Research in pastoral systems: workshop report

A workshop on “Research in pastoral systems: filling gaps and avoiding methodological traps” was held on 18 September 2019 immediately before the annual Tropentag conference on research in tropical and subtropical agriculture, natural resource management and rural development. The theme of the 2019 Tropentag, hosted by the Universities of Kassel and Goettingen in Germany, was “Filling gaps and removing traps for sustainable resources management”.

Kathrine Johnsen, the lead author of the report mandated by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) on gaps in data and other information on pastoralism and rangelands, presented the main findings of the study team. Speakers from Benin, Kenya, Turkey and Germany showed how researchers are filling some of the gaps identified in the UNEP study. They highlighted challenges in conducting research on pastoralism, e.g. mobility and multifunctionality in common property systems of resource use, and suggested appropriate research methods for working with mobile peoples using heterogeneous rangeland resources. They brought examples of such research in West and Eastern Africa and in the Mediterranean region.

The workshop report includes hyperlinks to all the PowerPoint presentations.

Posted on 24 November 2019 in CELEP Documents, Pastoral Research & Innovation, Pastoralism & Natural Resources