There were 60,000 camels at Pushkar Fair this year, according the BBC’s Susie Emmett. But their numbers are falling. BBC Radio 4’s From Our Own Correspondent programme of 23 December 2004 included a segment on problems facing Raika camel breeders in Rajasthan. Many female camels are now sold for meat – breaking a longstanding taboo among the Raika. They are forced to sell the camels because the animals have nowhere to graze, says LPPS Director Hanwant Singh Rathore.

Compiled by Arun Srivastava, Ilse Köhler-Rollefson, Hanwant Singh Rathore, and Uttra Kothari. Lokhit Pashu-Palak Sansthan

Over 50 camel breeders met in Sadri, Rajasthan in November 2004 to discuss the declining numbers of camels in Rajasthan. They recommended ways to increase access to grazing, improve veterinary services, and promote the marketing of camel milk and other products.

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Leaders of traditional livestock and pastoral communities, government representatives, civil society organizations, academics and livestock researchers met in Karen, Kenya on 27 to 30 October 2003. They issued the Karen Commitment, calling on governments to recognize the contribution of pastoralists to food security, the environment and biodiversity, and demanding that their rights to livestock genetic resources be formally recognized.

Click here for the full text of the Karen Commitment and the conference proceedings.