Skip to main content

Rangelands can be defined as “land on which the indigenous vegetation…is predominantly grasses, grass-like plants, forbs or shrubs that are grazed or have the potential to be grazed, and which is used as a natural ecosystem for the production of grazing livestock and wildlife”[1]. Though this definition highlights the “naturalness” of rangelands, people strongly influence rangelands in terms of management practices and tools such as livestock stocking rates, management of vegetation and use of fire. As such, rangelands depend on the interaction of the physical environment (vegetation, soils, water etc.), with both livestock and people.

Rangelands can include annual and perennial grasslands, shrub and dry woodlands, savanna, tundra, and desert. Rangelands can include natural grassland, tall grass prairies, desert shrublands, shrub woodlands, savannas, wetlands, chaparrals, deserts, tundras, taiga, and certain forb and shrub communities. Temperate and tropical forests that are used for grazing as well as timber production can also be considered to be part of rangelands.

 

Rangelands, Drylands & Pastoralism recounted

Key facts: Rangelands, Drylands & PastoralismBrowse all

Rangelands are usually found in drylands or arid and semi-arid lands, where rainfall is low and variable resulting in the distribution of vegetation and other resources in an uneven and patchy manner. However not all rangelands are found in drylands (as indeed not all drylands are rangelands), and rangelands can include wetlands and forests too.

Rangelands occupy around 47%of the world’s surface in wet or dry, and hot or cold climates [2].  Rangelands harbour 35% of global biodiversity hotspots, and provide habitat for 28% of endangered species [3][4]. They also store 30% of terrestrial carbon and have the potential to store 197 million tons of CO2 from the atmosphere per year for 30 years and when saturation is achieved they could off-set 3.3% COs emission in the U.S. from fossil fuel [5]. Grazing lands sequester between 200-500kg of carbon per hectare per year, playing a leading role in climate change mitigation [6].

The map below shows barren land (orange), grassland (green), shrubland (turquoise), tundra-alpine (blue), and woodland-savanna (pink).

 

This map of rangelands of the world is a joint project of the Information & Education (I&E) and Remote Sensing & GIS committees of the Society for Range Management (SRM). The project was conducted by two professors from the Rangeland Ecology and Management Department at the University of Idaho, Karen Launchbaugh and Eva Strand, with input from the SRM I&E committee. The map shows major forms of plant growth, assigning eco-regions to the following rangeland categories: Desert; Grassland; Shrubland; Woodland and Savanna; and Tundra - University of Idaho http://www.webpages.uidaho.edu/what-is-range/rangelands_map.htm

At another level, the term “rangeland” can be used to describe the management unit of pastoralists and/or other land users. For pastoralists, the rangeland unit will include both dry and wet season grazing, water points and such as salt-licks (for cattle). Pastoralists have an intricate understanding of their rangeland unit.  An example of a map of a rangelands unit drawn on the ground by pastoralists in Tanzania is shown here.

 

Maasai pastoralists mapping out their rangeland unit in Tanzania (Credit: Fiona Flintan)

Rangelands degradation

Though there is disagreement about what proportion of rangelands globally is degraded with some estimates as high as 73 percent, it is clear that many rangelands are in a critical condition [7]. Some of this has occurred through local mismanagement, but much has been caused by the knock-on effects of poorly designed projects, ill-informed or inappropriate policies and legislation, and a lack of investment in technologies to improve the productivity of rangelands as well as in strengthening governance and management systems. A root cause of this situation is the lack of tenure security that pastoralists and other rangeland users often have. Without this tenure security, there are not strong incentives to invest and improve the rangelands, and the rangelands remain vulnerable and open to encroachment and appropriation.

In order to reverse this situation, land tenure security needs to be improved together with improved land use planning involving rangeland users. This will lead to increased investment in rangelands in order to rehabilitate lands where required and improve their productivity.

Drylands

Drylands are tropical and temperate areas defined by their scarcity of water.  They have an aridity index of less than 0.65, where potential evapotranspiration is 1.5 times greater than actual mean precipitation. Drylands can be classified into four categories based on precipitation: dry sub-humid, semi-arid, arid and hyper-arid. Within these four subtypes, land use is significantly influenced by rainfall, with crop production declining rapidly with increasing aridity.

Land uses by dryland category[8]

Collectively, drylands comprise nearly half of the land mass: 41.3% of the earth surface. About 72% of drylands occur in developing countries and this proportion increases with aridity: almost 100% of all hyper-arid lands are in the developing world [9].

Map of Drylands

 

Drylands are home to a third of the human population (about 2.5 billion people) with the majority of these people living in developing countries [10]. Many drylands are therefore associated with high levels of poverty. Dryland populations are often marginalised from development and policy processes, as well as political dialogue, and in many countries they have been denied sustainable development and related appropriate investments.

Though the majority of drylands exist as rangelands, some drylands are irrigated and used for crops, with others managed as small, extensive livestock smallholdings. Here there may be little if any movement of livestock and rather,  the system depends upon strict and careful management of water and other resources. For example, the American Gran Chaco in northeastern Brazil and the dry corridor of Central America, including some areas up to the Caribbean coastline is home to a large number of peasant communities with small livestock holdings many living in extreme poverty and with insecure rights to their territories.

Pastoralism

Pastoralism an extensive livestock production system that suits the environmental conditions found in rangelands and/or drylands, and more often than not,  has environmental and economic comparative advantages over other land uses in these areas. It plays a major role in safeguarding natural capital and delivers a wide range of economic values making use of areas of low overall biomass productivity that are ill-suited to intensive management systems. Pastoralism efficiently utilises the great diversity and temporal and spatial variability of rangeland resources [11]. Effective rangeland management and use of the resources is required for successful and sustainable pastoralism.

Pastoralism combines different activities that protect and improve the vegetation, manage the herd including types and numbers of livestock, and work in a cyclical manner in response to the seasons, rainfall, and resource availability. Management tools include rotation and shifting of use of grazing land and pastures between and within seasons, including from lowlands to highlands or mountain areas; and ‘controlled fire’ to reduce the abundance of woody plants and promotes herbaceous plants including grasses, forbs, and grass-like plants, whilst killing-off parasites such as ticks. Other tools include reseeding of grasses, the establishment of exclosures or enclosures, and soil and water conservation. When livestock is not managed effectively, overgrazing and degradation of rangelands can occur leading to bare soil and/or easy invasion of non-local plant species, trends that are difficult to reverse.

Pastoralism, being an extensive land use system, often facilitates co-habitation with wildlife including large mammal species. Pastoralism also contributes other environmental services including maintaining soil fertility and soil carbon and contributing to water regulation and biodiversity conservation [12].

Pastoralism is found across the world with significant areas in the western U.S., Latin America, northern and south-west Europe, Central Asia, sub-Saharan Africa, parts of South Asia and Australia. In sub-Saharan Africa, pastoral areas cover 19 percent of the total land area and are home to almost 10 percent of the human population, plus some 15 million cattle with increasingly large numbers of goats, sheep and camels too. Though some of these areas could be used for more intensified use or crop farming, the majority are only suitable for extensive livestock production [13].

Map: Rangeland-based livestock production systems

 

Though pastoralism is usually the priority use of rangelands, rangelands also supply a variety of products and services that support other land uses including minerals, construction materials, medicines, fuels, gums/resins, conserve soil and water, and due to their often-high amounts of biodiversity and wildlife, tourism. A significant amount of the world’s biodiversity hotspots are found in drylands and approximately 9% of drylands are covered by a protected area designation.

Map: The world’s biodiversity Hot Spots with those in drylands coloured red [14]

 

Map: Significant areas of drylands are protected as conservation areas

 

Despite pastoralism being a land use system that has comparatively benign effects on the environment and pastoralists having been “stewards” of these lands and the wildlife found on them for centuries, often pastoralist lands have been appropriated for conservation use. This has caused much conflict and grief between conservationists and pastoralists. Encouragingly alternative approaches to conservation are increasingly being developed that support the co-existence of pastoralists and wildlife through community-based conservation initiatives such as Indigenous Community Conserved Areas (ICCAs) http://www.iccaregistry.org. These co-management initiatives have proved to be highly effective in protecting rangelands and wildlife, whilst allowing pastoralists and other rangelands users to more efficiently use and manage the land and to create income from such as tourism. Sadly though such initiatives clearly have benefits for both conservation and pastoralists, the evictions of pastoralists from their lands in the name of conservation still happens [15].

Pastoralists

Pastoralism is carried out by pastoralists, who are highly capable livestock and rangeland managers, service providers and income-generators. There are several hundred million pastoralists spanning the world from Australia through Africa and Asia to northern Europe and Latin America. In addition, the 2.5 billion or so people that live in drylands including rangelands utilise animal protein, water, fibre, health products and other benefits on a daily basis [16].

Pastoralists can include nomadic and transhumant herders, and those that also grow crops in a more settled lifestyle (agro-pastoralists) or who may be urban-based but still have herds managed by others in rural areas. Livestock managed by pastoralists includes camels, yaks, horses reindeer, and llamas, alpacas, buffaloes, donkeys as well as the more common cattle, sheep and goats.

As shown below in West Africa, many different types of pastoralists can be found in one place, with nomadic herders, semi-sedentary herders, sedentary/long- or short-distance transhumance herders, and farmers with large or small herds all making use of the dryland and rangeland areas. All have different movement patterns, that change across the seasons. This makes things very complicated for land use planning, land governance and for rangeland management.

 

Different types of pastoralists and movements across international borders in West Africa [17]

Mapping of farming systems, areas and human and cattle population in the year 2000 revealed that there are, on average,  8 people per km2 living in rangelands (compared to approximately 280 people per km2 in mixed intensive-livestock systems). Livestock also tends to be sparsely distributed across rangelands – as shown in this study cattle are distributed at low densities of about 4 TLU (tropical livestock units) per km2 (compared to 25 TLU per km2 in the more intensive systems) [18].

Farming System

Region

Area in 2000 in millions of km sq

Population in 2000 in millions

Cattle in 2000 in millions of TLU

Agropastoral and pastoral

CSA

5.4

40.5

64.18

 

EA

5.5

41.3

12.67

 

SA

0.5

19.2

6.19

 

SEA

0.2

2.2

1.7

 

SSA

13.4

80.2

36.68

 

WANA

10.2

111.7

8.46

Total

 

35.2

295.1

129.88

 

 

 

 

 

Mixed intensive

CSA

3.5

100.7

67.24

 

EA

1.7

195.4

20.32

 

SA

1.6

371.9

71.96

 

SEA

1.2

85.3

10.2

 

SSA

5.1

258.7

55.53

 

WANA

0.9

87.2

5.32

Total

 

14

1,099.20

230.55

 

 

 

 

 

CSA = Central and South America; EA = East Asia; SA = South Asia; SEA = Southeast Asia; SSA = sub-Saharan Africa; WANA = West Asia and North Africa [19].

 

In more traditional pastoralist societies it is believed that ‘land’ belongs to a spiritual entity, leader or ‘God’ – no-one can ‘own’ land and as such it should be managed and used collectively on behalf of the ‘God.’ Pastoralist men and women often have clear and defined roles in the livestock production process. Men are more likely to be the ones that take livestock on long treks to far-off pastures, leaving women with the rest of the family looking after the ‘home’ herd and/or small stock to be grazed closer to the household. Indeed the role of women pastoralists, as well as men, in the pastoral system should not be underestimated. However, though women are a part of pastoralist society they may not have as strong a say in decision-making processes as men including in relation to accessing land and resources [20][21].

Conflicts can be common in pastoralist areas, which may be triggered by competition for natural resources but are likely to have deep-rooted causes, more socio-economic or political in nature. Human insecurity and conflict can make large areas unsafe for grazing. Remoteness, a lack of government control, conflicting tribal loyalties and a sense of neglect can contribute to making pastoralist areas attractive for insurgencies. Cattle raiding once a more customary and cultural practice or ‘right of passage’ for youth moving up in status, has increasingly become commercialised and as a result more violent. Peace-making movements such as those found in Kenya led by women, try to resolve some of these issues [22][23].

Land Tenure and Governance in Rangelands

Rangelands are governed by different land tenure arrangements. Most commonly, rangelands are governed under collective and/or communal tenure, these being the most suitable for the relatively large land use units.  As part of or under the collective rangeland tenure system there may be layers of other types of land tenure and governance. Often the layers of tenure are complex and can involve a mix of customary and formal tenure systems. Below is a schematic diagram of a simplified rangeland unit showing the larger rangeland territory, under which (or as part of) there may be clan or other local political governance units, dry or wet season grazing areas that have their own management and access rules and regulations, agricultural areas that are normally (though not always) managed and accessed individually, forests managed by its own governance institution, and then there are resources or sets of resources that fill a particular niche such as a well or watering point, or a tree and have tenure arrangements specifically for it.

 

“Nested” governance system common in rangelands [24]

Developing tenure arrangements that take account of this complexity is highly challenging, and increasingly so as new actors take an interest in rangelands and seek to access rangeland resources. As a result, many governments have failed to develop mechanisms and processes and/or appropriate mechanisms and processes for protecting the tenure (access, use, ‘ownership, and governance) of rangelands. At the same time, customary institutions that do exist have not been given support to adapt to new changes and challenges that they face.

In Africa and South Asia, customary institutions are still relatively strong and many of the governance systems have functioned in a similar way for centuries. However, due to both internal changes amongst societies and external influences from other parties, the authority of these institutions is being challenged and in many cases weakening.  In some areas this has led to a vacuum in governance, leaving rangelands and rangeland users vulnerable to unwanted change, conflicts over land use, expropriation and encroachment, poor land use planning decisions and degradation.  More positively, pastoralists and other stakeholders have realised that being faced with these new challenges and changes different forms of organisation and governance are now required to govern land and resources and have taken steps to form or join with other actors in new governance partnerships and/or multi-stakeholder platforms.

The following map shows the rapid land use changes seen in rangelands in southwest Iran, between 1990, 2000 and 2010 using Landsat image data, with the increase of agriculture and loss of higher quality ‘fair’ rangeland. At the same time temperatures in these areas have increased by 4-8OC over the same time period, attributed to the changes in land use [25].

 

In other parts of the world and particularly in Central Asia, rangelands have been governed in a more centralised manner.  Here during Soviet times, rangelands and rangeland use was controlled by the State and supported by State subsidies. Today the different countries that were formed after the collapse of the Soviet Union have introduced different policies and legislation depending on the local context and political influences, with some remaining centrally controlled and others trying to instill principles of common property resource management. In Kyrgyzstan for example, a new pasture law laid the foundation for pastures to be allocated to village governments and managed by Pasture User Associations, Unions and Committees, through the annual sale of pasture tickets and organised movements from one set of pastures to another across the seasons. A national Pasture Users’ Association locally called “Kyrgyz Jayity” acts as a coordinating body for the Unions and Committees.  For more information see: http://www.jayit.kg/en/about_us

Map of Pasture land of Kyrgyz Republic (2017)[26]

Summer Pasture (Green)

Winter Pasture (Brown)

Spring-Autumn Pasture (Orange)

Arable Land (Grey)

Non-agricultural lands (Purple)

Additionally, some rangelands are owned by private individuals or state-owned and leased to an individual, and particularly in developed countries including the U.S. and Australia. In Western  Australia for example, there has been a long history of pastoralism with the production system becoming increasingly intensive. By 1955 close to 90% of some areas were covered in more-or-less spatially continuous pastoral leases held and run as small family operations. However increasingly leases are being taken back by the government to hold as conservation purposes, or purchased by mining companies or indigenous groups for whom pastoralism is usually not the main priority or activity [27].

See Map of Western Australia showing the extent of pastoral lease boundaries and names and their tenure [28]

Livestock routes

In all pastoral areas, livestock routes are vital for facilitating movement between settlements, grazing areas, water points, markets or other, preventing conflict between those moving and those whose lands pastoralists and livestock are moving through. In because livestock movements along these routes may take several days, if not weeks, even months, services such as resting places, veterinary services, and feed are required along these routes to ensure that livestock (and people) arrive in a healthy state. Unfortunately, in the majority of countries, the protection of livestock routes and the facilitation of movement among them is given adequate attention. This means routes are often blocked or the source of conflicts over resources.

 

Photo: Cattle on migration from the spring meadows to the high pastures for the summer period, in Chatel, France, part of the Haute-Savoie area in the French/Swiss Alps. July 2015. Credit: Veronique Magnin/ILC Rangelands Initiative

International Initiatives Aimed at Protecting Rangelands, Drylands, Pastoralism and Pastoralists

In order to assist pastoralists to protect and optimise the use of rangelands, an increasing number of international initiatives are being established. These include initiatives that seek to improve the understanding of rangelands and pastoralism and the benefits of them; advocate and lobby for pastoralist rights; influence major decision-makers about land use in rangelands through for example, providing international guiding frameworks; mobilise pastoralists and build their capacity to engage in decision-making processes; and connect organisations and strengthen pastoralist networks including for information exchange.

Examples of these initiatives include:

FAO Pastoralist Knowledge Hub (PKH) is a knowledge and advocacy platform that brings together various stakeholders working towards sustainable pastoralism. It serves as a coordination mechanism to facilitate dialogue and collaboration for pastoralist development.  With the stated aim of bringing pastoral voices to the global stage, the Hub works to strengthen regional and global networks of pastoralist civil society organizations so that they may represent their own interests at global policy forums. Additionally, the Hub concerns itself with generating and disseminating knowledge from pastoral systems across the world. For more information contact Gregorio Velasco Gil (gregorio.velascogil@fao.org)

FAO has also supported the development of a Technical Guide on Governance of Pastoral Lands as part of the VGGT (Voluntary Guidelines on the Responsible Governance of Tenure of Land, Fisheries and Forests in the Context of National Food Security).

International Land Coalition (ILC) Rangelands Initiative

The Rangelands Initiative of the International Land Coalition (ILC) is a global programme facilitating learning between and providing technical support to different actors who are working to make rangelands more tenure secure. The programme works through ILC members and partners, and ILC commitment-based initiatives in Africa coordinated by RECONCILE (Resource Conflict Institute) Kenya, in Latin America coordinated by FUNDAPAZ (Foundation for Development in Justice and Peace) Argentina, and in Asia coordinated by JASIL (Environment and Development Association) Mongolia and MARAG (Maldahari Rural Action Group) India. The global component is led by a group of core partners - ILRI, UNEP, IFAD, FAO- Pastoralist Knowledge Hub and the US-based Rangelands Partnership, and coordinated by ILRI. The Rangelands Initiative supports ILC members and partners to develop or influence enabling policy and legislation, and to improve the implementation of policy and legislation in a manner that protects rangelands resources and supports productive and sustainable rangeland use. For more information contact Fiona Flintan (f.flintan@cgiar.org)

World Initiative for Sustainable Pastoralism (WISP) – led by IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature), WISP is a global advocacy and capacity building network that promotes sustainable pastoral development for both poverty reduction and environmental management. WISP is a catalyst for partnership fostering between pastoralists, governments, non-governmental organisations, international organisations and the private sector. IUCN also has several other initiatives focussing on rangelands and pastoralism including HERD (Healthy Ecosystems for Rangeland Development) and PRAGA (Participatory Assessment of Land Degradation and Sustainable Land Management in Grassland and Pastoral Systems (PRAGA). For more information contact: Razingrim Ouedraogo (razingrim.ouedraogo@iucn.org) or Jonathan Davies (jonathan.davies@iucn.org)

https://www.iucn.org/theme/ecosystem-management/our-work/global-drylands-initiative/gdis-projects/herd-healthy-ecosystems-rangeland-development

https://www.iucn.org/theme/ecosystem-management/our-work/global-drylands-initiative/gdis-projects/participatory-assessment-land-degradation-and-sustainable-land-management-grassland-and-pastoral-systems-praga

CELEP (Coalition of European Lobbies for Eastern African Pastoralism)

CELEP is an informal advocacy group of European organisations and specialists partnering with pastoralist organisations and specialists in eastern Africa. The members and partners of the Coalition combine forces to lobby their national governments and European and eastern African bodies to explicitly recognise and support pastoralism and pastoralists in the drylands of eastern Africa. CELEP is managed by an elected focal point, currently at VSF-Belgium, and a core group on international and eastern Africa local organisations. For more information contact Koen Van Troos (k.vantroos@vsf-belgium.org)

The Rangelands Partnership

The Rangelands Partnership (RP) is a collaboration of 19 western and mid-western U.S. land-grant universities in cooperation with several national and international partners.  Members include rangeland specialists, librarians, and technology experts uniquely interacting to bring specialized collections and resources to rangelands stakeholders everywhere.  The primary product of the RP is a suite of websites including Global Rangelands, Rangelands West, and state-specific rangeland sites.  On these websites, users can search and find links to more than 20,000 peer-reviewed journal articles, websites, images, videos, maps, reports, and educational tools, as well as unique pages on key topics. These resources are useful in research, teaching, and practical applications for the sustainable management of rangelands.  Members participate in a network designed to facilitate their local efforts.  Range specialists have access to a state-specific websites backed by a large database of range-related materials.  Librarians will find access to a shared metadata catalog of range-related digital collections and journal literature.  Members also have access to a network of resources and experiences that in recent years have included professional development for extension agents, educational and curricular resources for teaching/learning about rangelands, and support for content and database development.  For more information contact Barbara Hutchinson (barbarah@cals.arizona.edu) or Mark Thorne (thornem@hawaii.edu).

https://globalrangelands.org/rangelandswest

 

International Year of Rangelands and Pastoralists Initiative

Beginning in early 2016, a number of organizations began working together to gain support for a United Nations designated International Year of Rangelands and Pastoralists (IYRP). One important event that brought particular attention to this effort was the United Nations Environment Assembly conference held in Nairobi in May of 2016 (UNEA-2), and which included a Side Event on “Sustainable Pastoralism and the Responsible Consumption of Livestock”. The outcome of UNEA-2 was a successful resolution “Combating desertification, land degradation, and drought and promoting sustainable pastoralism and rangelands”. While this resolution did not include a provision for an International Year, it did include language calling upon organizations around the world to “contribute to raising the awareness of sustainable pastoralism and rangelands.” It also called for a worldwide gap analysis related to rangelands issues. Numerous other meetings and events are taking place in 2017/18 and an IYRP Steering Committee is now meeting monthly to coordinate the effort.  For more information, contact Jim O'Rourke (jorourke@csc.edu), Maryam Niamir-Fuller (mniafull2@gmail.com) or Barbara Hutchinson (barbarah@cals.arizona.edu).

 

Regional Pasture Knowledge Exchange Network

The Regional Pasture Knowledge Exchange Network promotes the exchange of experience and expertise in pasture management in Central Asia, China and Mongolia on pasture management as well as forest and wildlife management. The audience includes policy makers, practitioners and researchers. Regional Pasture Network offers collections of documents on topics of pasture management and related fields in Russian and English languages. The range of documents in the collections include academic research, datasets, events, government policy and strategy, legislation, project activity, and training materials. This e-library is hosted on K-LINK DMS (Knowledge document management system). For more information contact rpn@klink.asia

Plataforma Semiáridos América Latina

The Latin American Semiarid Platform of ILC Latin America seeks to deal with the problems of the semiarids in the Latin America region linked to access and management of land, water and other natural resources by organisations of indigenous and rural communities, by strengthening and mobilizing civil society. It aims to do this by improving regional synergy between different organisations and stakeholders in relations to its territory and scope; knowledge generation and management; and local, national and regional action.  More information can be obtained from Gabriel Seghezzo (semiaridos.ilc@gmail.com)

http://www.semiaridos.org

 

 

 

Source

ILC Rangelands Initiative
ILC Rangelands Initiative

 

References

[1] Allen, V.G., Batello, C., Beretta, E.J., Hodgson, J., Kothmann, M., Li, X., McIvor, J., Milne, J., Morris, C., Peeters, A. and Sanderson, M., 2011. An international terminology for grazing lands and grazing animals (The Forage and Grazing Terminology Committee). Grass and Forage Science. 66: 2-28.

[2] Heitschmidt, R. and J. Stuth (1991). Grazing Management: An Ecological Perspective.

[3] Stafford Smith, D.M., G.M. McKeon, I.W. Watson, B.K. Henry, G.S. Stone, et al. 2007. “Learning from episodes of degradation and recovery in variable Australian rangelands.” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 104: 20690–20695.

[4] R. Reid, M. Fernandez-Gimenez and K. Galvin (2014) “Dynamics and resilience of rangelands and pastoral peoples around the globe.” Annual Review of Environment and Resources. Vol. 39.

[5] C.McDermot and S. Elavarthi (2014) “Rangelands as carbon sinks to mitigate climate change: Review.”  Journal of Earth Science and Climate Change Vol. 5.

[6] D. McGahey, J. Davies, N. Hagelberg, and R. Ouedraogo (2014). Pastoralism and the Green Economy – a natural nexus? Nairobi: IUCN and UNEP.

[7] Gibbs, U. and Salmon, J. (2015) “Mapping the world’s degraded lands” Applied Geography, Vol 12-21.

[8] MEA (2005) Ecosystems and Human Well-being: Deserti cation Synthesis. Millennium Ecosystem Assessment. World Resources Institute, Washington, DC.

[9] Safriel, U., Adeel, Z., Niemeijer, D., Puigdefabregas, J., White, R., Lal, R., Winslow, M., Ziedler, J., Prince, S., Archner, E., King, C., 2005. “Dryland systems”. In: Hassan, R Scholes, R.J., Ash, N. (Eds.), Ecosystems Human Well-Being. Findings of the Conditions Trends Working Group of the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment, vol. 1. Island Press, Washington D.C., U.S.A, pp. 623–662.).

[10] Davies, J., Ogali, C., Laban, P. and Metternich, G. (2015) Homing in on the range: Enabling investments for sustainable land management. Technical Brief 29/01/2015. Nairobi: IUCN.

[11] D. McGahey, J. Davies, N. Hagelberg, and R. Ouedraogo (2014). Pastoralism and the Green Economy – a natural nexus? Nairobi: IUCN and UNEP.

[12] D. McGahey, J. Davies, N. Hagelberg, and R. Ouedraogo (2014). Pastoralism and the Green Economy – a natural nexus? Nairobi: IUCN and UNEP.

[13] Robinson, T.P., Thornton P.K., Franceschini, G., Kruska, R.L., Chiozza, F., Notenbaert, A., Cecchi, G., Herrero, M., Epprecht, M., Fritz, S., You, L., Conchedda, G. & See, L. (2011). Global livestock production systems. Rome, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI), 152 pp.

[14] IUCN (2017) IUCN Global Drylands Initiative: Conserving and sustainably managing drylands for the well-being of society. Internet: https://www.iucn.org/sites/dev/files/content/documents/gdi_brochure_final.pdf

[15] C. Sorensen and D. Vinding (2016). Tanzanian Pastoralists Threatened: Evictions, Human Rights and Loss of Livelihood. Denmark: IWIGIA.

[16] Davies, J., Ogali, C., Laban, P. and Metternich, G. (2015) Homing in on the range: Enabling investments for sustainable land management. Technical Brief 29/01/2015. Nairobi: IUCN.

[17] Ham, Metais, Hoorelbeke, Fillol and Crahay (2011) in FAO/CIRAD 2012 Information System on Pastoralism in the Sahel Internet: http://www.fao.org/3/a-i2601e.pdf

[18] Robinson, T.P., Thornton P.K., Franceschini, G., Kruska, R.L., Chiozza, F., Notenbaert, A., Cecchi, G., Herrero, M., Epprecht, M., Fritz, S., You, L., Conchedda, G. & See, L. 2011. Global livestock production systems. Rome, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI), 152 pp.

[19] Robinson, T.P., Thornton P.K., Franceschini, G., Kruska, R.L., Chiozza, F., Notenbaert, A., Cecchi, G., Herrero, M., Epprecht, M., Fritz, S., You, L., Conchedda, G. & See, L. 2011. Global livestock production systems. Rome, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI), 152 pp.

[20]Flintan, F. (2010) Empowering women in pastoral societies. Nairobi: WISP-IUCN. Internet: https://www.iucn.org/content/empowering-women-pastoral-societies

[21] Unsung Heroines. Pastoralist Women in Ethiopia https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a6VFstwE0hk

[22] M. Juma (2000) Unveiling women as pillars of peace. Peace building in communities fractured by conflicts in Kenya. Internet: http://www.onlinewomeninpolitics.org/beijing12/women_peace.pdf

[23] IOM (2016) Peace by all means: Women crussaders in northern Kenya make the search for peace personal. Internet: http://kenya.iom.int/article/peace-all-means-women-crusaders-northern-kenya-make-search-peace-personal

[24] F. Flintan (2013) Making rangelands secure: past experience and future options. Rome: ILC. Internet: http://www.landcoalition.org/en/regions/global/resources/no1-making-rangelands-secure-past-experience-and-future-options

[25] H. Fathizad, M. Tazeh, S. Kalantari, and S. Shojaei (2017) “The investigation of spatiotemporal variations of land surface based on land use changes using NDVI in southwest of Iran.” Journal of African Earth Sciences. Vol. 134.

[26] A. Egemberdiev A. (2017) “Reform in pastoral sector in Kyrgyzstan” at the Second WG Meeting of Asia Rangelands Initiative (Central Asia),  August, 2017. Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, in Russian. 

[27] E. Etten (2013) Changes to land tenure and pastoral lease ownership in Western Australia’s central rangelands: implications for co-operative landscape-scale management. Edith Cowan University. Internet: http://ro.ecu.edu.au/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1806&context=ecuworks2013

[28] Department of Agriculture and Food, WA. (2016), Western Australia Pastoral Land Tenure. Department of Agriculture and Food, Western Australia, Perth. Map.

[29] D. Kalenzi (2016) Rangelands. Improving the implementation of land policy and legislation in pastoral areas of Tanzania. Experiences of joint village land use agreements and planning. Rome: ILC. Internet: http://www.landcoalition.org/en/regions/africa/resources/no7-improving-implementation-land-policy-and-legislation-pastoral-areas-tanzania

[30] Shared by ILRI for the Sustainable Rangeland Management Project, Tanzania.

Disclaimer: The data displayed on the Land Portal is provided by third parties indicated as the data source or as the data provider. The Land Portal team is constantly working to ensure the highest possible standard of data quality and accuracy, yet the data is by its nature approximate and will contain some inaccuracies. The data may contain errors introduced by the data provider(s) and/or by the Land Portal team. In addition, this page allows you to compare data from different sources, but not all indicators are necessarily statistically comparable. The Land Portal Foundation (A) expressly disclaims the accuracy, adequacy, or completeness of any data and (B) shall not be liable for any errors, omissions or other defects in, delays or interruptions in such data, or for any actions taken in reliance thereon. Neither the Land Portal Foundation nor any of its data providers will be liable for any damages relating to your use of the data provided herein.