44
Pastoral mobility (the movement or rotation of livestock over large areas) has been
shown to promote healthier ecosystems (McGahey et al. 2014), and greater wildlife
compatibility (Niamir-Fuller et al. 2012), and is better adjusted to the high levels of
climatic unpredictability in the drylands. Pastoralism is a natural adaptation to climatically uncertain and variable environments, and generally more resilient and
adaptive than sedentary farming in drylands. For example, a study in Morocco predicts that mobile pastoralists will be barely affected by reduction in precipitation by
2050, while the income of sedentary pastoralists will fall by nearly 19% (Freier et al.
2014). Another study in the Limpopo Basin in South Africa concludes that pastoralists will be more resilient to climate change than households that do not raise livestock (Shewmake 2008). Hence these traditional systems may be the best adaptation
pathways towards future climate change.
From Production Maximization to Integrated Development
Development approaches typically followed a command and control approach maximizing economic production and efficiency centered around a single ecosystem
good or service. Progress was measured in terms of production output (number of
livestock; kilograms of meat or milk). In theory, production maximization would
lead to higher and more reliable incomes and therefore greater development.
However, decades later we are seeing the adverse effects and socio-ecological costs
of such single-sector approaches.
Research on sedentarization (where pastoralists were forced or encouraged to
settle in villages to receive health and other services) shows livelihood vulnerability and enhanced land degradation from sedentary grazing (Galaty et al. 1981).
For example, sedentarization and concentration of animals in the Ferlo of Senegal
resulted in overgrazing around settlements and waterholes, as well as degradation of distance pastures due to lower grazing (Niamir-Fuller 1997). The economic benefits of conversion of riparian areas of rangelands into irrigation
schemes were often short-lived, and resulted in degradation of adjacent nonriparian areas given that pastoralists no longer had access to high-quality natural
fodder (Hogg 1987).
Encouragement of confined livestock systems (smallholder or large holder)
through subsidies and technical support has also had negative impacts on the environment. Today, 40% of all arable land is being used to produce animal feed for
intensive systems and the figure is rising. The impact of deforestation on the
Amazon and savannas of the world from conversion to the production of feed has
been well documented (Fearnside 2005). UNEP estimates that the cereals used to
produce feed for animals could instead feed 3.5 billion people. Fifty percent of
fertilizer applied to agricultural land, and 70% of herbicide used in agriculture are
attributed to animal feed production. In China, as much as 40% of the chemicals
are in excess and released to the environment, resulting in dead zones and marine
hypoxia (UNEP 2016).
M. Niamir-Fuller and E. Huber-Sannwald
Pastoral mobility (the movement or rotation of livestock over large areas) has been
shown to promote healthier ecosystems (McGahey et al. 2014), and greater wildlife
compatibility (Niamir-Fuller et al. 2012), and is better adjusted to the high levels of
climatic unpredictability in the drylands. Pastoralism is a natural adaptation to climatically uncertain and variable environments, and generally more resilient and
adaptive than sedentary farming in drylands. For example, a study in Morocco predicts that mobile pastoralists will be barely affected by reduction in precipitation by
2050, while the income of sedentary pastoralists will fall by nearly 19% (Freier et al.
2014). Another study in the Limpopo Basin in South Africa concludes that pastoralists will be more resilient to climate change than households that do not raise livestock (Shewmake 2008). Hence these traditional systems may be the best adaptation
pathways towards future climate change.
From Production Maximization to Integrated Development
Development approaches typically followed a command and control approach maximizing economic production and efficiency centered around a single ecosystem
good or service. Progress was measured in terms of production output (number of
livestock; kilograms of meat or milk). In theory, production maximization would
lead to higher and more reliable incomes and therefore greater development.
However, decades later we are seeing the adverse effects and socio-ecological costs
of such single-sector approaches.
Research on sedentarization (where pastoralists were forced or encouraged to
settle in villages to receive health and other services) shows livelihood vulnerability and enhanced land degradation from sedentary grazing (Galaty et al. 1981).
For example, sedentarization and concentration of animals in the Ferlo of Senegal
resulted in overgrazing around settlements and waterholes, as well as degradation of distance pastures due to lower grazing (Niamir-Fuller 1997). The economic benefits of conversion of riparian areas of rangelands into irrigation
schemes were often short-lived, and resulted in degradation of adjacent nonriparian areas given that pastoralists no longer had access to high-quality natural
fodder (Hogg 1987).
Encouragement of confined livestock systems (smallholder or large holder)
through subsidies and technical support has also had negative impacts on the environment. Today, 40% of all arable land is being used to produce animal feed for
intensive systems and the figure is rising. The impact of deforestation on the
Amazon and savannas of the world from conversion to the production of feed has
been well documented (Fearnside 2005). UNEP estimates that the cereals used to
produce feed for animals could instead feed 3.5 billion people. Fifty percent of
fertilizer applied to agricultural land, and 70% of herbicide used in agriculture are
attributed to animal feed production. In China, as much as 40% of the chemicals
are in excess and released to the environment, resulting in dead zones and marine
hypoxia (UNEP 2016).
M. Niamir-Fuller and E. Huber-Sannwald