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The International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) have a history of engagement in pastoral development which is likely to continue. In the face of growing challenges posed by climate change, as well as new economic and political realities, pastoralism offers a production system that prospers in landscapes where other livelihood systems are either at their limit or require large investments. The sector is highly relevant to the fundamental goals and strategic frameworks of both agencies. For example, resilience thinking has recently been adopted as core to both agencies’ development programmes and policies. There is also a growing awareness of the limits of representing the world in terms of closed and self-regulated systems, and of the need for an approach which integrates variability as the rule rather than the exception.
