Our latest newsletter shares an update on our Open Access book, plus news about events, publications and more. The newsletter goes out by email to subscribers every quarter. If you don’t already receive it, it’s simple to subscribe.
With fieldwork completed, six PhDs awarded and only a few months of funding left, in the last six months, the PASTRES programme has moved firmly into dissemination mode. We have published a collective book, co-hosted a major conference and a series of academic articles based on our research have started to come out.
Many of our team have gone on to new jobs and other experiences, continuing the work of PASTRES in new settings. In terms of the core PASTRES team, we have said goodbye to Natasha Maru who, after completing her PhD work, ably stepped in and worked on our communications effort together with Nathan Oxley. We have since been joined by Rashmi Singh as communications lead, who also continues to be a PASTRES affiliate researcher. Michele Nori has completed his post-doc role at the European University Institute under PASTRES and will be re-joining the European Commission in September after a long and successful spell as a researcher and joint lead of PASTRES.
New Open Access book
Pastoralism, Uncertainty and Development
Our new open access book showcases PASTRES work from all sites, with chapters written by our (now graduated) doctoral students exploring the links between uncertainty and development in six settings – Amdo Tibet, China; Gujarat, India; Sardinia, Italy; Isiolo, Kenya; Borana, Ethiopia and Douiret, southern Tunisia.
In the introduction and conclusion, Ian Scoones and Michele Nori present a new narrative for pastoral development and its policy implications. There is also a chapter on our visual method experiments, by Shibaji Bose and Roopa Gogineni. Fantastic lino cuts for each chapter were produced by PASTRES researcher, Linda Pappagallo. The PASTRES blog will feature insights into each chapter over the coming weeks.
Conference: New Narratives for Development Policy in Pastoral Areas
We co-hosted a major international conference on new narratives for pastoralism and policy at the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) in Addis Ababa in Ethiopia. Well attended by researchers, policymakers and development practitioners from many parts of the world, and especially East Africa, we had several days of intense, productive debate. Two public webinars were broadcast to large international audiences, focusing on elaborating the ‘new narrative’ and exploring its practical and policy implications.
Videos on YouTube:
New narratives for livestock policy – Opening panel with introductory talk by Ian Scoones and presentations on four themes.
Ways forward for pastoral development and policy
Closing panel with policy and practice implications, commentaries and Q&A.
New narratives for development policy in pastoral areas
A short compilation of comments & views from participants at the event
Blog commentaries
A new narrative for development policy in pastoral areas by Ian Scoones
How can a new narrative on pastoralism influence development policy and practice? by Madison Spinelli
Joint PASTRES-ILRI policy workshop offers a vision for the future of pastoral development by Elliot Carleton
Exhibitions: Seeing Pastoralism
Our final Seeing Pastoralism exhibition was presented at ILRI in Ethiopia, and opened by H.E. Ahmed Shide, Minister of Finance for Ethiopia. The exhibition provided a visual overview of our explorations of uncertainty in different field sites through both photovoice and documentary photography.
Seeing Pastoralism also had a highly successful showing at Bhuj, Gujarat in India as part of the Living Lightly exhibition, alongside the Pastoral Youth Conclave, co-organised by Sahjeevan and the Centre for Pastoralism, to which the PASTRES team contributed.
The exhibition is also available to view online on a dedicated website.
Pastoralism ‘primer’: now in Arabic and Chinese
The Primer on Livestock, Climate and the Politics of Resources, co-produced with the Transnational Institute (TNI) and WAMIP (World Alliance for Mobile and Indigenous Peoples), now has two new translations available – Arabic and Chinese. This adds to the existing versions in English, French and Spanish. All the translations are available to download Open Access from the TNI website.
New articles and papers
Leigh Johnson, Tahira Mohamed, Ian Scoones and Masresha Taye, Uncertainty in the drylands: Rethinking in/formal insurance from pastoral East Africa Environment and Planning A
Palden Tsering, Tibetan Buddhist monastery-based rangeland governance in Amdo Tibet, China Land Use Policy
Palden Tsering, Over Time and Space: Hybrid Rangeland Governance in Amdo Tibet Nomadic Peoples (winner of the Nomadic Peoples best student essay prize)
Ian Scoones, Confronting Uncertainties in Pastoral Areas: From Control to Care Social Anthropology (part of a Special Issue on Inhabiting Volatile Worlds)
Alessandro Dessi, Uncertainty and the pastoral schools in the expanded European region EUI Working Paper
Blog series
The PASTRES blog continues to attract a large audience. We have had two popular blog series during the last six months, one on pastoralism in Latin America (Mexico, Colombia, Peru, Chile) by Greta Semplici and colleagues and one on disaster responses in pastoral areas of Kenya by Tahira Mohamed and Ian Scoones. Links to the first in each series are below:
Tortillas, cactuses, and transhumance in the Mixteca Alta, Oaxaca, Mexico (first of 4)
The failure of ‘resilience’ projects in northern Kenya: what can we learn? (first of 3)
Dana Declaration Manifesto
20 years ago, the ‘Dana Declaration’ highlighted concerning trends in the creation of protected natural areas. Mobile peoples are especially vulnerable to ‘fortress conservation approaches’.
PASTRES supported a meeting in Jordan in September 2022, 20 years after the original Dana Declaration. The Dana+20 manifesto has recently been released, discussed in a PASTRES blog by the organisers.
Blog: The Dana+20 Manifesto on Mobile Peoples’ Rights
Manifesto: Dana+20 Manifesto
Talks and seminars
13 July: Methane, livestock and the climate
Ian Scoones will speak on pastoralism and climate change (and in particular methane) as part of an online discussion hosted by the Institute of Agriculture and Trade Policy (IATP). The event ‘Livestock Methane: identifying gaps to advance meaningful solutions’ will be held as a webinar on 13 July. More information and registration, visit the IATP website.
Video recording: Pasture for Life
Ian Scoones was part of a discussion with ‘Pasture for Life’, a group of UK farmers committed to regenerative approaches to livestock keeping. A recording is available to watch on YouTube.
More from our newsletter
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Pastoralism, Uncertainty and Resilience - PASTRES 