Grasslands of the World.pdf - Disasters and Conflicts - UNEP

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Grasslands of the world
they traditional or commercial. In many areas, commercial stock-rearing off
extensive grassland is in economic difficulties and the peoples of traditional
systems are mostly poor to very poor. How can those who manage the
grasslands be encouraged to do so for the general good, and how can they
be recompensed for adjusting management to even more environmentally
friendly ways?
• The management of communally held grasslands is generally in great
difficulties. Clarification of grazing rights , the putting in place of an appropriate
legal framework, which should take into account existing perceived rights ,
and allocation of some form of long-term security is necessary before herders
can begin to indulge in medium- to long-term modifications to their existing
systems . Technical grassland interventions (apart from veterinary care) can
only be useful once the tenure situation is clarified.
• The overall management of extensive grazing lands should be done within
a wide framework on a very large, landscape scale so that it is effective in
dealing with the whole range of pastoral resources and products, covers
the migration territories of transhumant groups as well as conserving
wildlife and catchments. In traditional areas, pastoralists are often in small,
poorly organized groups. Better planning and management is only likely
to succeed if the pastoral population is assisted to organize itself into large
groups that can enter into dialogue with one another and the authorities,
not only to participate but to play a leading role in the planning and
management processes.
• High, and often increasing, livestock numbers, often associated with
reduction of the area available for grazing , is usually associated with
reported grassland degradation . In pastoral systems , rising animal numbers
are often associated with rises in the human population. The remaining
extensive grasslands are mainly in situations where intensification and
increase of herbage production is unlikely to be practical or economic.
Rarely can more pasture land be made available so, when population
numbers obviously exceed the carrying capacity of the land, thought must
be given to alternative sources of livelihood.
• Localized overgrazing with neglect of distant pasture is reported in several
studies (this includes poor distribution of stock in big paddocks) and is a
new but serious problem in countries that have undergone decollectivization
and where there are vast areas of steppic and mountain pasture. Again,
there is a strong case for organization of the pastoral population to adopt
community herders, allocate ex-collective grazing rights and rehabilitate
pastoral infrastructure.
• Provision of lean-season feed is an important part of many extensive
systems , this is excellent in farming systems and where stock are housed
off the pasture in the lean season. Maintaining numbers of stock far in
excess of the grassland carrying capacity with purchased feed is, however,