An article in the first issue of News from Drynet contains a call for rewarding pastoralists for their environmental services.

The article, by LPP’s Ilse Koehler-Rollefson, stresses the need to maintain livestock diversity. “Studies have shown that drylands have produced a disproportionately high number of well known breeds which are basically the result of the efforts and the indigenous knowledge of pastoralists,” says Ilse.

“Scientific programmes to increase drought resistance of organisms are funded with millions of dollars,” she says. “Yet the day-to-day efforts of pastoralists to keep and develop animals under drought conditions and thereby sustain crucial gene pools – that will prove priceless during climate change – remain entirely unrewarded.”

The Drynet project, funded by the European Union, involves 14 partner organizations around the world.

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