From October 7 to 9, 2024, a workshop bringing together 15 experts on pastoralism and sustainability from different countries and continents was held to discuss indicators for the sustainability of pastoral systems. Titled “Developing pastoralism indicators that serve the past, present and future”, the workshop was organized at the University of Ghent by the Basque Center of Climate Change (BC3) and was co-funded by the International Union of Biological Sciences (IUBS) and FAO as part of the project “Boosting evidence on biodiversity and gender for sustainable livestock transformation.” For three days, the participants reflected on their experiences and knowledge to discuss relevant indicators for the assessment of pastoral systems, and specifically to better adapt the indicators on biodiversity and gender within the Tool for Agroecology Performance Evaluation (TAPE) of FAO to these contexts.

The participants discussed the importance of indicators in shaping discourses and policies, and the need for developing the right tools and indicators to help decision-makers make the most relevant and informed decisions. The experts also underlined the importance of inter- and transdisciplinary approaches, as well as the measurement of more than one dimension of sustainability. They recalled that pastoralism is still often seen as an ancient practice that needs to be modernized, but that this narrative should be changed in view of recent research showing its multiple benefits across the social, environmental and economic dimensions when practiced appropriately. They also recognized that while pastoralism embraces most agroecological principles (such as synergy, efficiency, co-creation of knowledge, culture and food tradition), it has long been -and still is- largely excluded from debates about agroecology. Not surprisingly, the indicators usually used to assess the level of agroecology remain poorly adapted to pastoral systems and mobility because the concept of agroecology emerged in areas where sedentary systems prevail. Nevertheless, the participants recognized the importance of building bridges between agroecology and pastoralism and the potential benefits this connection could bring to both.

Participants sharing experiences and ideas to the workshop on “Developing pastoralism indicators that serve the past, present and future” @FAO/Ivana Mardesic

On the first day, a roundtable and a presentation of recent research on pastoralism were organized for students at the University of Ghent. Pablo Manzano showed how the usual negative rationale around livestock production, including pastoralism, often arises from inadequate indicators or misinterpretations of these indicators. For example, the accusation of pastoral systems emitting greenhouse gas (GHG) does not take into account that livestock in pastoral systems would be replaced by wildlife if pastoralism would be abandoned, amounting in similar amounts of GHG in the landscape. He also pointed out the accusations of high water use for livestock, which omit the fact that pastoral systems mainly rely on rainwater, as opposed to more intensive systems that use mainly channeled water. Following these two examples, he advocated for more differentiation among livestock systems when addressing the livestock sector in research and statistics.