42
Introduction: Pastoralism, Natural Rangelands, and Benign
Neglect
Pastoralism has been practiced for millennia in the drylands, tundra, and alpine
regions of the world. As there are many different forms of pastoralism, so are there
many different definitions of it. The people who practice it rarely call themselves
pastoralist—they are herders, graziers, cowboys, shepherds, criançeros, livestock
farmers, and more. Up to now the term “pastoralist” has been used primarily in
francophone countries, but is gaining global recognition as a term to describe the
many varied forms of raising domesticated or semi-domesticated ruminant animals
on natural rangelands (Reid et al. 2008).
The definition of “rangelands” is also variable depending on the language and
culture of different countries. The term is more popular in North America and
Australia, whereas other regions use terms such as natural pasture, grassland,
savanna, veld, pampa, llanos, cerrado, campos, etc. The term is gaining global recognition to describe those lands on which the indigenous vegetation consists predominantly of grasses, grass-like plants, forbs, shrubs, or trees that are grazed or
have the potential to be grazed or browsed, and which are used as a natural ecosystem for raising grazing livestock and wildlife (Allen et al. 2011). Rangelands provide a broad spectrum of ecosystem goods and services (Sala et al. 2017). They are
intricate social-ecological systems with a long history of co-adaptation with ruminant animals. Pastoralist communities and their resource management strategies
have co-evolved with the inherently dynamic rangelands and their high spatial heterogeneity, biodiversity, and with climate-related spatial and temporal variability
(Little 1996).
Most researchers agree that the current extent of pastoralism and rangelands
has been globally underestimated. A recent report concluded that there is low
confidence in global statistics of rangelands and pastoralists because of the incomparability of different definitions and terminologies, whereas there is usually
higher confidence of such statistics at the local level where only one definition is
used (Johnsen et al. 2019). The population of pastoralists has been reported varying from 200 million to over 1 billion. The geographic extent of rangelands has
been reported varying from 18% to over 80% of the world’s land surface (Allen
et al. 2011).
The World Atlas of Desertification (WAD), third edition, is the most recent effort
to harmonize terminologies and statistics on rangelands and drylands. It estimates
that global rangeland area is 29 million km
2
, of which 63% are in drylands. It also
estimates that 18.5% of global rangelands, and 14% of rangelands in drylands are
experiencing a decrease in land productivity (Cherlet et al. 2018). Over the past
50 years, rangelands have been reduced in size and fragmented. This observation
comes from individual research sites rather than any global assessment. Reduction
and fragmentation has been noted especially as a result of expansion of rainfed
agriculture into local wetlands and other fertile spots of rangelands. Other causes
are the widespread use of irrigation and greenhouse technologies expanding
M. Niamir-Fuller and E. Huber-Sannwald
Introduction: Pastoralism, Natural Rangelands, and Benign
Neglect
Pastoralism has been practiced for millennia in the drylands, tundra, and alpine
regions of the world. As there are many different forms of pastoralism, so are there
many different definitions of it. The people who practice it rarely call themselves
pastoralist—they are herders, graziers, cowboys, shepherds, criançeros, livestock
farmers, and more. Up to now the term “pastoralist” has been used primarily in
francophone countries, but is gaining global recognition as a term to describe the
many varied forms of raising domesticated or semi-domesticated ruminant animals
on natural rangelands (Reid et al. 2008).
The definition of “rangelands” is also variable depending on the language and
culture of different countries. The term is more popular in North America and
Australia, whereas other regions use terms such as natural pasture, grassland,
savanna, veld, pampa, llanos, cerrado, campos, etc. The term is gaining global recognition to describe those lands on which the indigenous vegetation consists predominantly of grasses, grass-like plants, forbs, shrubs, or trees that are grazed or
have the potential to be grazed or browsed, and which are used as a natural ecosystem for raising grazing livestock and wildlife (Allen et al. 2011). Rangelands provide a broad spectrum of ecosystem goods and services (Sala et al. 2017). They are
intricate social-ecological systems with a long history of co-adaptation with ruminant animals. Pastoralist communities and their resource management strategies
have co-evolved with the inherently dynamic rangelands and their high spatial heterogeneity, biodiversity, and with climate-related spatial and temporal variability
(Little 1996).
Most researchers agree that the current extent of pastoralism and rangelands
has been globally underestimated. A recent report concluded that there is low
confidence in global statistics of rangelands and pastoralists because of the incomparability of different definitions and terminologies, whereas there is usually
higher confidence of such statistics at the local level where only one definition is
used (Johnsen et al. 2019). The population of pastoralists has been reported varying from 200 million to over 1 billion. The geographic extent of rangelands has
been reported varying from 18% to over 80% of the world’s land surface (Allen
et al. 2011).
The World Atlas of Desertification (WAD), third edition, is the most recent effort
to harmonize terminologies and statistics on rangelands and drylands. It estimates
that global rangeland area is 29 million km
2
, of which 63% are in drylands. It also
estimates that 18.5% of global rangelands, and 14% of rangelands in drylands are
experiencing a decrease in land productivity (Cherlet et al. 2018). Over the past
50 years, rangelands have been reduced in size and fragmented. This observation
comes from individual research sites rather than any global assessment. Reduction
and fragmentation has been noted especially as a result of expansion of rainfed
agriculture into local wetlands and other fertile spots of rangelands. Other causes
are the widespread use of irrigation and greenhouse technologies expanding
M. Niamir-Fuller and E. Huber-Sannwald