Answer Three Questions
Pastoralism is the relationship between people in range lands, domesticated livestock and the local ecology especially in regions where there are limited resources (Nori et al. 5).
Among the key points was to first note the challenges facing pastoralists. They include; adverse climatic conditions like low rainfall that leads to shortage of water for both pasture and livestock. As a result the pasture becomes of little nutritional value to the livestock. Pests and diseases have also led to the death of livestock. Generally the native livestock breeds tend to be of poor quality. Land being a limited resource has also raised challenges of overstocking. Pastoralists also experienced poor transport facilities and unavailabity of markets. Pastoral ecosystems have also been vulnerable to global changes like changes in land tenure and modernisation have led to pastoral eco-systems being broken down to isolated systems. The solutions suggested emphasised the need for collaborative measures to address the challenges. This called for practitioners, policy makers and researchers working together closely to come up with sustainable solutions in the various pastoral regions and forming networks from local level to an international level. Communication should be fostered between these networks. In line with this, research programmes on ecological and socio-economic conditions embrace an inter-disciplinary approach right from grassroots levels to international level (Liu et al 148).The need to strengthen traditional institutions to oversee the operation of pastoral communities. This would act as avenues for pastoralists to interact with other stakeholders by acting as a link between the local pastoralists to international and global institutions. They would also help to guide pastoralists to maximise on the limited land they can access and resolve conflicts between them.
Lessons learnt from attending the event
I learnt about the important role that research institutes play to help the pastoralists deal with climatic and global changes. The research institutions need to therefore carry out research with long term goals and find ways of efficiently transmitting their findings to the local level. I also learnt of the need for public action to ensure that pastoralism is sustainable. This is because as human beings our actions affect the ecology, so we all need to take care of the ecosystem around us. In adopting institutional changes and policy reforms in promoting sustainability, stakeholders need to accommodate traditional coping mechanisms especially in marginalized areas where these modern forms have not been fully embraced and even if the pastoralists wanted to adopt them, they do not have the resources (Nori 125). This also raises the need for public awareness on global adaptive strategies to global changes.
Ways in which problems and solutions were related to themes covered in Geo 106
There is a lot of similarity between the issues addressed by the symposium and Geo 106. This ranges from the problems to the solutions. Both identify that the key challenges to pastoralists in East Africa are as a result of the global changes that have taken place over time. These changes such as global warming have impacted on climatic conditions of various ecological regions thus affecting livelihood of people and their livestock. Again with modernization land ownership has shifted to either state governments or individuals. This has left pastoralists with limited land resources which they have over used and almost exhausted.
Moving to solutions both embrace a global approach in dealing with the global changes with emphasis being on collaborating efforts of various stakeholders at the local and international level. They also see need for policy reforms to provide an enabling environment for pastoralists to thrive in sustainable ways.
Works cited.
Nori, M. "Mobile livelihoods, patchy resources and shifting rights: approaching pastoral territories." Thematic paper for the International Land Coalition, ILC. Rome http://www.landcoalition. Org/pdf/pol_pastoral_dft. Pdf (2007).
Nori, Michele, and Jonathan Davies. "Change of wind or wind of change." Climate change, adaptation and pastoralism, WISP, IUCN: Nairobi (2007).
