Pastoralist Knowledge Hub

Climate change, biodiversity loss, and malnutrition are pressing global challenges,...

Climate change, biodiversity loss, and malnutrition are pressing global challenges,...

Climate change, biodiversity loss, and malnutrition are pressing global challenges,...

Transhumance, the seasonal droving of livestock between geographic or climatic...

Pastoralists produce food in the world’s harshest environments, and pastoral production supports the livelihoods of rural populations on almost half of the world’s land. They have traditionally suffered from poor understanding, marginalization and exclusion from dialogue.

The Pastoralist Knowledge Hub is an initiative bringing together pastoralists and the main actors working with them to join forces and create the synergies for dialogue and pastoralist development.

Knowledge repository. A database that classifies and provides access to literature on pastoralism.

Pastoralist networks. A forum for pastoralist organizations to share knowledge and voice their concerns in policy making.

Partners. A tool for alliance with key players on pastoralism, allowing dialogue, coordination and exploration of synergies, as well as to showcase work done in the field.

Pastoralist networks

The Hub offers a platform for pastoralists to share their voice at the global level.

Pastoralist participation is organized through networks organized by regions - providing easy dialogue through shared regional languages - as well as through thematic working groups that promote south-south learning.

Videos

Partners, policies and pastoralism: Bringing pastoral voices to the global stage

From: FAO
Millions of pastoralists worldwide provide food and important environmental benefits, yet they have little say in policies that affect them [Watch more videos]

Key facts


  • About 1 billion animals worldwide are herded by pastoralists. These include sheep, goats, cattle, camels, yaks, horses and reindeer.


  • 65% of meat, and 70% of milk sold on local markets in the Sahel region come from pastoral systems.

     

     


  • Pastoralists are key to the food security in such areas as drylands, highlands, wetlands, and shrublands where crop production is difficult.

     

     


  • Pastoralists promote rangeland health by improving soil fertility, conserving biodiversity, managing fires and accelerating nutrient cycling.

     

     


  • Pastoralists follow customary and community-based rangeland management practices over a range of land tenure types.

     

     

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    Pastoralists employ strategic mobility to adapt to variable climatic conditions.

     

     


  • Pastoralism is not just a livelihood, but also a cultural system closely linked to its natural environment. Pastoralists have a treasure of local and indigenous knowledge.


  • Pastoralist women have varied roles in the pastoral household, caring for livestock, land and sometimes finances.

The Hub partners with various stakeholders working towards sustainable pastoralism, including multilateral agencies, public institutions, academia, and civil society organizations.

A full list of partners can be found here.

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  • ACTING FOR LIFE
  • Alliance for Food Sovereignty in Africa AFSA
  • Coalition of European Lobbies for Eastern African Pastoralism (CELEP)
  • Centre for Sustainable Development (CENESTA)
  • Committee on World Food Security
  • CILSS
  • CIRAD
  • Coalition of Pastoralist Civil Society Organizations (COPACSO)
  • European Union (EU)
  • Global Agenda for Sustainable Livestock (The Global Agenda)
  • International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD)
  • International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD)
  • International Institute for Environment and Development
  • ICARDA
  • IGAD Centre for Pastoral Areas and Livestock Development (ICPALD)
  • International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI)
  • Inter-réseaux Développement
  • International Land Coalition (ILC)
  • International Rangeland Congress
  •  World Initiative for Sustainable Pastoralism (WISP)
  • League for Pastoral Peoples and Endogenous Livestock Development (LPP)
  • MARAG
  • Mongolian Alliance of Nomadic and Indigenous Peoples (MANIP)
  • Mountain Partnership
  • NMBU uploads/pics/loghi_NMBU.png Norwegian University of Life Sciences
  • PASTRES (Pastoralism, Uncertainty and Resilience: Global Lessons from the Margins)
  • Réseau Billital Maroobè (RBM)
  • Réseau des Peuples Pasteurs du Sahel
  • Slow Food
  • Society for range management
  • United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP)
  • UNESCO’s Local and Indigenous Knowledge Systems (LINKS) programme
  • Pastoramericas
  • Vétérinaires Sans Frontières (VSF) International
  • World Alliance of Mobile Indigenous People (WAMIP)
  • YURTA
  • World Bank Group - International Development, Poverty, & Sustainability