Steps taken by FAO on supporting Nomadic Herding and Pastoral Communities

 

Across the globe, more than 200 million people depend on pastoralism to make a living. Pastoralists are found in three-quarters of the world's countries. Raising livestock where no crops can grow. They live and travel across unpredictable environments, including the hottest, coldest, and driest places on Earth. Always moving strategically to access sporadic resources, distant markets, or basic services.

Pastoralists are guardians of the environment using indigenous livestock breeds that deposit organic manure and transport seeds over long distances. By sustainably managing grazing land, they play a role in sequestering carbon in soils and plants, protecting them. Water resources and ecosystem biodiversity and reducing shrub growth and forest fires.

Pastoralists are very resilient in hostile environments, but they suffer from food insecurity. When their coping mechanism is disrupted by drought, animal disease, climate change, conflicts, and dwindling access to land and water resources. They are often misunderstood marginalized and excluded from decisions that affect them.

FAO works with the government and partners to better support nomadic herders and pastoralists by:

• Updating knowledge and data on pastoral systems and their environment.
• Providing veterinary services and controlling transboundary animal diseases. 
• Supporting sustainable value chains and access to markets.
• Advocating for pastoral land rights to ensure their mobility and access to resources.
• Guiding pastoralists' friendly policies and regulations.
• Providing assistance and support to the most vulnerable in emergency situations,

Strengthening pastoralist communities can safeguard livelihood and food security for millions of people.