Modern Pastoralism and Conservation: Old Problems, New Challenges

Changing pastoral dynamics make knowledge of pastoralism vital to understanding landscapes, development and governance across dryland regions. Modern Pastoralism and Conservation: Old Problems, New Challenges presents new pastoral research from Africa, the Middle East and Asia. The volume addresses the nature and viability of pastoralism in practice and examines current pastoral conditions in diverse locations. Pastoralists engage with changing climatic and environmental conditions whilst encountering policy, population and socio-economic challenges. Issues of transformation and sustainability are at the heart of the book, whose chapters highlight the contemporary practice of pastoralism in order to enhance understanding of this unique livelihood and lifestyle. The Commission on Nomadic Peoples (CNP), part of the International Union of Anthropological and Ethnological Union Sciences (IUAES), unites researchers, practitioners, government and non-government organisations to further pastoral knowledge. As Commission members, the authors have had extensive interactions with and possess rich experience of diverse pastoral societies. This book’s chapters originate in papers presented at CNP sessions during the 2009 IUAES Congress in Kunming, China. Two perspectives were stressed: pastoralism in an international context and in the host nation, China. This approach identified both the impact of rapid development on nomadic practices and livelihoods in China and the country’s growing integration into the global pastoral research community. Modern Pastoralism and Conservation: Old Problems, New Challenges builds an international perspective on the wide-ranging approaches and challenges to traditional pastoralism in the twenty-first century.