From October 7 to 9, 2024, a workshop bringing together 15 experts on pastoralism and sustainability from different countries and continents was held to discuss indicators for the sustainability of pastoral systems. Titled “Developing pastoralism indicators that serve the past, present and future”, the workshop was organized at the University of Ghent by the Basque Center of Climate Change (BC3) and was co-funded by the International Union of Biological Sciences (IUBS) and FAO as part of the project “Boosting evidence on biodiversity and gender for sustainable livestock transformation.” For three days, the participants reflected on their experiences and knowledge to discuss relevant indicators for the assessment of pastoral systems, and specifically to better adapt the indicators on biodiversity and gender within the Tool for Agroecology Performance Evaluation (TAPE) of FAO to these contexts.

The participants discussed the importance of indicators in shaping discourses and policies, and the need for developing the right tools and indicators to help decision-makers make the most relevant and informed decisions. The experts also underlined the importance of inter- and transdisciplinary approaches, as well as the measurement of more than one dimension of sustainability. They recalled that pastoralism is still often seen as an ancient practice that needs to be modernized, but that this narrative should be changed in view of recent research showing its multiple benefits across the social, environmental and economic dimensions when practiced appropriately. They also recognized that while pastoralism embraces most agroecological principles (such as synergy, efficiency, co-creation of knowledge, culture and food tradition), it has long been -and still is- largely excluded from debates about agroecology. Not surprisingly, the indicators usually used to assess the level of agroecology remain poorly adapted to pastoral systems and mobility because the concept of agroecology emerged in areas where sedentary systems prevail. Nevertheless, the participants recognized the importance of building bridges between agroecology and pastoralism and the potential benefits this connection could bring to both.

Participants sharing experiences and ideas to the workshop on “Developing pastoralism indicators that serve the past, present and future” @FAO/Ivana Mardesic

On the first day, a roundtable and a presentation of recent research on pastoralism were organized for students at the University of Ghent. Pablo Manzano showed how the usual negative rationale around livestock production, including pastoralism, often arises from inadequate indicators or misinterpretations of these indicators. For example, the accusation of pastoral systems emitting greenhouse gas (GHG) does not take into account that livestock in pastoral systems would be replaced by wildlife if pastoralism would be abandoned, amounting in similar amounts of GHG in the landscape. He also pointed out the accusations of high water use for livestock, which omit the fact that pastoral systems mainly rely on rainwater, as opposed to more intensive systems that use mainly channeled water. Following these two examples, he advocated for more differentiation among livestock systems when addressing the livestock sector in research and statistics.

Pablo Manzano presenting recent work on typologies of pastoral systems @Gonzalo Cortés-Capano

The next two days were divided between plenary presentations and group work to discuss the biodiversity and gender indicators in TAPE and how to improve them for pastoral systems. The discussions expanded more globally to consider how indicators assessing agroecology could better fit pastoralism. The various backgrounds and origins of the participants, including representatives of pastoral communities, guaranteed the diversity of perspectives and the inclusion of different pastoral systems around the world.

When assessing biodiversity, the participants agreed that the indicators in pastoral systems should focus on the diversity of forage species rather than the diversity of crops, such as in sedentary systems. They also recognized the constraints related to the specificities of different pastoral contexts and, thus, the need to have different baselines. For the gender aspect, they discussed the necessity of adding a layer of qualitative data through focus groups to capture the specificities of the context and give more value to the quantitative data already captured in TAPE. This module, which is currently being developed, was presented by the gender experts of FAO.

Restitution of group works of participants on biodiversity indicators of TAPE @FAO/Ivana Mardesic

The recommendations formulated during the workshop will be brought forward during the update of a new version of TAPE, which will be more modular and flexible allowing wider applicability to different systems. The tool will then be piloted in three countries: Mongolia, Tunisia and Uganda, with a focus on biodiversity and gender indicators. Approximately 500 pastoral households will be surveyed in each of the three target countries, and the data is expected to be analysed by the end of 2025, with the aim to generate evidence of the relationship between pastoralism and biodiversity. The group also expressed the wish to scale up the research further in other countries, beyond the three countries already included in the project, with the objective of delivering clear messages and recommendations for the International Year of Rangelands and Pastoralists in 2026.