Short bio:

In Sahel (in Niger) access to pastures is made difficult by different actors appropriating land and resources. Political will on different levels is needed to enable mobile pastoralists right to choose their livelihoods. We will focus on dynamic conservation comanaged by mobile pastoralists.

Additional details:

The right to choose mobile family herding livelihood is threatened by land appropriation of different actors in Sahel. In case of Niger land is appropriated by uranium mining and private processing of gold mining, by ranchers and by national parks. Additionally, violent extremist groups along the borders are imposing their conditions and preventing access to pastures for fear of violence.

The state did not fully recognise pastoralists’ livelihoods participate in sustainable management of environment and productive use of increasingly variable landscapes facing climate change. Even when there is new legislation to provide land use rights for mobile pastoralists, it is often sedentary biased. Even potentially favourable ecological laws are not always implemented in benefit of pastoralists. Policies in favour of mobile pastoralism are therefore political issue related to interests, but also mind set of those in power on different levels. In what ways diverse (gender, generation) mobile family herders can be included in debates and decisions about lands they use and how they can choose their livelihoods? Here we will focus on dynamic conservation comanaged by diverse mobile pastoralists. In case of important summer pastures we propose to implement ‘area reserved for small scale pastoralism’ in order to prevent devastation of resources and at the same time allowing for desired change.