Pastoralism in the new millennium

FAO
ANIMAL
PRODUCTION
AND HEALTH
PAPER
150

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ISBN 92-5-104673-5

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© FAO 2001


Contents

SUMMARY

INTRODUCTION: PASTORAL SYSTEMS WORLDWIDE

Overview

Classifying pastoral systems

Pastoral species

Pastoral enterprises

History and origins of pastoralism

Sources of information on pastoralism

The discourse of pastoralism

GRAZING AND NUTRITION

Rangelands: opportunistic use of patchy resources

SilvOpastoral systems

Supplementary feeding

BREEDING AND REPRODUCTION

Breeding and reproduction in pastoral herds

Hi-tech ex situ strategies

ANIMAL HEALTH

Pastoralists and the health of their animals

Traditional remedies

Trypanosomiasis and the campaigns to eradicate tsetse

WHAT DO PASTORALISTS PRODUCE AND HOW DO THEY MARKET IT?

Dairy products

Meat preservation

Hides, skins and other products

Work animals

Selling pastoral products

Worldwide demand for protein

Evaluating productivity

THE MANAGEMENT AND MITIGATION OF VULNERABILITY

Migration

Changing herd composition

Predation

Theft

SOCIAL AND CULTURAL INSTITUTIONS OF PASTORALISM

Social structures

Role of women in pastoral society

Pastoral identities

Land tenure and the common property resources debate

PASTORALISM AND THE STATE

The edge eats the centre

Pastoralists and national borders

PASTORAL POPULATIONS AND RANGELANDS

Competition with foragers

Pastoralists and the environment

Competing uses of the world’s rangelands

BIODIVERSITY

Maintaining livestock biodiversity

Maintaining rangeland biodiversity

IMPROVING THE LIVELIHOODS OF PASTORALIST FAMILIES AND COMMUNITIES

Disaster management

Recovery strategies

WHO SHOULD ADDRESS THESE POLICIES AND ISSUES?

Pastoralists in the national, the regional and the global perspectives

Key reorientation of policy towards pastoralists

Who should be doing what?

CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS

Why has pastoralism survived?

Key trends in twentieth-century pastoralism

Where is pastoralism headed?

ANNEXES

I: The origin of pastoral species

II: Pastoralism with monogastric species

III: Worldwide Tables of pastoral peoples

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Electronic resources

TABLES

1. Regional zonation of pastoral systems

2. Main pastoral species and management systems worldwide

3. Estimated areas of the world’s rangelands

4. Classes of grasslands

5. Mongolian dairy products

6. Dairy products by species

7. Livestock products by species

8. Working animals by species

9. Actual and projected meat consumption by region

10. Source of increases in world meat supply

11. Kenya rangeland livestock and wildlife population estimates: 1970s–1990s

12. Factors accelerating the erosion of livestock biodiversity

13. Key factors shaping twentieth-century pastoralism

BOXES

1. The desert in Jordan: a parking lot for herds?

2. The Raika and their camels

3. Measuring output over time

4. Overgrazing in Africa’s high-altitude grasslands

5. Keeping Chukchi reindeer herds in check

6. Persuading the Navajo to sell

7. The expansion of microlivestock in Nigeria