abstract focusing on geographic and environmental factors, this article discusses recent recurring shifts in the mode of subsistence – from transhumant to sedentary pastoralism – observed among the bakhtiaris of central zagros. the article suggests that the evolutionary changes have been part of an adaptation strategy followed by bakhtiari communities in the face of new environmental conditions...

Grabbing of pastoralists’ traditional land to put it under the commercial farming system, which has widely been adopted as a development and investment strategy in Sudan, is creating a cruel dilemma of increasing both resource conflict and environmental degradation. This is one of the fundamental reasons that the country has earned the reputation as a home of bloody c...

Livestock grazing in drylands supports pastoral livelihoods but is facing multiple changes including shocks such as severe droughts. Herdsmen specifically cite drought events as a reason for the abandonment of their transhumance practices. The purpose of this study is to assess the relevance of drought as a driving force for losses of livelihood security leading to a specific systemic change – ...

* Correspondence: inam. [email protected] University of Central Asia, 138-138 A Toktogul Street, 720001 Bishkek, Kyrgyz Republic Full list of author information is available at the end of the article Abstract Degraded hillsides in Northern Pakistan are rehabilitated through social forestry campaigns using fast growing exotic trees. These plantations on former scrublands curtail access by l...

Transhumant production system (TPS) is a type of extensive livestock production practiced by transhumant pastoralists in which indigenous livestock breeds are mainly fed a pasture-based diet. The hypothesis tested in this work was whether differences existed between fat samples from the different species in respect to ratios of n-6/n-3, and polyunsaturated fatty acids to saturated fatty acids. ...

Mountain rangelands are critical resources for mobile pastoralists, and they provide benefits to humankind broadly. Yet mountain pastoral social–ecological systems (SESs) face challenges that affect both mountains rangelands. Herders' traditional ecological knowledge (TEK) underpins their adaptive strategies serves as a resource future adaptation. This holistic case study of Ilemchane transhuma...

Excavations at Surezha, on the Erbil plain in Iraqi Kurdistan, yielded 89 sherds of Dalma style pottery from 5th millennium BC contexts. ceramics are widespread northwestern Iran but occur only rarely west Zagros northeastern Iraq. To understand significance we document their forms, production technology, and decorative style. We use Instrumental Neutron Activation Analysis petrography to deter...

In recent years, a clearer understanding of the complexities of pastoral development has been arising on the basis of work done by African and international researchers and development practitioners. They are refuting the causality of notions normally attributed to pastoralism, such as land mismanagement and degradation. They are also showing how extensive pastoral production has been underesti...

Past stereotypes of indigenous pastoralists as ignorant and environmentally destructive are being revised as ecological and social science research advances. As yet, little documentation of pastoralists' ecological knowledge exists, and even less is known about how this knowledge is, or can be, applied to resource management. This paper outlines the ecological knowledge of Mongolian nomadic pas...