Pastoral Landscape Research Articles

Institutional challenges in pastoral landscape management: Towards sustainable land management in Ngamiland, Botswana

AbstractPolicies, institutions, and governance structures have implications for the sustainable use of land resources. In dryland Africa, pastoral landscapes are faced with challenges of land degradation, livestock diseases, droughts, and land use conflicts. In order to enhance resilience and integrity of pastoral societies and landscapes, sustainable land management (SLM) requires that policies and institutions create an enabling environment that encourages sustainable use. This study analyses current policy, institutional, and governance challenges in relation to SLM in Ngamiland, Botswana. We use a series of expert interviews, local stakeholder workshops, document, and policy content analysis to analyse policy and institutional challenges. Key findings of this study include fragmented institutional and policy frameworks, conflicting policies and priorities, weak governance structures, lack of integrated planning and coordination between sectors, gaps in communication, knowledge gaps, and fragmented pastoralists lobbying institutions, all of which hinders prospects for SLM in communal areas of Botswana. Harmonisation of sectoral policies requires institutional and policy design to consider institutional coordination and enhanced learning on other actors' perspectives and constraints. Findings in Ngamiland show that collaborative comanagement approaches can play a role in facilitating intersectoral data sharing to enable successful development of pastoral landscapes and a supportive decision‐making system for SLM.

Socio-ecological dimensions of Andean pastoral landscape change: bridging traditional ecological knowledge and satellite image analysis in Sajama National Park, Bolivia

In the Andes, indigenous pastoral communities are confronting new challenges in managing mountain peatland pastures, locally called bofedales. Assessing land cover change using satellite images, vegetation survey, and local knowledge (i.e., traditional ecological knowledge) reveals the multi-faceted socio-ecological dimensions of bofedal change in Sajama National Park (PNS), Bolivia. Here, we present results from focus groups held in 2016 and 2017 to learn about the local knowledge of bofedales in five Aymara communities in PNS. Land cover maps, created from Landsat satellite imagery, provided a baseline reference of the decadal change of bofedales (1986, 1996, 2006, and 2016) and were field verified with vegetation sampling. At the park level, the land cover maps show a reduction of healthy bofedales (i.e., Juncaceae dominated peatland) cover from 33.8 km2 in 1986 to 21.7 km2 in 2016, and an increase in dry mixed grasses (e.g., Poaceae dominated land cover) from 5.1 km2 (1986) to 20.3 km2 (2016). Locals identify climate change, lack of irrigation, difficulty in water access, and loss of communal water management practices as key bofedal management challenges. Local improvement of bofedales was found in one community due to community-based irrigation efforts. Bridging knowledge of mountain land cover change helps to articulate the socio-ecological dimensions that influence local decision-making regarding bofedal management, and consideration of local actions that may be strengthened to support the sustainability of bofedales for local livelihoods in the context of climate change in the Andes.

Adaptation strategies to environmental and policy change in semi-arid pastoral landscapes: Evidence from Ngamiland, Botswana

Semi-arid rangeland pastoral areas have been affected by diverse pressures; livestock diseases, human-wildlife conflicts, droughts and resource scarcity as a result of fragmented landscapes that constrain pastoral livelihoods. In Botswana, pastoralists' adaptations remain insufficiently documented. Adaptation strategies are responses to livelihood constraints and if mainstreamed into development programmes can counter negative impacts arising from ecosystem deterioration. Using iterative participatory rural appraisal methods, this study examines adaptation strategies that pastoral societies in Ngamiland, Botswana have used to cope with pressures in their pastoral socio-ecological system. Findings show a move towards mixed and spatially varied livelihood strategies. Mixed agro-pastoral farming, intensification of flood recession farming, fishing and a network of self-help groups have developed over the last few decades of significant policy and environmental change. Pastoralists have become more sedentary with increases in petty trade and higher dependency on social welfare programmes. As the ability to adapt has positive attributes for livelihood sustainability and resilience, there is a need for practical initiatives that improve pastoralists' adaptive capacity, such as reforming pastoralists' institutions and expanding infrastructural development in pastoral areas so as to enable access to markets. These also include the need to share insights more widely across the district, nationally and regionally.

Long-term ecological observatories needed to understand ecohydrological systems in the Anthropocene: a catchment-scale case study in Brittany, France

Over the last half century, humans have become the dominant force driving many of Earth’s cycles. Intensive agriculture has simultaneously increased nutrient loading of pastoral landscapes and decreased the capacity of these ecosystems to retain or remove excess nutrients. Widespread degradation of terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems has triggered the establishment of ecological observatories, including the Zone Atelier Armorique (ZAAr) in western France, a part of the International Long-Term Socio-Ecological Research (LTSER) network. The ZAAr includes a patchwork of land covers and uses, including old-growth forests, intensively cultivated row crops, and ancient bocage fields surrounded by hedgerows. In addition to traditional ecological research at ZAAr, the last 8 years have seen the development of multiproxy and multiscale approaches to address surface and groundwater quality. Here, we present a comprehensive analysis of this 8-year dataset, including vegetation, soil water storage, and stream and groundwater chemistry. We observed contrasting responses of different catchment components to climate forcing and direct disturbance. Our results highlight a clear relationship between land use and surface water quality, while groundwater quality appeared largely unrelated to land use, suggesting strong differences in aquifer nitrogen removal rates. There were large differences in nutrient fluxes among dry and wet years, with multiyear memory effects apparent for some parameters. Given such complex interactions, including emergent dynamics and decadal to centennial time lags, we conclude that multidimensional observations such as those supported by the ZAAr and other LTSER sites, are critical to understanding ecohydrological systems in the Anthropocene.

Pastoral landscapes in the Sahel: a carbon balance with unexpected potential for climate change mitigation

In the Sahel, pastoralism capitalises on an extreme environment. Although it is accused of emitting excessive amounts of greenhouse gases per kilogram of milk or meat produced, a research study conducted in Senegal shows that pastoral landscapes can actually have a neutral carbon balance: emissions from animals are offset by carbon sequestration in soils and plants. These findings were obtained using an original evaluation method, known as ecosystem assessment, which integrates the use of the pastoral landscape as a whole, according to the seasons and the areas grazed by herds. These findings indicate that current standards for calculating feeding behaviour and methane emissions from ruminant digestion need to be revised downwards. Other implications are possible, such as improving the carbon balance through specific local practices and promoting these areas on the carbon market. Preserving this livestock system is also one way of fostering development and ensuring greater security in these regions.

IDENTIFICATION OF NEGATIVE FACTORS AFFECTING SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT IN SUTJESKA NATIONAL PARK

The topic of research are the problems of sustainable development of Sutjeska National Park. Within this, general geographic features are given in detail, while forms and degree of tourism pressure, as well as the intensity of environmental endangerment within the protected natural area, are analyzed. The forms and intensity of anthropogenic influences in the exploration area changed considerably during the historic-geographic development, from the use of area for summer pasture, through the exploitation of natural resources (forests and mineral raw materials), to tourism-motivated valuation in recent times. Such social influences have left visible traces in the natural environment and the landscape, which are reflected in the distorted ecological balance (spatially differentiated reduction of natural vegetation, on account of the expansion of pasture landscapes) and various forms of endangerment of the environment. Existing geoecological problems call for the future assessment of the resource base of the National Park to be strictly directed towards the principles of sustainable development. This implies, first of all, the development of sustainable tourism within the framework of tourism carrying capacity and constant care for the preservation of heritage (natural and cultural) as the strategic goal of development policy.

Pasture enclosures increase soil carbon dioxide flux rate in Semiarid Rangeland, Kenya

BackgroundPasture enclosures play an important role in rehabilitating the degraded soils and vegetation, and may also influence the emission of key greenhouse gasses (GHGs) from the soil. However, no study in East Africa and in Kenya has conducted direct measurements of GHG fluxes following the restoration of degraded communal grazing lands through the establishment of pasture enclosures. A field experiment was conducted in northwestern Kenya to measure the emission of CO2, CH4 and N2O from soil under two pasture restoration systems; grazing dominated enclosure (GDE) and contractual grazing enclosure (CGE), and in the adjacent open grazing rangeland (OGR) as control. Herbaceous vegetation cover, biomass production, and surface (0–10 cm) soil organic carbon (SOC) were also assessed to determine their relationship with the GHG flux rate.ResultsVegetation cover was higher enclosure systems and ranged from 20.7% in OGR to 40.2% in GDE while aboveground biomass increased from 72.0 kg DM ha−1 in OGR to 483.1 and 560.4 kg DM ha−1 in CGE and GDE respectively. The SOC concentration in GDE and CGE increased by an average of 27% relative to OGR and ranged between 4.4 g kg−1 and 6.6 g kg−1. The mean emission rates across the grazing systems were 18.6 μg N m−2 h−1, 50.1 μg C m−2 h−1 and 199.7 mg C m−2 h−1 for N2O, CH4, and CO2, respectively. Soil CO2 emission was considerably higher in GDE and CGE systems than in OGR (P < 0.001). However, non-significantly higher CH4 and N2O emissions were observed in GDE and CGE compared to OGR (P = 0.33 and 0.53 for CH4 and N2O, respectively). Soil moisture exhibited a significant positive relationship with CO2, CH4, and N2O, implying that it is the key factor influencing the flux rate of GHGs in the area.ConclusionsThe results demonstrated that the establishment of enclosures in tropical rangelands is a valuable intervention for improving pasture production and restoration of surface soil properties. However, a long-term study is required to evaluate the patterns in annual CO2, N2O, CH4 fluxes from soils and determine the ecosystem carbon balance across the pastoral landscape.

From Herding to Farming under Adaptation Interventions in Southern Kenya: A Critical Perspective

Improving water supply for irrigable farming and livestock purposes in communities in Africa is an increasingly popular approach for community-based adaptation interventions. A widespread intervention is the construction of agro-pastoral dams and irrigation schemes in traditionally pastoral communities that face a drying climate. Taking the Maji Moto Maasai community in southern Kenya as a case study, this article demonstrates that water access inequality can lead to a breakdown of pre-existing social capital and former pastoral cooperative structures within a community. When such interventions trigger new water uses, such as farming in former pastoral landscapes, there are no traditional customary institutional structures in place to manage the new water resource. The resulting easily corruptible local water management institutions are a main consolidator of water access inequalities for intervention beneficiaries, where socio-economic standing often determines benefits from interventions. Ultimately, technological adaptation interventions such as agro-pastoral dams may result in tensions and a high fragmentation of adaptive capacity within target communities.

Foraging ecology and flocking behavior of insectivorous forest birds inform management of Andean silvopastures for conservation

ABSTRACT Wildlife-friendly agricultural practices, such as agroforestry, can play an important role in conserving biodiversity by providing and connecting habitat across working landscapes. Silvopastures (i.e. pastures with substantial tree cover), in particular, possess considerable potential for conserving biodiversity due to the dominance of pastoral landscapes in many regions. However, to balance tradeoffs between the conservation and agricultural values of these anthropogenic systems, better information on wildlife use and how it relates to habitat quality is needed. To improve our mechanistic understanding of silvopastoral habitat quality, and to develop management recommendations, we evaluated the foraging behavior of insectivorous forest birds in Andean silvopastures compared with forest fragments. Focal species' prey attack rates were >25% lower in silvopastures than in forest fragments, suggesting that arthropod prey were less abundant or accessible in silvopastures than in forest fragments. In ...

Amphibian diversity in farmlands: Combined influences of breeding-site and landscape attributes in western France

Agricultural intensification is responsible for major habitat degradation and is a primary cause of biodiversity loss. Amphibians are currently facing a global decline induced by multiple pressures, including notably habitat degradation and land conversion. In western Europe, traditional farming systems involve a dense hedgerow network with a mosaic of pastures, cultivated fields, ponds, and small woods. These heterogeneous landscapes are particularly favorable for biodiversity but their role for amphibian conservation remain understudied.We studied the amphibian community (15 species) of a hedgerow network landscape in western France. We described 79 cattle ponds and tested the influence of ponds characteristics as well as the surrounding landscape composition on species occurrence. Amphibian diversity was positively influenced by breeding site vegetation and also ponds density in the surrounding landscape. We also found positive effects of wood patches and hedgerow linear at a small spatial scale. In turn, crop cover and road linear negatively influenced amphibian richness at large spatial scale. Important variation were detected among species reflecting contrasted life history traits. Our results underline that traditional pastoral landscapes provide a high density of breeding sites and habitats favorable for a diversity of amphibian species.

Why public policies face difficulties in protecting mountain pastoral landscapes: some lessons from the history of the volcanic landscape of the Chaîne des Puys / Limagne fault, France

ABSTRACTThe ‘Chaîne des Puys/Limagne fault’ is a unique landscape located in the French Massif Central, and famous for its original and perfect landforms. For more than 400 years, it has been subjected to various local, national, and European policies intended to protect its ‘natural’ and open aspect. Though these landscapes look natural, they are the result of interactions between local forest- and grassland-management practices, natural vegetation dynamics, and regulation by environmental policies. Some parts of the area have seen their biodiversity and landscape quality increase, but others have been abandoned or forested, resulting in closed landscapes and reduced biodiversity. Based on a review and a systemic analysis of the policies, this article aims to analyse the reasons for their lack of effectiveness, and propose some principles that can help future policies to be more effective in protecting mountain grazing landscapes with the support of local communities.

An exotic woody weed in a pastoral landscape provides habitat for many native species, but has no apparent threatened species conservation significance

SummaryExotic woody plants are often used by native organisms, but may also be targets of expensive control justified by nature conservation. We determine the use of a weed of national significance, Gorse (Ulex europaeus L.), by native mammals, birds, reptiles and vascular plants in pastoral areas in an Australian biodiversity hotspot. Large numbers of fauna species were observed using Gorse within our 43 × 1 ha sample sites in riparian, woodland and pasture vegetation. Gorse cover and/or height positively influenced: the detection of mammals as a whole in an interaction with visibility at 50–75 cm above ground, but not their species richness or individual species abundances; bird abundance, but not richness; and, reptile richness but not abundance. In terms of flora, Gorse cover and/or height positively affected: non‐native plant species richness and the height and fecundity, but not the richness, of native grasses and forbs—but Gorse cover negatively influenced the height of native herbs. The only species of conservation significance using Gorse were three mammals, only one of which, the Tasmanian Pademelon (Thylogale billardieri), was sufficiently common to analyse. Its abundance had no relationship with Gorse cover or height. Even in the wider context of complementary work, there is no strong threatened species conservation justification for retaining Gorse thickets in the Northern Midlands pastoral landscape. Equally, expending scarce conservation resources to remove Gorse, as is taking place, is unlikely to achieve any threatened species conservation outcome but may help reduce long‐term loss of native animal and plant species.

Contribution of Traditional Farming to Ecosystem Services Provision: Case Studies from Slovakia

The main aim of this study is to assess the benefits provided by the ecosystems of traditional agricultural landscapes (TAL) and compare them to the outputs of large-scale agriculture. Assessment of ecosystem services (ES) was performed in four case-study areas situated in Slovakia, representing different types of TAL: Viticultural landscape, meadow–pasture landscape, and agricultural landscape with dispersed settlements and mosaics of orchards. The methodological approach was focused on assessment of all the principal types of ES—regulation and maintenance, provisioning, and cultural. Differences in the provision of ES due to the impact of different practices and intensities of agricultural landscape management were subsequently assessed and compared. The results show that TAL are generally more diverse and balanced regarding ES provision, mainly because of their varied patterns and their related functions. In particular they play an important role in water retention and the prevention of soil erosion—both important with respect to changes in climate. Modern intensive agriculture is principally able to fulfil the production functions. Support for traditional farming, landscape diversification and small-scale agricultural management is vital for enhancing the values of rural regions. Such measures could become key drivers for sustainable agricultural management in Slovakia, and elsewhere.

Do genetic diversity patterns of soil ammonia-oxidizing microorganisms (AOM) match the habitat types of the NATURA2000 scheme?

Despite the important role of soil ammonia-oxidizing microorganisms (AOM) in the biogeochemical cycle of nitrogen, a unified view of the factors driving their spatial pattern of abundance and genetic diversity in terrestrial ecosystems is still lacking. The objective of this study was to explore whether abundance and genetic diversity of AOM follow the existing diversity of habitat types of the NATURA2000. We evaluated the relative abundance of ammonia-oxidizing bacteria (AOB) and archaea (AOA), as well as their genetic diversity in pastoral landscapes of an eastern Mediterranean island. Focusing on six different NATURA2000 habitat types of Crete, the study of AOM was based on culture-independent techniques, while vegetation and soil data of each habitat type were also collected and incorporated in the analysis. Our results suggest that the relative abundances of soil AOB and AOA in the pastoral landscapes of Crete are related to a limited number of soil factors, while their genetic diversity patterns are mainly explained by the dominant woody plant families, and partially by the soil parameters, but do not match the habitat types of the NATURA2000 scheme. The variation of genetic diversity of soil AOM is not predicted from the habitat types of the NATURA2000 scheme. Thus, NATURA2000 habitat types cannot serve as a management scheme of soil AOM.

Introduction: Desire and the “Expressive Eye”

“In a Eweleaze Near Weatherbury” (Illustrations 154) Hardy’s famous drawing of a pair of glasses superimposed on a pastoral landscape, an illustration for the poem “In a Eweleaze near Weatherbury”, is chosen by Catherine Lanone as her starting-point in the essay she wrote for this volume. What better illustration could be found for our subject, whose problematics is the connection between desire and the gaze? Indeed the onlooker requires glasses to see the landscape better: are we not all af...

Isotopic evidence for ceremonial provisioning of Late Bronze age khirigsuurs with horses from diverse geographic locales

Khirigsuurs are communal ritual and mortuary monuments that featured prominently on Late Bronze Age pastoralist landscapes of the Mongolian steppe through the mid-late second millennium to early first millennium cal BC. Khirigsuurs sustained ceremonies that legitimized the relationship between the deceased and the participants, facilitated the formation of new alliances, and emphasized integration and cohesion between mobile pastoralist communities through monument building, ritual horse slaughter, and feasting. Horses played a prominent role in ceremonial activities conducted at khirigsuurs, their heads and hooves regularly deposited in small stone satellite mounds as part of publically visible ceremonies associated with mortuary celebrations that simultaneously integrated mobile pastoralist communities. Here, strontium and oxygen isotopic analyses of sequentially sampled teeth of horses from khirigsuurs located in the Khanuy Valley, a major center of monumental activity situated north of the Khangai mountains in Mongolia, indicate horses from distant locales were ceremonially placed in khirigsuur satellite mounds, while patterned seasonal variation in carbon isotopes suggests horses were fodder provisioned during the winter months. These isotopic data suggest horses were well cared for, reflecting their status as a prestige animal, and were key to facilitating regionally integrative ceremonial activities conducted at khirigsuurs that brought together people from geographically distant mobile communities.

Wykorzystanie przestrzeni geograficznej Beskidu Małego dla rozwoju turystyki kulturowej w celu ochrony dziedzictwa krajobrazowego

&lt;p&gt;&lt;span&gt;Artykuł ukazuje osobliwe a przy tym zapomniane dziedzictwo kulturowe gospodarki rolno-pasterskiej tzw. polaniarskiej Beskidu Małego zapisane w krajobrazie Pasma Karpat Polskich. Zasobne walory przyrodnicze i kulturowe mało znanego regionu Beskidu Małego klasyfikują go do szczególnie atrakcyjnych turystycznie obszarów Beskidów Zachodnich. Dostrzeżenie pasterskich walorów krajobrazowo-kulturowych ulegających obecnie zanikowi, pozwala na zachowanie dawnego dziedzictwa gospodarki pasterskiej w celu jego ochrony przed komercjalizacją usług turystycznych oraz ochrony dla kształtowania tożsamości regionalnej. Występująca na terenie Beskidu Małego zabudowa pasterska – polaniarska, określana jest jako wielka osobliwość etnograficzna regionu. Poprzez prowadzone badania merytorycznie opracowany materiał stać się może kolejnym ogniwem tworzącego szlaku kulturowego jakim jest „&lt;span&gt;Szlak Wołoski” ukazujący intersującą &lt;/span&gt;genezę góralszczyzny łuku Karpat.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

Burned Area Mapping of an Escaped Fire into Tropical Dry Forest in Western Madagascar Using Multi-Season Landsat OLI Data

A human-induced fire cleared a large area of tropical dry forest near the Ankoatsifaka Research Station at Kirindy Mitea National Park in western Madagascar over several weeks in 2013. Fire is a major factor in the disturbance and loss of global tropical dry forests, yet remotely sensed mapping studies of fire-impacted tropical dry forests lag behind fire research of other forest types. Methods used to map burns in temperature forests may not perform as well in tropical dry forests where it can be difficult to distinguish between multiple-age burn scars and between bare soil and burns. In this study, the extent of forest lost to stand-replacing fire in Kirindy Mitea National Park was quantified using both spectral and textural information derived from multi-date satellite imagery. The total area of the burn was 18,034 ha. It is estimated that 6% (4761 ha) of the Park’s primary tropical dry forest burned over the period 23 June to 27 September. Half of the forest burned (2333 ha) was lost in the large conflagration adjacent to the Research Station. The best model for burn scar mapping in this highly-seasonal tropical forest and pastoral landscape included the differenced Normalized Burn Ratio (dNBR) and both uni- and multi-temporal measures of greenness. Lessons for burn mapping of tropical dry forest are much the same as for tropical dry forest mapping—highly seasonal vegetation combined with a mixture of background spectral information make for a complicated analysis and may require multi-temporal imagery and site specific techniques.

Historic settlements and pastoralism in the Arctic and Tibetan Plateau: towards a comparison

ABSTRACTHistoric settlement processes of, respectively, the Northern Sámi and Western Tibetan pastoralists have so far not been subjected to any comparative social science analyses. This study contributes to such a conceptual platform, drawing on the constructs dwelling, settlement, herding unit, pastoral landscape and the labour–animal–pasture triangle. Ethnographic and archival evidence of transitions from sedentary/semi-sedentary to full-fledged pastoralist societies and transitions from a pastoral adaptation to sedentary and semi-sedentary life are analysed and debated in light of the influential theoretical proposition of a categorical difference between a nomad’s and a farmer’s dwelling. At the core of this, comparative inquiry is two highly dynamic pastoral herding societies. It is argued that a comparative approach to the study of settlements requires a theoretical and analytical reframing – informed by a more adequate comprehension of the dwelling–settlement nexus. This preliminary scrutiny of dwelling designs and settlement practices of Sámi and Tibetan pastoralists indicates that nomads in both regions internalized and activated different spatial models and inventively mediated between different spatial models according to seasonal or irreversible shifts of leaving the nomadic adaptation altogether. Further rigorous empirical inquiry into accommodation, innovation and possible failures to mediate gaps in the making/remaking of dwellings and settlements are called for.

Spring fire effects on two Aristida/Bothriochloa native pastures in central Queensland, Australia

Controlled burns are commonly used to suppress woody plant regrowth and to remove accumulated unpalatable pasture from rangelands and occasionally to alter pasture composition in native pastures in central Queensland, Australia. Outcomes can be somewhat unpredictable and short-term, and reliable evidence is needed to confirm the likely long-term efficacy of such fires. We imposed a regime of repeated spring burns on native Aristida/Bothriochloa pastures growing in two contrasting eucalypt woodlands of central Queensland to determine the effects on pasture composition, ground cover, landscape stability and woody plant recruitment, all in the absence of grazing. The sites selected were a silver-leaved ironbark (Eucalyptus melanophloia F.Muell.) woodland and a poplar box (E. populnea F.Muell.) woodland. Weather conditions precluded spring burns in 3 years out of 7 at the silver-leaved ironbark site and in 2 years out of 8 at the poplar box site. The burn intensity was variable, and frequent fires produced a marked change in abundance of only a few pasture species. Depending on the site, fires significantly increased the frequency of Enneapogon spp., Bothriochloa bladhii (Retz.) S.T.Blake and Dichanthium sericeum (R.Br.) A.Camus and reduced the frequency of some minor components such as Cymbopogon spp., Panicum effusum R.Br., Cenchrus ciliaris L. and, ephemerally, that of some forbs. Contrary to expectation, only Aristida calycina R.Br. declined in abundance among the many Aristida species present, and the abundance of Heteropogon contortus (L.) P.Beauv. ex Roem. &amp; Schult. barely increased under regular spring fires. The total germinable seeds of herbaceous species in the soil each spring was significantly reduced by burning in the previous spring. Repeated spring fires rarely reinforced any initial change induced by burning, and slightly lowered average ground cover as well as various indices of landscape stability and ecosystem functionality. Changes produced were not always consistent across the two communities. Though prescribed burning is often important for maintaining grazing productivity and landscape values, very regular use is not recommended.