Collaborative conservation: pastoralists as conservationists

Pastoralists and other livestock keepers are too often pitted against conservationists. Parks are sometimes created to keep livestock and people out, and there are frequent stories in the media about pastoralists invading conservation areas during drought, sometimes resulting in conflict and violence. Pastoralism is of course not compatible with a style of conservation that encloses and excludes, but extensive livestock-keeping can be central to more people-centred conservation approaches. 

Unfortunately, ‘fortress conservation’ still dominates much current practice and is even being promoted as a solution in COP15 biodiversity protection debates. With its origins in the conservation movement in the USA – and the establishment of the first national park in Yellowstone – exclusionary conservation became the model through the colonial era to the presenti . It is having a resurgence today resulting in significant ‘green grabbing’ii under the banner of biodiversity protection and environmental conservation.