Every month, one more livestock breed becomes extinct…

This 8-page booklet and accompanying poster, published by the League for Pastoral Peoples and Endogenous Livestock Development and the LIFE Network, highlight the issues and offer some solutions.

Download booklet 393 kb (in English)

Download poster 423 kb (in English and German)

Pakistan is home to many different groups of pastoralists. Each group has developed its own breeds of camels, cattle, sheep, goats and donkeys.

Now Abdul Raziq, President of the NGO SAVES and member of the Department of Livestock Management at the University of Agriculture in Faisalabad, has produced a brief illustrated guide to some of these unique breeds.

Download 740 kb

Keepers of Genes, a 28-minute documentary produced by award-winning filmmaker Moving Images, documents the role played by pastoralists in preserving animal biodiversity and the key issues confronting them today.

The film accompanies a 2007 book, Keepers of genes: The interdependence between pastoralists, breeds, access to the commons, and livelihoods, by Ilse Koehler-Rollefson and the LIFE Network.

Order copies of the film and book from the League for Pastoral Peoples and Endogenous Livestock Development, or the film from Moving Images

The first draft report on the State of the World’s Animal Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture has been published by FAO.

This report covers the state of agricultural biodiversity in the livestock sector, livestock sector trends, capacities in animal genetic resource management, the management of animal genetic resources, and needs and challenges.

The report is expected to be adopted by the First International Technical Conference on Animal Genetic Resources on 1-7 September 2007 in Interlaken, Switzerland.

Section 1C, on flows of animal genetic resources, was prepared by LPP’s Evelyn Mathias, Ilse Koehler-Rollefson and Paul Mundy.

Click here to download Section 1C only 1240 kb

Click here to download whole document 2.43 Mb (for first section, which gives access to other chapters as separate downloads)

Issue 5 (April 2007) of the People and Livestock newsletter focuses on endogenous livestock development. The newsletter is now published by the Endogenous Livestock Development Network, www.eldev.net.

Read online or download 158 kb, 9 pages

The interdependence between pastoralists, breeds, access to the commons, and livelihoods

This book by Ilse Köhler-Rollefson and the LIFE Network focuses on a key threat to the survival of pastoralists and their livestock breeds: the loss of access to grazing and water. Pastoralists are losing their traditional pasturelands for many reasons - new restrictions on grazing in nature reserves, the expansion of irrigated agriculture, expropriation by settled villagers, and the elimination of fallow land because of intensified cropping.

Less grazing land means that pastoralists cannot maintain a herd large enough to be economic. Many are forced to give up livestock production altogether. That does not just mean the loss of livelihoods for the pastoralists themselves. It also means settled villagers can no longer rely on the hardy stock from pastoralists to pull their ploughs and provide them with meat and milk. And it spells doom for many valuable livestock breeds and the gene pool they represent.

Based on years of research in rural India, this book has wide applicability to other parts of the world where pastoralism is important. It forms a valuable input to the First International Technical Conference on Animal Genetic Resources, to be held in Interlaken, Switzerland, in September 2007.

Download 1589 kb, 80 pages

Pastoralists and other livestock keepers should have the right to participate in formulating national policies. That was one of the conclusions of a workshop on Pastoralists, Livestock Keepers Rights and Animal Genetic Resources, on 24 to 26 February 2007.

Around 100 pastoralists from all over India attended the workshop in Sadri, Rajasthan, along with delegations from Mongolia, Iran and the Philippines.

The workshop also demanded official recognition for pastoralists as custodians of animal genetic resources. Their mobile way of life and their traditional rights to use forest lands and other natural resources must be protected, said participants.

An international meeting followed immediately after the national workshop. Participants from Bangladesh, China, Germany, India, Iran, Mongolia, Sri Lanka, Sudan, Thailand, the UK and Vietnam, along with the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, clarified the concept of Livestock Keepers’ Rights. This a bundle of rights and recommendations for strengthening the role of livestock keepers in animal genetic resource management.

Issues discussed included:

• The loss of grazing land and traditional knowledge, leading to the erosion of animal genetic resources
• The dangers of intensive, industrial food production systems and their narrowing of animal genetic diversity
• The threat to the right of livestock keepers to breed their own animals
• The lack of support for Livestock Keepers’ Rights from governments worldwide
• The need to build the capacity of livestock keepers

Report from the two meetings: 326 kb

Read online or download. 76 kb, 6 pages

Documentation of animal genetic resources: the LIFE method

Ilse Köhler-Rollefson and Hanwant Singh Rathore

LEISA Magazine, March 2006

Describes the LIFE approach to documenting livestock keepers’ knowledge about their breeds.

Download 310 kb, 3 pages

Still a viable livelihood option?

Workshop report compiled by Chakrawarti Singh and Ilse Koehler-Rollefson

Lokhit Pashu-Palak Sansthan, 2005

Summary and recommendations from a workshop with more than 50 sheep pastoralists from Rajasthan. Participants urged the the government to implement recommendations on grazing and fodder, marketing, services, institutional changes, indigenous knowledge and research.

Download 337 kb, 30 pages

Read online or download. 293 kb, 6 pages

Documenting animal breeds and breeding from a community perspective

Lokhit Pashu-Palak Sansthan and Ilse Köhler-Rollefson, 2005

This manual describes the threats to indigenous breeds of livestock, and how to document them as a first step in conserving them in collaboration with the communities where they evolved. The manual was produced with support from GTZ.

Download 530 kb, 80 pages

Read online or download. 284 kb, 7 pages

This paper provides arguments for an international agreement to govern the genetic resources of farm animals. How can breeds and genes be conserved, where are the biodiversity hotspots, and what should an international agreement cover?

Click here for a summary

Download 229 kb, 29 pages

Download

Contact info@pastoralpeoples.org for a free hardcopy.

La Revue Durable 12, pp. 28-31, Sept-Oct 2004.

Four-page article in French: “It is vital to protect traditional livestock keepers.”

Read online or download. 130 kb, 4 pages

Download 262 kb, 20 pages.

Contact info@pastoralpeoples.org for a free hardcopy.