Topic 5

Ecosystemic contributions of pastoralism

There is a growing interest in the multifunctionality of pastoralism, which is capable of providing ecosystem services that go far beyond the sole productivity of livestock.

Pastoralism offers a wide range of economic valuations in areas with low overall biomass productivity and that are poorly adapted to intensive livestock management systems. Quite unique in its features, it is adapted to use the great diversity and unpredictability of the grasslands resources with the greatest efficiency.

Considered as an extensive system with low inputs and production outputs, pastoralism makes an intensive use of natural, human and social capital to produce a range of economic, environmental and social products and services. It contributes to the well-being of the population through the sale of its direct products (meat, milk, hides, skins, etc.), but also it has perceptible non-market advantages through its inputs in other economic sectors (tourism events, Integration with agriculture, etc.). More importantly, pastoral breeding provides ecological services (use of cow dung as energy source, improvement of soil fertility, maintenance of biodiversity through the dispersal of plant seeds, etc.).

Pastoral livestock grazing, forage harvesting, trampling and excreta recycling, regulates the dynamics of savanna and steppe ecosystems by contributing to the major biogeochemical cycles: water, carbon, mineral elements and soil carbon fertility. It contributes to the regulation of water, pest and disease control, biodiversity conservation and fire management. The grasslands cover five billion hectares on the planet and sequester between 200-500kg of carbon per hectare per year, thus offering the prospect of a leading role in mitigating climate change.

The non-market benefits of pastoral livestock farming are not recorded by national accounting systems, whose macro-economic indicators of progress only consider nature as providing economic resources exploited and valued in money. The ecological benefits of pastoralism are therefore often neglected in favor of policies and investments aimed at replacing pastoralism with more intensive methods of raising production capital and inputs.

Where assessments include life-cycle approaches that take into account non-renewable energy consumption and environmental externalities throughout the value chain, the pastoral system has essential efficiencies for sedentary intensive systems, sometimes completely off links to soil.

Is it reasonable to measure the values of pastoral systems only in terms of the marketable and monetarizable aspects of animal production? There is little information on the situation of the many non-market ecosystem functions and the national economic accounts have difficulty incorporating these dimensions.

The demand for animal products is growing: what opportunities exist for pastoralism?

How do pastoral systems contribute to the provision of goods and services and to the satisfaction of livestock demands? How are they able to respond to the demands of regional, cross-border integration and the development of value chains?

What Positive Impacts on vegetation: on the structure and balance of woody / herbaceous; dicotyledons / grasses; of C3 / C4 plants ..., on fire risks and on biodiversity. How to promote ecosystem services co-benefits (GHGs, biodiversity ...) made by resource management activities in pastoralism; What economic, social and cultural contributions and how to take them into account in multisectoral and participatory planning and management approaches,