Pastoralism

Excavations were carried out in 1999 on the location of Stela 2 at the ancient site of Aksum in northern Ethiopia.
These excavations have permitted the documentation of the foundation of this stela, which was transported to Rome in 1937. Preparations were also made for the stela’s return to the site in 2005 and its re-erection in 2008 at the exact location where it stood in the 3rd or 4th century AD.
The excavations also made it possible to re-examine our perception of the three giant stelae on the site, from their conception and erection to their destruction.

Primary production on semiarid floodplains supports a diverse local and regional fauna. Reduced flooding from water resource development (WRD) may affect floodplain production by decreasing water and nutrient supply.We investigated the effects of reduced wetting on soil fertility by performing a regional soil survey across a gradient of flood frequency. Soil nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P) and carbon (C) were recorded over a soil-wetting event where heavy rainfall and flooding coincided.Soil nutrient concentrations indicate N limits plant growth and P does not.No spatial patterns in soil P were detected across the floodplain, suggesting that the principal mechanism controlling P fertility is the concentration of P in floodplain source material, and that flood mediated import and export of P are minor processes.Soil N concentrations rose following rainfall and flooding and the greatest increased occurred in flooded areas. Flood deposition of N accounted for only 9% of the boost in soil N in flooded areas, and N concentrations continued to rise when the floods and rains ceased. Elevated soil N levels do not appear to persist because at the start of a growth cycle, when soils were dry, soil N did not vary significantly with flood frequency. This suggests most of the boost in soil N was due to N-fixation, with the subsequent loss of N likely to have resulted from in situ processes such as denitrification.Agricultural export of nutrients appears to not be a significant process in the context of the high phosphorus fertility of floodplain source material and the apparently high rates of in situ processing of nitrogen.Synthesis and applications. Our data suggest that floodplain soil fertility is controlled by mechanisms other than flood frequency or agricultural export, meaning that WRD is unlikely to affect soil fertility; however, the biological implications of the brief pulse in soil N associated with wetting need further investigation.

Should landholders be allowed to make commercial gain or profit from animal pests? This is an issue not only with wild pigs but also with other pests, and there are different opinions about the effect of commercial use of a pest. Two broadly opposed views exist:
(a) Commercial use of a pest results in its conservation (or reduced control) by landholders, because they can profit from the pest population.
(b) The possibility of commercial gain results in greater harvesting or hunting pressure on a species, thus reducing its population.
Either effect is possible, depending upon the identifiable circumstances. Under some circumstances, commercial use leads to greater conservation of a pest, but under other circumstances – circumstances that seem to be more likely in the case of pigs – commercial use results in increased control of a pest population. Commercialization is an important strategy to consider in managing a pest.
Landholders have two main ways in which they can make commercial gain from wild pigs:
(a) Landholders may obtain income from fees charged to amateur pighunters for hunting, camping, accommodation, etc.
(b) By selling the rights to hunt pigs to commercial hunters, or by hunting pigs themselves and selling their harvest to meat producers, landholders can gain if wild pigs are used in the meat trade.
This chapter concentrates on the first possibility – an income from amateur pighunters' fees – and the next chapter deals with the second possibility.

Pastoralists in sub-Saharan Africa have limited access to public services due to their mobile lifestyle, economic and political marginalization, and the limited health infrastructure that is common to arid and semi-arid lands (ASALs) where they primarily reside. This often results in poor health outcomes, including increased rates of maternal, neonatal, and under-5 mortality. One Health approaches that integrate human and animal health service delivery can help to improve pastoralists’ health through increased vaccine coverage and improved access to services.Kenya has institutionalized One Health at the national level; however, progress at the subnational level has been limited due to sustainability concerns, competing priorities, and insufficient coordination platforms. To address this gap, this paper presents a One Health framework (OHF) to aid in the implementation of integrated human and animal health policies in Turkana County, which can act as a model for other ASALs. Utilizin...

Kazakh herders of the Mongolian Altai practice a form of nomadism characterised by high altitudinal amplitude and more frequent movements than in other regions of Mongolia. This paper proposes a local scale study of nomadic practices using an original multidisciplinary methodological approach combining anthropological surveys and several years' GPS data tracking of five herder families' herds. The dialogue between geo-localised and qualitative data over several consecutive years makes it possible to better understand the environmental, economic, social and individual factors that determine nomadic routes and calendars. It also highlights the ways in which herders cope with interannual variations. In particular, this new methodology reveals the importance of temporary herd separations and re-evaluates the frequency of nomadic movements, which might have been underestimated by the classical anthropological approach.

In the vast high altitude rangelands of the Tibetan plateau, and of the surrounding mountain regions of Central Asia – from Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan in the far west, to Mongolia and Bhutan in the east – yak husbandry has for millennia contributed to the sustenance and cultures of people living in these challenging, often marginal lands. Today, of the world’s estimated 14 million domestic yak, around 90% are found in China, 4% in Mongolia, and the rest are in the Himalayan and Central Asian countries (Wiener et al. 2003).

First domesticated around 10,000 years ago, most likely in the Changtang region of Tibet, yak provide many fundamentals necessary for both traditional and modern lifestyles, from meat and milk products, to fiber (for clothing and habitation), yak dung (for heating and cooking) and transportation. ...

Mountain rangelands in Asia constitute the most extensive high altitude pastoral regions worldwide. Other noteworthy zones exist in the Andes of South America, and in smaller isolated ranges or relatively high plateaus in Africa. There are also similarities with extensive rangelands and traditional resource-based livelihoods, such as practiced by Sami reindeer herders in cold northern climates. However, nowhere else in the world are high rangelands and nomadic pastoralism as extensive as on the vast Tibetan plateau and in the surrounding mountainous areas of the Himalayas and Central Asia.

La transhumance, bien malgré elle, constitue une zone d'ombre de l'historiographie médiévale en France. Entre le moment des pâtures en plaine – jusqu'à la mi-mai – et l'arrivée en estive de haute montagne (aux alentours de la mi-juin), nous ne savons presque rien. Même phénomène lors du retour des sommets au début de septembre. Ce n'est qu'à travers des documents connexes, écrits avant ou après la transhumance, que les historiens peuvent entrevoir la façon dont se déroulait ce vaste mouvement impliquant plusieurs dizaines de milliers de tête en Provence, voire une ou deux centaines de milliers, quand il ne s'agissait pas de plusieurs millions comme en Castille au XVIe siècle. Et encore, malgré de patients recoupements, nombreux sont ceux qui avouent n'aboutir qu'à de frustrantes esquisses.
Il a pourtant bien fallu combler ce vide et expliquer, en l'absence de sources, ce phénomène social et économique. L'influence des physiocrates a joué pour cela un rôle déterminant. Chantres de l'agriculture intensive, ils ne voyaient dans l'élevage extensif qu'une perte de temps et d'espace. De là émerge un taxinomie reprise par bon nombre de géographes du XIXe et du début du XXe siècle, formés à l'école coloniale, qui
considérait la transhumance comme l'étage intermédiaire entre le nomadisme pastoral des Peuls ou des peuples des steppes, et l'élevage sédentaire intensif ; une sorte de ruralité en voie de développement (image que l'on retrouve dans la Méditerranée de Fernand Braudel pour qui la transhumance est « une forme assagie de la vie pastorale méditerranéenne ». Cela a conduit à deux théories à la fois complémentaires et contradictoires...

Questo lavoro si articola nel perimetro definito dai concetti di pastorizia, biodiversità, immigrazione, nel contesto mediterraneo. Il caso di studio del Triveneto è preso in considerazione, per analizzare i cambiamenti che hanno
caratterizzato la pastorizia e le sue relazioni con la gente e con il territorio. Il contributo mira da una parte ad illustrare le interrelazioni importanti tra pastorizia e biodiversità, e dall’altra le evoluzioni del lavoro nel settore della pastorizia in seguito alla ristrutturazione del settore ed al recente contributo
dell’immigrazione.

"Islamization of Bedouin judiciary among the tribes of Awlad Aly in Matrouh, Egypt.

سعت الحرآة الإسلامية خلال العقدين الماضيين إلى إحداث تغيرات اجتماعية في المجتمع البدوي بصفة عامة.يأتي ذلك في إطار الرغبة نحو تأسيس مجتمع إسلامي جديد، ليس في البادية فحسب، وإنما في المجتمع المصري ككل. تهدف هذه الدراسة إلي رصد أبعاد عملية أسلمة القضاء البدوي بين أولاد علي بمطروح، والتي نتج عنها تأسيس القضاء الشرعي آنمط من الحكم يقوم على فض المنازعات بتطبيق نصوص من الشريعة الإسلامية. تكمن أهمية الدراسة في تقليل الفجوة المعرفية القائمة حول أسلمة المجتمع البدوي، ولفت انتباه صناع القرار إلى أهمية الإسراع في تحقيق الاندماج الاجتماعي للبدو في مصر. تم الاعتماد على بيانات ميدانية باستخدام أدوات البحث الكيفي ببعض القبائل. ورآزت الدراسة على اسلمة المجتمع البدوي، والتغيرات المصاحبة لهذه العملية، وأهمها دور المهاجرين في التوجهات الدينية، وآذلك تأثير التعليم على تكوين عصبية دينية بدوية، وتجاوب النخبة البدوية الجديدة معها. ورصدت الدراسة مظاهر التغير في القضاء البدوي عبر مراحله المختلفة، بدءا من التوسط في النزاع، ثم التفاوض حول المشورة، وجلسات التحقيق، وإصدار الحكم، وصولا إلى تدابير تنفيذ الحكم الشرعي.
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During the past two decades, the Islamic movement sought to ring about social changes in the Bedouin community in general. This comes within the framework of the desire to establish a new Islamic society, not only among Bedouins in the desert, but in the Egyptian society as a whole. The study aims at monitoring the dimensions of the islamization process of Bedouin judiciary rules among the tribes of Awlad Aly in Matrouh, which resulted in the establishment of Islamic ruling as a mode of governance for conflicts resolution. The importance of the study is to reduce the gap in the existing knowledge about the Islamization of the  Bedouin community, and to draw the attention of decision-makers to the importance of accelerating the achievement of social integration of the Bedouin in Egypt. The study relied on field data using the tools of qualitative research for some tribes. The study focused on the Islamization of the Bedouin community, and the changes associated with this process, the most important of which is the role of migrants in religious orientation; the impact of education on the composition of Bedouin religious fanaticism; and the response of the new elite Bedouin to the Islamization. The study monitored the manifestations of the change in the Bedouin judiciary  system through the various stages from mediating in the disputes, to negotiation advice and hearings, sentencing, leading to measures to implement the Islamic ruling.

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Help and relief in the body, comfort and consolation in the spirit means, pay attention to the whole person of the patient, in his global reality, realizing not only of all its physical, psychological, relational, social and spiritual. The partner wild with pleasure to learn in order to be close to the sick, to be able to offer them a' presence of love and competent service. It is important for every person to know what are the motives of the act while carrying out a visit, which is a true' therapeutic ministry. Aware that, by the patient is not going to spend a bit 'of time, let alone to vent on him our problems and our concerns: in fact, already has enough and not add more. All the sick wherever they are, living situations of suffering, still await a visit from the aid, relief, comfort and consolation, in body and in spirit.

The Orientation Framework acknowledges that the scientific understanding of pastoralism has undergone a veritable U-turn from the principles that directed pastoral development for most of its existence. It acknowledges the mistakes of the past. It engages with pastoralists’ sophisticated knowledge, supporting the understanding of mobility as key strategy to increase livestock productivity. The way forward is sketched in an explorative and participatory way. The core principle is to strengthen pastoral systems, building on pastoralists’ own specialisation and expertise.
The document is organised in three parts. The first concerns the understanding of pastoral systems in general and the context of pastoral development. The second part focuses on the experience of pastoral development in Ethiopia. The third part combines these lessons in light of MISEREOR’s approach to development in order to define six axes of activity to strengthen pastoral systems: i. recognise and support their specialisation to use environmental variability for food production; ii. increase pastoralists’ options for targeting pasture resources; iii. create appropriate water supplies in strategic locations; iv. improve access to well-adapted services; v. support the understanding and visibility of pastoralism; and vi. promote dialogue in support of people-led pastoral development.

Abstract: Climate change is one of the greatest challenges that the world is facing today.
Climate change has become world top 10 challenges which pose a risk to livelihood security.
The risk is higher in countries and regions where the dependence on natural resources is high
and the adaptive capacity to climatic changes is low. Afar is such a region. The majority of the
region 's population's sources of income, employment and food depend on pastoralism and
agriculture. With the repeated incidence of drought, it becomes important to understand the
impacts of climate change on pastoral livelihoods. The research into climate change effect on
livelihood is still in an early stage of development and little work has been done in the area
particularly as this related to the case of climate change effect on the pastoral community in
Ethiopia. Building on a case study of pastoralists in Awash wereda, this thesis explores and
analyzes how the interaction of climate change effect with non climatic stressors contribute to
vulnerability of livelihoods. To address the objective ofthe research qualitative research method
is used. The framework of Vulnerability and Capacity Assessment (VCA) is used. Thus PRA tools
such as transect walk, observation, together with interview and focus group discussion
techniques of qualitative data collection are employed to generate the data. Key underlying
drivers of vulnerability in Awash wereda emanate}i'om climatic and non climatic factors. These
are environmental degradation; encroachment of land by Prosopis, population pressures;
resource scarcity induced conflicts; inadequate non pastoral, non farming opportunities; poor
access to infrastructure; resources and services; weakening role of traditional institutions. The
pastoralists have been responding to these changes using different coping mechanisms. They are
using traditional adaptation mechanisms of mobility, social safety net and herd splilting. But this
has become weakening and people have started new mechanisms of coping. These are
diversification of sources of income, employment and feeding. The new livelihood strategies
such as farming, trading and waged labour are challenged by limitations in skill, knowledge and
resource. The efforts underway, the initiatives and changes occurring in pastoralism should
therefore be augmented and supported through investment and knowledge transfer. Interventions
should focus in addressing the underlying drivers of vulnerability oflivelihood to be successjitl.
Key words: Climate change, Afar, pastoralism, livelihood, vulnerability, coping mechanism,
diversification.

NB: Paper updated 21 May 2021 This paper looks closely at the ancient genetics of one small lineage within a sub-branch of a people sometimes known as Semitic, with implications for Near Eastern history. Applying a combination of tools: yDNA haplogrouping, ancientDNA, Primary Component Analysis, biblical genealogies, and archaeological finds, the result is a reconstruction of the lineage from the Epipaleolithic to the Early Iron Age. Some of the questions addressed include: 1) what is the deep genetic ancestry of the ‘antediluvian’ Near Eastern people, 2) where did the events reported in the Great Flood story occur, 3) where did Noah’s grandson Arphaxad live, 4) where did Abraham live before being instructed by G-d to migrate to Canaan, 5) what socio-political conditions surrounded Abraham’s migration, and 6) is there genetic evidence for the historicity of biblical genealogies involving Shem, Arphaxad, Abraham, Ishmael, and Aharon? Aharonic (Cohanim Modal Haplotype) aspects and implications of this yDNA lineage are the subject of a companion paper:https://www.academia.edu/43340967/

In the changing environments globally, it is essential to look deeply into the effects of climate change on rangelands, pastoralists and livestock grazing, and into how the pastoralists cope with the climatic changes and challenges. There is a scientific rationale behind the pastoralists' adaptation strategies for coping with the climate variability. The present review-based paper explores how the rangelands and nomadic pastoralism are critical for grassland biomes and ecosystems. It is scientifically es tablished that the pastoralist lifestyles are not only most sustainable in present times but also most resilient, given the challenges of climatic variability. As the changing climates globally pose threats to grassland ecosystems and associated natural resources, pastoralists and their livestock are affected greatly by erratic weathers and changing availability of palatable biomass. Available literature proves that the pastoralist people hold much of the knowledge about how to adapt in hostile and varying climates. For example, the pastoralists adopt strategies such as rotational use of pasturelands, division of livestock, diversification of livestock, predicting rainfall and seasonal changes, and so on. In addition to understanding the resilience and adaptation strategies of pastoralists, present paper addresses how the technology might help nomadic pastoralists build their resilience on the face of climate change. This paper finally discusses the need to test various technologies in biological, ecological and anthropological contexts of the rangelands and pastoralism so that dying lifestyles and cultures of the marginalized nomadic people can survive in hostile climate change regime.

What Fernand Braudel once said of the Mediterranean sea can be said of the Sahara desert: drawing up boundaries is a difficult task. However, some geographers attempted to do so, and their endeavors were part of what may be termed the “invention” of the Sahara. In our introduction we pointed out some key figures of this invention (Leo Africanus, Eugene Daumas, Emile Carette, Henri Duveyrier, Robert Capot-Rey ...) then briefly presented the various contributions to the project, from a historical perspective. Indeed the Sahara-inspired dreams of today’s solar engineers are every bit as wild as the utopias of technicians from the colonial era. Similarly, the rumors fueled by media about AQIM are not very different from those once spread about the Senussi brotherhood. In the same way, the political thinking of the Tuareg in Mali and Niger is not so far remote from the thinking of the Moorish scholars of the seventeenth through nineteenth centuries. And again, the current migrations in the Sahara desert were preceded by other migrations, even if those took place under the duress of the slave trade. We cannot say that the Sahara has remained unchanged for centuries, but the movements and ideas that travel through it were not born yesterday.

While there is a growing body of knowledge on the effects of climatic and other forms of change on pastoralism in Africa, less is known about how recent policy responses and development interventions in the name of climate change and pastoral area development are shaped by certain discourses and narratives and by political interests. This is important because the simplifications that are often a characteristic of environmental policy narratives can fail to acknowledge the politicised nature of many environmental problems in local contexts. The pastoral drylands are no exception as claims to land and other resources remain contested by different actors.
Through content and discourse analyses of national policies, supplemented by interviews with key informants, this research examines the discourses and narratives around pastoralism found within contemporary policy in Ethiopia and Kenya, the interests of actors and actor-networks shaping those narratives, and their consequences for pastoralism.
The findings reveal that while concerns around climate change and calls for strengthening resilience of dryland communities have given a new impetus to pastoral development, old narratives that depict pastoral areas as unproductive and in need of modernisation remain deeply embedded in policy making. These open up spaces for the state, investors, and local elites to extend control over natural resources previously managed under customary institutions. The resultant climate policy solutions and dryland investments are, in turn, leading to new patterns of social differentiation and vulnerability among pastoralists.  While providing some level of climate-risk preparedness, climate adaptation and resilience-building interventions on their own are insufficient to meet the needs of pastoralist communities. I argue that the extent and nature of dynamic change in the drylands of the HoA calls for political responses that address social inequities and power imbalances, that safeguard pastoralist’s resource rights, and that allow for more inclusive forms of governance.

The regional workshops within the mountain development programme of InWEnt aim at addressing pressing problems of mutual interest among the participating partners by focusing on a specific topic. In 2010 two conferences on pastoralism were held in the framework of the mountain development programme.
Complementing the series that started with the Khorog and Kashgar workshops in July the Lhasa gathering happened to be the final part with a special focus on pastoralism and rangeland management on the Tibetan Plateau. It seems to have been the appropriate timing to emphasize upon a pressing issue that is generating increased and rejuvenated interest in the debates on biodiversity, climate and global change. Planners are challenged by designing concepts for nature protection and resource management in order to implement “green policies”. Decision-makers keep in mind the dual challenges between livelihood improvement and natural resource management by translating and transferring it into modernisation programmes.
Far-reaching policies that aim at a reconciliation between ecological necessities and economic demands are tested and implemented in a grand design. Especially the Tibetan Plateau is an arena where the term eco-shelter has become a specific
meaning that is affecting the reconciliation between nature and society as well as leading to far-reaching transformations in settlement structures and economic strategies. Recent interventions have changed and modified pastoral practices,
terminated and extinguished certain traditions and opened-up new hitherto unknown and unexpected opportunities for pastoralists on the Tibetan Plateau. Lhasa provided the appropriate and sophisticated venue for a workshop highlighting recent developments in pastoralism and its linkages to agriculture and other economic sectors. On the vast Tibetan Plateau pastoralism and rangeland management are not only challenges for regional planning, both sectors offer a
tremendous economic potential and are proof for the adaptive properties and resilience of pastoralists exposed to harsh environmental conditions and all kinds of changes. Lhasa is the centre for most institutions that are involved in evaluating,
planning and implementing programmes and packages. The workshop profited from the local and neighbouring expertise. Academic institutions from pastoral and agro-based research were as well represented as delegates of implementing
agencies in the wider field of poverty alleviation and rural development. The specificities of the Tibetan Plateau were discussed in relation to neighbouring regions that are part of InWEnt’s mountain development programme. Consequently, the gathering of scientists, decision-makers and representatives from implementing agencies fulfilled once again the goal to enable a fruitful exchange of ideas and to
create a platform for mutual debate in a community of learning.
The proceedings volume is assembling the keynotes and case studies that were presented in the plenary sessions. Some of the presented insights are meant to stimulate further debates on a significant intervention in the pastoral sector. With this proceedings volume we attempt to reach a wider readership that has an interest in the changes, challenges and transformations in pastoralism and rangeland management. Some of the key concepts, designs for modernisation and aims for the immediate future in the rural areas of the Tibetan  Plateau are presented here in a concise and easily approachable manner by leading experts in the respective fields. The book informs a community of practice for whom
in addition to the keynotes the results of group work and dis cussions are secured for future reference. The workshop participants have shared their recommendations. The editors are grateful to all contributors who have explained their views in a precise and sound manner. Special thanks go to the local organisers represented by the experienced staff of the Tibetan Academy of Agricultural and Animal Sciences (TAAAS) for a great show of hospitality, for all arrangements that have contributed to a successful regional workshop. The results will be made available in Chinese and in English language.
Hermann Kreutzmann, Yang Yong, Jürgen Richter

[ES] Los pastizales de altura de la Cordillera Cantábrica han sido un importante recurso para las comunidades que han ocupado estos territorios a lo largo de los siglos. En este artículo presentamos los resultados iniciales de un proyecto de investigación que tiene como objetivo comprender los procesos históricos de formación de los paisajes culturales del Noroeste peninsular. Para ello, se presta especial atención a los procesos de antropización de las zonas de montaña, interpretadas en el marco de un sistema de aprovechamiento complementario entre la ganadería y la agricultura. Los datos para época prehistórica ya permiten documentar la utilización de estos espacios, aprovechamiento que se intensificará a partir de la Edad Media. La atención a diversos tipos de fuentes (arqueológicas, documentales, etnográficas y paleoambientales) para este período nos permite calibrar la fuerte presión a la que fueron sometidos los espacios de pasto en relación con los intereses de distintos grupos sociales que competían por su control de cara al desarrollo de distintos modelos de aprovechamiento económico.

[EN] The upland pastures in the Cantabrian Mountains have been a significant resource for the communities which inhabited this territory during the last centuries. In this paper, the preliminary results of our on-going research project are presented. Our research tries to understand the historical formation processes of the cultural landscapes in the North-West of Iberia. A special attention is paid to the anthropization processes in the mountains, which is discussed in relation to the complementary exploitation system including agricultural and pastoralism practices. The archaeological data allow us to consider the exploitation of the uplands since the Later Prehistory, which will be intensified since the Middle Ages. Taking into consideration of several types of data for the medieval period —such as archaeological remains, written sources, ethnographic information or palaeoenvironmental record— we can assess the important pressure that different social groups performed for controlling the upland pastures. All of them tried to manage the grazing areas management for developing their own economic exploitation model in relation to pastoralism.