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This issue of Farming Matters explores the different ways pastoral societies are joining forces to challenge the policies that undermine their culture and way of life.

For millennia, pastoralist societies have managed the rangelands of the world’s most challenging environments, producing food and providing ecosystem services for millions of households.

The experiences, opinions and perspectives presented in this issue highlight the importance of pastoral societies for agroecology and the transformation of entire food systems.

Over 50 institutions and individuals endorsed “The Cancun Statement” calling for the promotion of sustainable pastoralism and livestock production for the conservation of biodiversity in grasslands and rangelands.

The statement was presented on the sidelines of the 13th meeting of the Coalition of Parties (COP13) on the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) in Cancun, Mexico.

Common grazings occupy 6% of Scotland’s land mass, mainly in remote and hill, upland or island areas. This film captures the experiences of common graziers, young crofters, government agencies and advisors in working common grazings land in unique High Nature Value Landscapes. 

Ce livre offre une perspective unique et une compréhension profonde d'un monde qui change rapidement, avec des contributions des praticiens et des académiciens. En dépit des contraintes et des idées préconçues, le pastoralisme continue à jouer un rôle substantiel dans le développement social et économique dans la région Afrique de l'Ouest comme ailleurs, et dans l'intégration régionale. Les caractéristiques innées de la mobilité et de l'adaptabilité signifient que le pastoralisme demeurera crucial pour les moyens de subsistance résilients. Ce livre présente des zones de production et de consommation établies et nouvelles, et démontre l'évolution rapide des chaînes de valeur pastorale.

Pastoralism is a practice that makes the best use of natural resources in the context of sustainability, availability, and environmental limitations, while producing wealth for the herder families as well as for the nation. This photo feature traces the lifestyle of some of these nomadic herders and shows the hardships they face with a shrinking of their resource base. It serves as a  soft advocacy tool and calls for a benevolent state to protect the interests of the pastoralists.

Pastoralists are believed to form 7% of India’s population, i.e., about 88 million people, inhabiting mainly the arid and semi-arid areas of the country. Pastoralism – an old dynamic production system prevalent throughout the world – is economically productive and ecologically sustainable, and uses variability in a positive way. Yet, pastoralism does not get the recognition it deserves. This paper discusses the benefits and challenges of pastoralism and gives ten recommendations how to strengthen pastoralism in India.

En la actualidad, en el medio rural de América Latina, la existencia o prevalencia de las sociedades pastorales no es tan evidente, ya que la agricultura familiar campesina se encuentra en el contexto del cual la relación entre las comunidades y su cría es condición esencial para su sostenibilidad. Contribuyendo a la conservación de la biodiversidad del ecosistema, especialmente de los pastos, y como un recurso esencial para la vida y la producción como fuente de proteínas para alimentos y fibra para uso textil, tanto en la industria como en la industria. Este número de Leisa destaca la importancia de los pastores.