The Technical Guide on Pastoralism builds on a number of initiatives and studies from recent years that have shone a light on pastoral governance and land tenure: on the inherent challenges pastoralists face, the shortcomings of governments in securing pastoral tenure, and the emerging examples of success and progress from around the world.
This Technical Guide provides solutions to securing pastoral governance and tenure without undermining the inherent, necessary complexity of customary arrangements. The solutions are within a rapidly changing context, in which traditional practices and crucial patterns of livestock mobility are transforming. The technical guide on Improving the governance of pastoral lands is designed for several audiences including government and non-government actors.
While most readers will have a basic knowledge of pastoralism, many will be unfamiliar with the great diversity of pastoralist systems and cultures throughout the world. The guide addresses those who recognize the importance of securing pastoral land tenure and who are looking for practical guidance on how to proceed.
The guide is, therefore, not an advocacy document, but it provides arguments in Section 1 for securing pastoral tenure that can be used by different actors to strengthen their justification for such work. While these guidelines provide practical advice that can be operationalized, further work will be required to translate the current document into more local user-friendly products for pastoral communities.