The value of pastoralism as a food production strategy without any inputs and its ecological benefits are now well established and interest has increased especially among groups that promote resilience. However, the progress in international fora in recognizing and acting upon this situation is agonizingly slow, and governments pay only lip service towards pastoralism. Even the organic movement does not recognize the advantages of pastoralism and some of its protagonists continue to associate pastoralism with drought, desertification and overgrazing. The overall goal of this project that is supported by Misereor is to project and establish pastoralism as a sustainable model for ecological and ethical livestock production in the future.
One of the components of this project is to ‘count pastoralists’ in different countries (Argentina, Germany, India, Kenya, and Uganda) and to develop a better methodology for obtaining data on evaluating their economic and ecological importance.