* Toward a holistic understanding of pastoralism (2021) (original) (raw)
Related papers
Pastoralism and Development: Fifty Years of Dynamic Change
IDS Bulletin, 2020
This archive IDS Bulletin reflects on 50 years of research on pastoralism at IDS. Thirteen articles are introduced around six themes that have characterised IDS-linked research over this period. These are: pastoral livelihoods; institutions and common property resource management; climate change and ecological dynamics; food security, early warning, and livelihood vulnerability; pastoral marketing; and conflict and governance. Across these themes, IDS research has challenged mainstream development thinking and practice, highlighting the importance of mobility and living with uncertainty. This introductory article concludes with some reflections on research gaps and new challenges, including: the effects of climate change; new forms of pastoral mobility and livelihood; increasing pattern of commoditisation and social differentiation; and changing conflict dynamics. Although massively changed over 50 years, and despite repeated proclamations of crisis and collapse, pastoralism remains...
Current Opinion in Environmental Sustainability, 2021
The independent and synergic impacts of climatic change and capitalist expansion may render pastoral socialecological systems extinct. Climatic change compromises rangelands, while economic development fosters conversion of pastoral land into territories for capitalist expansion. Pastoralists' institutions regulate decisionmaking to socio-environmental change and shape adaptive responses, enabling mobile livestock rearing for using multiple grazing areas, and households' diverse income sources. These institutions are characterized by flexibility, such as mixed individual-collective water and land tenure regimes. However, capitalist-led reduction of land-based resources, the push for privatization and commodification of land and livestock hinder flexibility, and undermine pastoralists' institutions for decision-making; ultimately creating challenges for pastoralists' adaptive capacity. Research on the compound effects of the expanding global economy and climate change on pastoral social-ecological systems is needed to inform efforts constraining unregulated capitalist expansion, and policies for water and land security. Research, practice, and policies will improve pastoral social-ecological systems adaptability and resilience.
Nori et Scoones 2019 Pastoralism
pastoralism, 2019
This short report describes the PASTRES (Pastoralism, Uncertainty and Resilience: Global Lessons from the Margins) project, its objectives and early implementation. PASTRES investigates the principles inspiring the strategies and the practices applied by pastoralists to tackle and live with and through uncertainties. By engaging in a dialogue with other disciplines, we believe that such principles can be applied to other domains relevant for societal uncertainties, including migration governance, the management of critical infrastructure, financial regulation, epidemic control and others. The project started in late 2017 and this report provides some updates on its development.
Recent results from pastoralism research and development practice
In conventional views, pastoralism was classified as a stage of civilisation that needed to be abolished and transcended in order to reach a higher level of development. At the same time interventions in pastoral spaces secured control over vast territories and unexplored resources. In this context, global approaches to modernize a rural society have been ubiquitous phenomena independent of ideological contexts. The 20th century experienced a variety of concepts to sedentarise nomads and to transfer their lifestyles to modern perceptions. Permanent settlements have been the vivid expression of an ideology-driven approach. Modernisation theory captured all walks of life and sub-sequent development packages and programmes tried to optimize breeding techniques, pasture utilisation, transport and processing concepts. The aspect of input-output-oriented cost-efficiency tended to be neglected when the modernisation of animal husbandry was at stake according to a general purpose of increasing animal production yields. 2 New insights into other aspects of pastoralism such as its role as an adaptive strategy to use marginal resources in remote locations with difficult access could only be understood as a critique of capitalist and communist concepts of modernisation. The rejection of input-dominated theories that triggered enhancement of outputs but neglected ecological considerations regarding sustainability opened up a new field for research combining ecology, economy and society. This perception might gain further in importance when mitigation strategies coping with climate change and societal transformation are debated. 3 Pastoralism can be perceived as a flexible strategy to adapt to changing survival conditions, rather than a transitory stage on the path to modern development only. Pastoralism was adopted by people when opportunities arose, when it was economically sound and when the challenges posed by ecological and socio-political environments could be managed. 4 Central Asia poses a unique arena for understanding the spectrum of mountain pastoralism and rangeland management. In a similar ecological environment of desert-steppe conditions, the cases of different communities can be compared in order to illustrate variegating paths of socio-economic and politico-historical developments that are the result of inner-communal dynamics and external interventions. The societal and political transformations during the 20th century significantly modified the economic frame conditions, possibilities of political participation in decision-making processes, and cross-border exchange relations. Former commonalities among the studied communities have been transformed by inner-societal processes and by external linkages in response to decoupled exchange options. 5 The Tibetan Plateau is a huge ecological arena perfectly predisposed for mountain pastoralism. Debates about pastoral practices, common property regimes and rangeland management have gained pace in recent years since the environmental challenges and economic returns have been discussed in the framework of climate and global change. Initially the remote lifestyles of Tibetan nomads in peripheral regions were highlighted on account of sustenance from their own produce and subsistence economies. Even then mountain pastoralists were embedded in a network of mutual exchange relations that enabled them to survive in remote mountain plateaux and valleys. Their command of yak-breeding, their abilities to adapt to harsh environmental conditions and to cover huge distances between extensive natural pastures and market centres brought admiration from outside observers. Their “traditional lifestyle” seemed to be the perfect adaptation to environmental conditions.