As the PASTRES programme draws to a close, we reflect on our work between 2018-2023 on the varieties and challenges of pastoralism across different world regions.
The core work of the PASTRES programme has been in six countries across three continents (see map). However, the work of affiliates, post-doctoral students and others has extended the work to other regions. Our global work has attempted to provide perspectives from across the world, highlighting diverse forms of pastoral across settings.
The Pastoralism Primer offered a short summary of different regional contexts, while our book, Pastoralism, Uncertainty and Development and the paper ‘Pastoralists and peasants: perspectives on agrarian change’ offers a longer discussion.
Below are highlights from PASTRES contributions across world regions. They each start with the relevant policy paper, followed by links to PASTRES PhD theses from the relevant region and then other papers and blog posts.
Asia
A policy paper discusses pastoralism in diverse regions of Asia, and our research has included sites in Amdo Tibet and Kachchh, Gujarat.
Policy paper
Assessing the policy framework in pastoral areas of Asia
by Michele Nori
Doctoral theses
Maru, Natasha (2022) Haal haal ne haal [Walk, walk and walk]: exploring the pace of pastoral mobility among the Rabari pastoralists of western India
Tsering, Palden (Huadancairang) (2022)
Institutional hybridity: rangeland governance in Amdo, Tibet
Selected papers
Singh, R. and Kerven, C. (2023) Pastoralism in South Asia: Contemporary stresses and adaptations of Himalayan pastoralists. Pastoralism: Research Policy and Practice
Gongbu Zeren, Jing Tan, Zhou Zeng, Menglin Li and Fan Yang (2023) Use of subsidized insurance policy in climate adaptation strategies: the case of pastoral regions in China. Climate Policy
Gongbu Zeren, Jing Tan, Qian Zhang & Bading Qiuying (2023) Rebuilding rural community cooperative institutions and their role in herder adaptation to climate change, Climate Policy 23:4, 522-537
Tsering, P. (2023) Tibetan buddhist monastery-based rangeland governance in Amdo Tibet, China, Land Use Policy, vol 131
Tsering, P. (2023) Over Time and Space: Hybrid Rangeland Governance in Amdo Tibet Nomadic Peoples 27(1)
Gongbuzeren, J. Zhang, M. Zhuang, J. Zhang, and L. Huntsinger. (2021) Mitigating the impacts of fragmented land tenure through community-based institutional innovations: two case study villages from Guinan County of Qinghai Province, China, Ecology and Society 26(2):15
Maru, N. (2020) A Relational View of Pastoral (im)mobilities, Nomadic Peoples 24 (2)
Blog posts
Browse our blog posts by tag below.
Africa
PASTRES work on pastoralism in Africa has included doctoral research in Tunisia, Southern Ethiopia and Northern Kenya, as well as research and policy analysis in other regions of the continent.
Policy papers
Doctoral theses
Mohamed, Tahira Shariff (2022) The role of the moral economy in response to uncertainty among Borana pastoralists of Northern Kenya, Isiolo County
Tadesse, Masresha Taye (2022) Financialisation of risk among the Borana pastoralists of Ethiopia: practices of integrating livestock insurance in responding to risk
Pappagallo, Linda (2022) “Partir pour Rester?” To leave in order to stay? The role of absence and institutions in accumulation by pastoralists in Southern Tunisia
Selected papers
Pappagallo L. (2024) Recasting Tenure and Labour in Non-equilibrium Environments: Making the Case for ‘High-Reliability’ Pastoral Institutions. Land Use Policy
Unks, R. (2023) Reframing rangeland systems science research in Kenya: a synthesis of social-science mixed methods to inform integrative analysis of landscape pattern and process. Landscape Ecology
Unks R. et al (2023) Diffuse land control, shifting pastoralist institutions, and processes of accumulation in southern Kenya, Journal of Peasant Studies
Johnson, L., Mohamed, T., Scoones, I. and Taye, M. (2023) Uncertainty in the drylands: Rethinking in/formal insurance from pastoral East Africa, Environment & Planning A: Economy and Space
Nori, M. (2023) High quality, high reliability: The dynamics of camel milk marketing in northern Kenya, Pastoralism 13:9
Unks, R. (2022) Instrumentalizing pastoralism? Understanding hybrid tenure and governance in Ilkisongo Maasai land of southern Kenya, Political Geography 99, 102712
Tasker, A. and Scoones, I. (2022) High Reliability Knowledge Networks: Responding to Animal Diseases in a Pastoral Area of Northern Kenya, The Journal of Development Studies.
Lind, J. (2021) Enclaved or enmeshed? Local governance of oil finds in Turkana, Kenya. Geoforum.
Blog posts
Browse our blog posts by tag below.
Regions:
East Africa Sub-Saharan Africa
Europe
Alongside fieldwork in Sardinia, PASTRES research has explored the trajectories of pastoralism in diverse environments and policy regimes across the European continent.
Policy paper
Assessing the policy frame in pastoral areas of Europe
by Michele Nori
Doctoral thesis
Simula, Giulia (2022) Pastoralism 100 ways: navigating different market arrangements in Sardinia
Selected papers
Nori, M. (2022). Redressing Policy Making in Pastoral Areas of the Mediterranean Region. Journal of Policy & Governance, 02(01):21-32
Nori, M. (2021) Integrating immigrant workforce in European pastoralism: reality, policy and practices, Italian Review of Agricultural Economics, 76(1): 49-58
Nori, M and López-i-Gelats, F. (2020) Pastoral migrations and generational renewal in the Mediterranean, Economia Agraria y Recursos Naturales, Spanish Association of Agricultural Economists, vol. 20(02)
Blog posts
Browse our blog posts by tag below.
Latin America
PASTRES work in Latin America explores changing livelihoods and land politics in Chile, Peru, Mexico and Colombia.
Blog posts
Browse our blog posts by tag below.
More information
Regional policies
Find out more on our regional papers about policy environments for pastoralism.
Some papers have been translated into French, Italian and Spanish, and there is a series of introductory blog posts about each region.
Publications
Visit our Publications library to view peer-reviewed articles, working papers, reports and other material offering regional, cross-regional and global perspectives on pastoralism and wider development agendas.
Pastoralism, Uncertainty and Resilience - PASTRES 