The path to greener pastures

CELEP partner Vétérinaires Sans Frontières International has brought out a technical brief The path to greener pastures: pastoralism – the backbone of the world’s drylands (2016, 20pp) that looks at the factors impeding development in pastoralist regions and suggests ways to improve pastoralist livelihoods. It is organised around the “community capitals” framework, which combines two major lines of assessing livelihoods: livelihoods-centred approaches and economy-centred approaches.

It argues that, rather than regarding pastoralists as a problem, policymakers should see them as a major and indispensable contributor to the development of sparsely populated, marginal areas. Efforts to develop pastoralism need to be focused on the territory being used, rather than on national-level policies. They need to take the community capitals into account and build on them, and especially on the pastoralists’ own knowledge, organisations and social networks. The brief is also available in French, Spanish and Italian.

The full report (104pp) can be found here.

Posted on 2 October 2016 in General Policy Documents, Pastoralism, Policy & Power, Pastoralist Livelihoods & Nutrition, Value of Pastoralism