a small overall market demand for the processed products. The similarity between guanaco and vicuña fibre calls for the development of easy methods to help authorities controlling exports and imports to tell them apart.

As in the case of other pastoralists, the Payún Matrú Cooperative faces constraints in realising the economic potential of their system owing to high transaction costs. These include long distances to markets or final consumers, difficulties for marketing and creating distribution channels, limited access to credit facilities and excessive government bureaucracy.

This collective work has inspired individual pastoralists to dream of new projects such as revegetation

Growth and success

Despite these challenges, the cooperative’s membership continues to grow. Many of the new members are young people hoping to make a life in the area, and avoid migration. Training opportunities, the high state investment, technical support and the possibility of generating an alternative source of income are attractive to the youth. In the words of cooperative member Eleuterio: “In the town of Malargüe there are a number of possibilities for getting jobs, whereas here in the protected area we can only work with the goats. Having a mill here, in the middle of nowhere in the desert, can give job opportunities to many people.” But the activities around guanaco management and working at the mill are not only an economic activity, but also a social and cultural event. They provide an opportunity to meet and share experiences with a variety of people and to get organised. This collective work has inspired individual pastoralists to dream of new projects such as revegetation and sheep shearing.

This experience shows that guanacos can be managed collectively and opens new alternatives for guanaco conservation in Argentina and camelid sustainable use in the Andean region. As in the case of vicuña management, the case highlights that the collective management of wild camelids provides more than just economic benefits for local producers. Hopefully the possibility of adding value to wild camelid fibre at the local level will inspire other communities in the Andes to follow this path.

Gabriela Lichtenstein (lichtenstein.g@gmail.com) is coordinator of Proyecto PA.IS, and a researcher of the National Research Council (CONICET) based at the National Institute of Anthropology and Latin American Thought (INAPL) in Argentina.

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