Publications

Explore publications from the PASTRES project on this page. You can also view a selected list of background publications on PASTRES themes.

Quick links:
Online course  |  Books and book chapters  | Doctoral theses  |  Journal articles 
Working papers  |  Briefings  |  Reports  |  Blogposts

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Books

More open access books on pastoralism

The PASTRES programme also made two older books on pastoralism available open access.

Other books and book chapters

A list of further books and book chapters by the PASTRES team.

Scoones, I., Mand Taye, M. (2024, forthcoming) The politics of anticipation in East Africa’s rangelands. In book: Future Rural Africa.

Scoones, I. (2023) Epilogue – Resilience in the drylands: contested meanings. In book: Reconsidering Resilience in African Pastoralism: Towards a Relational and Contextual Approach (pp.354-366), Kyoto University Press/Trans Pacific Press

Scoones, I. (2022) A New Politics of Uncertainty: Towards Convivial Development in Africa. In book: Greiner et al (eds.) African Futures, Brill

Nori, M. and Farinella, D. (2020) Lessons from the Mountains: Mobility and migrations in Euro-Mediterranean agro-pastoralism, Chapter in Rye, J.F. and O’Reilly, K. (eds.) International Labour Migration to Europe’s Rural Regions, Routledge (OPEN ACCESS)

Nori, M. and Farinella, D. (2020) Migration, Agriculture and Rural Development, IMISCOE short reader

Luisi, D. and Nori, M (2019) Foreigners in Alpine to Apennine ‘inner areas’ : the evidence of a territorial public policy, in Perlik, M.; Galera, G.; Machold, I. and Membretti, A. (eds.) Alpine refugees : immigration at the core of Europe, Newcastle upon Tyne: Cambridge Scholars

Nori, M. (2018) Migration, Agriculture and Rural Territories in the Mediterranean, Mediterra 2018: Migration and Inclusive Rural Development in the Mediterranean, Paris: CIHEAM

Nori, M. (2018) Rural Migrations and Mediterranean Agricultural Systems, IEMed Mediterranean Yearbook 2018, Barcelona: IEMed

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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

Mohamed, Tahira Shariff (2022) The role of the moral economy in response to uncertainty among Borana pastoralists of Northern Kenya, Isiolo County

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

Simula, Giulia (2022) Pastoralism 100 ways: navigating different market arrangements in Sardinia

Tadesse, Masresha Taye (2022) Financialisation of risk among the Borana pastoralists of Ethiopia: practices of integrating livestock insurance in responding to risk

Tsering, Palden (Huadancairang) (2022) Institutional hybridity: rangeland governance in Amdo, Tibet

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Journal articles

Sccones, I. (2025) Why embracing unertainty means rethinking development. World Development 199, available online December 2025

Pappagallo L. (2024) Recasting Tenure and Labour in Non-equilibrium Environments: Making the Case for ‘High-Reliability’ Pastoral Institutions. Land Use Policy

DeMartino, G., Grabel, I. and Scoones I. (2024) Economics for an uncertain world. World Development 173, available online Oct 2023

Singh, R. and Kerven, C. (2023) Pastoralism in South Asia: Contemporary stresses and adaptations of Himalayan pastoralists. Pastoralism: Research Policy and Practice

Scoones I. and Nori M. (2023) Rethinking policies for pastoralists – governing the rangelands, The Rangeland Journal

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

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

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

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)

Unks R. et al (2023) Diffuse land control, shifting pastoralist institutions, and processes of accumulation in southern Kenya, Journal of Peasant Studies

Nori, M. (2023) High quality, high reliability: The dynamics of camel milk marketing in northern Kenya, Pastoralism 13:9

Scoones, I. (2023) Confronting Uncertainties in Pastoral Areas: Transforming Development from Control to Care, Social Anthropology

Semplici G. and Campbell T. (2023) The revival of the drylands: re-learning resilience to climate change from pastoral livelihoods in East Africa, Climate and Development 15(9)

Unks, R. (2022) Instrumentalizing pastoralism? Understanding hybrid tenure and governance in Ilkisongo Maasai land of southern Kenya, Political Geography 99, 102712

Nori, M. (2022). Redressing Policy Making in Pastoral Areas of the Mediterranean Region. Journal of Policy & Governance, 02(01):21-32

Scoones, I. (2022) Livestock, methane and climate change: The politics of global assessments. WIRES Climate Change  

Maru N., Nori M., Scoones, Semplici G. and Triandafyllidou A. (2022) Embracing uncertainty: rethinking migration policy through pastoralists’ experiences, Comparative Migration Studies

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.

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

Caravani, M., Lind, J., Sabates-Wheeler, R. and Scoones, I. (2021) Providing social assistance and humanitarian relief: The case for embracing uncertainty, Development Policy Review.

Lind, J. (2021) Enclaved or enmeshed? Local governance of oil finds in Turkana, Kenya. Geoforum.

Nori, M. (2021) Integrating immigrant workforce in European pastoralism: reality, policy and practices, Italian Review of Agricultural Economics, 76(1): 49-58. 

Leach, M.; MacGregor, H.; Ripoll, S.; Scoones, I. and Wilkinson, A. (2021) Rethinking disease preparedness: incertitude and the politics of knowledge, Critical Public Health, DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/09581596.2021.1885628  

Leach, M.; MacGregor, H.; Scoones, I. and Wilkinson, A. (2021) Post-pandemic transformations: How and why COVID-19 requires us to rethink development, World Development, 138

Haider J., Schlüter M., Folke C. & Reyers B. (2021) Rethinking resilience and development: A coevolutionary perspective. Ambio vol. 50

Semplici, G. and McCabe, T.J. (2021) Review of ‘Remembering Turkana: Material Histories and Contemporary Livelihoods in North-Western Kenya’ and the thoughts it provoked in a dialogue between Greta Semplici and J. Terrence McCabe, Journal of Nomadic Peoples 25(1):158-164. 

Borras S., Scoones I., Bhaviskar A., Edelman M., Peluso N.L., and Wolford W. (2021) Climate change and agrarian struggles: an invitation to contribute to a JPS Forum, Journal of Peasant Studies 49(1)

Stirling, A. and Scoones, I. (2020) COVID-19 and the Futility of Control in the Modern World, Issues in Science and Technology, 36(4) Summer 2020: 25-27. 

Semplici, G. and Nori, M. (2020) ‘Review of Crossing Boundaries: Legal and Policy Arrangements for   Cross-Border Pastoralism by Jonathan Davies, Claire Ogali, Lydia Slobodian, Guyo Roba, Razingrim  Ouedraogo’. Pastoralism 10 (1): 11. https://doi.org/10.1186/s13570-020-00168-z

Farinella D. and Simula G. (2020) Addressing the Covid-19 Pandemic: Chronicles from the Pastures. Fuori Luogo. Rivista Di Sociologia Del Territorio, Turismo, Tecnologia, 7(1), 41 – 51

Semplici, G. and Nori, M. (2020) Review of Crossing boundaries: Legal and policy arrangements for cross-border pastoralism by Jonathan Davies, Claire Ogali, Lydia Slobodian, Guyo Roba, Razingrim Ouedraogo, Pastoralism, 10(11) 

Maru, N. (2020) A Relational View of Pastoral (im)mobilities, Nomadic Peoples 24 (2)

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), December.

Pappagallo, L and Semplici, G. (2020) Methodological Mess: Doing Research in Contexts of High Variability, Nomadic Peoples 24 (2)

Mohamed, T.; Taye, M.; Maru, N. Tsering, P.; Bum, T.; Simula, G. and Farinella, D. (2020) COVID-19 and Pastoralism: Reflections from Three Continents,  The Journal of Peasant Studies, DOI: 10.1080/03066150.2020.1808969

Scoones, I (2020) Pastoralists and Peasants: Perspectives on Agrarian Change, The Journal of Peasant Studies, DOI: 10.1080/03066150.2020.1802249

Nori, M. and Scoones, I. (2019) Pastoralism, Uncertainty and Resilience: Global Lessons from the Margins, Pastoralism 9 (10)

Scoones, I. (2018) Review of The End of Desertification? Disputing Environmental Change in the Drylands by Roy H. Behnke and Michael Mortimore, Pastoralism 8(26)

Rossi, M,; Rembold, F.; Bolognesi, M.; Nori, M.; Mureithi, S. and Nyberg, G. (2018) Mapping Land Enclosures and Vegetation Cover Changes in the Surroundings of Kenya’s Dadaab Refugee Camps with Very High Resolution Satellite Imagery, Land Degradation and Development, 3 (30)

Gongbuzeren.; Huntsinger, L. and Li, W. (2018). Rebuilding pastoral social-ecological resilience on the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau in response to changes in policy, economics, and climate, Ecology and Society 23(2)

Gongbuzeren.; Zhang, Z. and Wu, J. (2019) How do Market-Based Rangeland Institutional Reforms affect Herders Engagement with Credit Loans within the Pastoral Regions of the Tibetan Plateau?, Journal of Rural Studies 73

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Working papers

Wendy W. Wolford, Ben White, Ian Scoones, Ruth Hall, Marc Edelman and Saturnino M. Borras Jr. (2024) Global land deals: What has been done, what has changed, and what’s next? LDPI working paper 2024-001

Roe, E. (2023) When Complex is as Simple as it Gets: Guide for Recasting Policy and Management in the Anthropocene, IDS Working Paper 589.

Dessi, A. (2023) Uncertainty and the pastoral schools in the expanded European region, EUI Working Paper.

Nori, M. (2022) Assessing the policy frame in pastoral areas of Europe, EUI Working Paper. In French | Italian | Spanish

Nori, M. (2022) Assessing the policy frame in pastoral areas of Sub-Saharan Africa, EUI Working Paper

Nori, M. (2022) Assessing the policy frame in pastoral areas of West Asia and North Africa, EUI Working Paper

Nori, M. (2022) Assessing the policy frame in pastoral areas of Asia, EUI Working Paper

Scoones, I. (2022) What is Environmental Degradation, What Are Its Causes, and How to Respond?, IDS Working Paper 577, Institute of Development Studies

Nori, M. (2021) The evolving interface between pastoralism and uncertainty: reflecting on cases from three continents, EUI Working Paper RSCAS 2021/16, San Domenico di Fiesole: European University Institute

Scoones, I. (2021) Beyond the ‘Balance of Nature’: Pastoralists’ alternative perspectives on sustainability. Nomadic Peoples 25(1)

Nori, M., (2019) Herding Through Uncertainties – Regional Perspectives. Exploring the interfaces of pastoralists and uncertainty. Results from a literature review, EUI Working Paper RSCAS 2019/68, San Domenico di Fiesole: European University Institute

Nori, M., (2019) Herding Through Uncertainties – Principles and Practices. Exploring the interfaces of pastoralists and uncertainty. Results from a literature review, EUI Working Paper RSCAS 2019/69, San Domenico di Fiesole: European University Institute

Scoones, I. (2019) What is Uncertainty and Why Does it Matter? STEPS Working Paper 105, Brighton: ESRC STEPS Centre

Roe, E. (2019) A New Policy Narrative for Pastoralism? Pastoralists as Reliability Professionals and Pastoralist Systems as Infrastructure, STEPS Working Paper 113, Brighton: ESRC STEPS Centre

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Briefings

Gonzales G. et al (2023) External interventions, local realities: what can we learn from lessons (not) learned, EUI RSC Policy Brief 2023/04

6 briefings on pastoralism and biodiversity, 2022.

Nori, M. (2022) Managing variability, governing security – How do policies affect livelihoods in sub-Saharan Africa drylands? Global Governance Programme Policy Brief, Italy: European University Institute

Nori, M. (2022) Greening on paper – Does European agricultural policy work for pastoralists? Global Governance Programme Policy Brief, Italy: European University Institute

Briefing and info sheets on livestock and climate change, 2021.

Nori, M. and Triandafyllidou, A. (2019) Mediterranean Interfaces: Agriculture, Rural Development and Migration: Forward-Looking Policies and Programmes for an Integrated Approach, Global Governance Programme Policy Brief, Italy: European University Institute

Taye, M.; Alulu, V.; Gobu, W. and Jensen, N. (2019) Livestock Insurance Payouts and Coping Strategies of Pastoralists During Drought. ILRI Research Brief 90, Nairobi: International Livestock Research Institute

Corrado, A.; Nori, M.; Caruso, F.; Lo Cascio, M.; Palumbo, L. and Triandafyllidou, A. (2018) Is Italian Agriculture a ‘Pull Factor’ for Irregular Migration? If so, Why? Technical Report Open Society Policy Brief, Brussels: Open Society European Policy Institute

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Reports

Houzer, E. and Scoones, I. (2021) Are livestock bad for the planet? Rethinking the protein transition and climate change debate, PASTRES, September 2021

Semplici, Greta. (2020) Resilience in Action. Local Practices and Development/Humanitarian Policies. A Review of Resilience in the Drylands of Turkana. London: Research and Evidence Facility (REF)

Nori, M.; Triandafyllidou, A.; Hénaff, H.; Robert, C.; Castro, G.; Abdelali-Martini, M. and Provenzano, G. (2018)  A Better Understanding of the Drivers and Impacts for Forward-looking Policies and Programmes, Forum on Agriculture, Rural Development and Migration in the Mediterranean, Italy: European University Institute

Corrado, A.; Nori, M.; Caruso, F.; Lo Cascio, M.; Palumbo, L. and Triandafyllidou, A. (2018) Is Italian Agriculture a ‘Pull Factor’ for Irregular Migration, if so Why? Policy Brief,  Open Society Policy Brief, Brussels: Open Society European Policy Institute

Blog posts on other websites

A list of blog posts and opinion pieces published elsewhere. For our own archive, visit the PASTRES blog.

Scoones, I. and Mohamed, T. (2023) Embracing local knowledge is the key to resilience in northern Kenya, not project box-ticking, The New Humanitarian

Scoones, I. (2023) Pastoralists are an asset to the world – and we have a lot to learn from them, The Conversation

Mohamed, T. and Scoones, I. (2023) Local Knowledge is Crucial for Crisis Preparedness, The Elephant

Maru, N. (2022) India’s pastoralists, with their deep knowledge of ecosystems, have much to offer conservationists, Scroll.in

Maru, N. (2022) Global cattle emission concerns sideline the sustainable possibilities of Indian livestock systems, Scroll.in

Scoones I. (2022) How pastoral farming can help to avoid a biodiversity crisis, The Conversation

Mohamed T. and Scoones I. (2022) Drought Management in ASAL Areas: Enhancing Resilience or Fostering Vulnerability? The Elephant

Mohamed T. (2022) Building Resilience to Climate-Related Shocks in Northern Kenya (video interview), The Elephant

Mohamed T. and Scoones I. (2022) Kenya drought: Pastoralists suffer despite millions of dollars used to protect them – what went wrong? The Conversation

Scoones, I. (2021) COP26: Two worlds talked past each other – or never even met, The Conversation

Scoones, I. (2021) Cows and cars should not be conflated in climate change debates, The Conversation

Scoones, I. (2021) What bankers should learn from the traditions of pastoralism, AEON Essays, March 12 2021

Lind, J.; Okenwa, D. and Scoones, I. (2020) Global investment in dryland Eastern Africa has accentuated inequalities and social difference, Africa at LSE, October 2020. 

Maru, N. (2020) How Kachchh’s Nomadic Pastoralists Are Dealing With COVID-19’s Challenges, The Wire

Nori, M. (2020) Living with the new coronavirus: learning from pastoralists, EUIdeas, April 2nd 2020