Search

Os incêndios rurais estão em contínua recrudescência em Portugal. Eles resultam de uma dupla violência biofísica e sociocultural decorrente da reengenharia social promovida pelo Estado Novo através da florestação. Os incêndios, de hoje, são os efeitos diferidos dessa violência passada, eles são a materialização da "slow violence" cometida contra as populações serranas e suas paisagens. A falência das políticas repressivas de supressão do fogo levou sucessivos governos portugueses a considerar uma mudança de paradigma que responda à violência da florestação. O programa das cabras sapadoras nasce nesse contexto. O anúncio do programa teve muito eco na mídia e nos meios urbanos, mas sua implementação no terreno não mostrou a mesma vitalidade. O desenho do programa esbarra na realidade da atividade pastoril tradicional que diverge dos pressupostos urbanos subjacentes: a atividade pastoril seria um negócio capitalista em dicotomia com a natureza. Os dois estudos etnográficos revelaram que (i) a atividade pastoril tradicional é uma comunidade híbrida humano-animal de socialidade estendida ancorada no território e que (ii) o ofício do pastor é uma atividade camponesa norteada pela ética de subsistência. Pastores, no entanto, possuem uma agência ambiental, que decorre de sua práxis ocupacional, amparada por conhecimento local culturalmente acumulado por gerações de habitantes rurais. A urgência dos desafios do Antropoceno requer a mobilização dessa agência. Para isso, é necessário desenvolver narrativas adequadas às visões de mundo pastoris. Somente sob essa condição, as cabras sapadoras atenderiam ao duplo imperativo ambiental e de justiça para combater os incêndios rurais da "slow violence" da florestação. Wildfires are in continuous recrudescence in Portugal. They result from a double biophysical and sociocultural violence of the social reengineering promoted by the Estado Novo with the forestation policy. Today's fires are the deferred effects of this past violence, they are the materialization of a slow violence committed against rural communities and their landscapes. The failure of repressive fire suppression policies led successive Portuguese governments to consider a paradigm shift that would respond to the violence of the forestation. The Portuguese targeted grazing wildfire program was born in this context. Its announcement had a lot of echoes in the media and in urban areas, but its implementation did not show the same vitality. The design of the program collides with the reality of traditional pastoralism that diverges from its subjacent urban assumptions: pastoralism would be a business in dichotomy with nature. The two ethnographic studies revealed that (i) traditional pastoralism is a hybrid human-animal community with extended sociality grounded in the territory and that (ii) pastoralists are peasants guided by the subsistence ethic. Pastoralists, however, have an environmental agency, which stems from their occupational praxis, based on local knowledge culturally accumulated by generations of rural dwellers. The urgency of the challenges of the Anthropocene requires the mobilization of this agency. It is then necessary to develop narratives tailored to pastoralists’ worldviews. Only under this condition would the Portuguese targeted grazing program respond to the double imperative of environment and justice to face the wildfires of the slow violence of forestation.

Background: Equids, especially zebras and donkeys, and cattle (bovids) share habitats in many savanna ecosystems in Africa. The issue of competition for food between these ungulate guilds remains largely unresolved. Resolving it will provide insights into how wild zebra are likely to interact with cattle on shared landscapes and suggest best practices for cattle owners who must decide whether to tolerate wild ungulates, some of which are severely threatened (e.g. Grevy’s zebra, Equus grevyi). Aim: Determine whether an equid and a bovid compete in a semi-arid savanna in Kenya. Organisms: Boran cattle (Bos indicus) and donkeys (Equus africanus asinus) – the latter as surrogates for zebras. Methodology: Experiments to measure performance (weight gains), bite rates, diet quality (digestible organic matter and crude protein), and gastrointestinal worm burdens (parasite egg count per unit weight of faeces) of the two ungulate species when herded separately (single species) or together (mixed species). We used two stocking levels: low-density (one animal per 7 ha), a level typical of commercial ranchers; and high-density (one animal per 2 ha), a level typical of pastoral herders. Principal findings: When herded together, both species gained more weight, had higher bite rates (especially at low stocking density), and selected diets with a more favourable balance between digestible organic matter and crude protein, than when herded separately. In addition, parasite egg output in faeces of donkeys was reduced by 14–35% following shared foraging with cattle. Conclusion: Cattle (a ruminant) and donkeys (hindgut fermenters, closely related to zebras) showed no evidence of competion with each other. Rather, our results show a facilitative, rather than a competitive, interaction between them.

A unique pastoral community uses the arid rangelands of eastern Ladakh, known as Changthang, northern India. The nomadic people rear a variety of livestock such as sheep, goats, horses and yaks, which provide them with various goods and services. Nevertheless, the needs and aspirations of the people are changing. There is a trend towards increasing the livestock population, especially of a breed of goat that produces one of the finest natural fibres: Pashmina, which is the mainstay of their economy. This increase in goat population, however, is jeopardising the long-term survival of the wild herbivores in the region, and as such is not sustainable. We present information on the current trends in socio-economy, Pashmina production, wildlife conservation, and the conflicts of interest between wildlife and nomads in the region. On the basis of this information, we make suggestions for the conservation of natural resources in the region. We recommend preserving the historical societal norms and notions of the people, and capitalising on them to manage natural resources. We also recommend joint management of natural resources by the local people, State and non-governmental organisations. Our findings provide a platform on which a grazing policy for the region may be formulated.

Background: Equids, especially zebras and donkeys, and cattle (bovids) share habitats in many savanna ecosystems in Africa. The issue of competition for food between these ungulate guilds remains largely unresolved. Resolving it will provide insights into how wild zebra are likely to interact with cattle on shared landscapes and suggest best practices for cattle owners who must decide whether to tolerate wild ungulates, some of which are severely threatened (e.g. Grevy’s zebra, Equus grevyi). Aim: Determine whether an equid and a bovid compete in a semi-arid savanna in Kenya. Organisms: Boran cattle (Bos indicus) and donkeys (Equus africanus asinus) – the latter as surrogates for zebras. Methodology: Experiments to measure performance (weight gains), bite rates, diet quality (digestible organic matter and crude protein), and gastrointestinal worm burdens (parasite egg count per unit weight of faeces) of the two ungulate species when herded separately (single species) or together (mixed species). We used two stocking levels: low-density (one animal per 7 ha), a level typical of commercial ranchers; and high-density (one animal per 2 ha), a level typical of pastoral herders. Principal findings: When herded together, both species gained more weight, had higher bite rates (especially at low stocking density), and selected diets with a more favourable balance between digestible organic matter and crude protein, than when herded separately. In addition, parasite egg output in faeces of donkeys was reduced by 14–35% following shared foraging with cattle. Conclusion: Cattle (a ruminant) and donkeys (hindgut fermenters, closely related to zebras) showed no evidence of competion with each other. Rather, our results show a facilitative, rather than a competitive, interaction between them.

A unique pastoral community uses the arid rangelands of eastern Ladakh, known as Changthang, northern India. The nomadic people rear a variety of livestock such as sheep, goats, horses and yaks, which provide them with various goods and services. Nevertheless, the needs and aspirations of the people are changing. There is a trend towards increasing the livestock population, especially of a breed of goat that produces one of the finest natural fibres: Pashmina, which is the mainstay of their economy. This increase in goat population, however, is jeopardising the long-term survival of the wild herbivores in the region, and as such is not sustainable. We present information on the current trends in socio-economy, Pashmina production, wildlife conservation, and the conflicts of interest between wildlife and nomads in the region. On the basis of this information, we make suggestions for the conservation of natural resources in the region. We recommend preserving the historical societal norms and notions of the people, and capitalising on them to manage natural resources. We also recommend joint management of natural resources by the local people, State and non-governmental organisations. Our findings provide a platform on which a grazing policy for the region may be formulated.

The high-altitude rangelands of the Trans-Himalaya represent a grazing ecosystem which has supported an indigenous pastoral community for millennia alongside a diverse assemblage of wild herbivores including burrowing mammals (pikas and voles). Pastoralists consider the small mammals to cause rangeland degradation and as competitors for their livestock, and actively eradicate them at many places. We present data on the ways in which small herbivores like pikas and voles mediate plant community dynamics. Vegetation cover and plant species richness were compared on and off both active and abandoned small mammal colonies. Plant species richness was higher inside colonies (about 4–5 species/plot) than outside (about 3 species/plot) whereas vegetation cover was only marginally lower (52% compared to 60%). Soil disturbance due to small mammals is seen to be associated with higher plant diversity without causing dramatic decline in overall vegetation cover. Such disturbance-mediated dynamics and vegetation mosaics produce a rich array of testable hypotheses that can highlight how small mammals influence assembly processes, succession, and dominance hierarchies in plant communities in this arid ecosystem. So, eradicating small mammals may lead to declining levels of diversity in this ecosystem, and compromise ecosystem-functioning. Changes in traditional pastoral practices and overstocking are more likely to be responsible for degradation. We emphasize that eradicating small mammals can lead to loss of diversity in this ecosystem and it is not a solution for the degradation problems.

The killing Desert? Drought, Nomadic Traditions and Development Administration with the Turkana. The Turkana are nomadic pastoralists who live in the desert regions of northwestern Kenya. The majority of the Turkana practice no agriculture nor fishing and live exclusively from the products of their livestock (milk, blood and meat). They keep multiple species herds (cattle, camels, goats, sheep and donkeys) in order to buffer the variations in the quality and distribution of vegetal resources and water requirements. The Turkana were one of many affected by several droughts. Although the famine which resulted from the sharp drop in food production was dramatized by international press, insecurity of food availability is characteristic of pastoral production systems. One technique used by the Turkana to exploit an environment where the availability of food is inconsistent, sparse and scattered, is the management of herds composed by many species which can be divided in the dry season into different herds. The second technique used to manage livestock is mobility and raiding cattle from neighbouring ethnic groups. In times of stress the Turkana utilize a system of social ties, obligations and rights which they build up over a lifetime. Important social relationships are reconfirmed periodically via the exchange of livestock between friends. The not integrated new projects in Turkana land could lead to destruction of the ecology, and to a breakdown of the pastoral system and of the system of social ties which has enabled generations of Turkana to cope with the stresses imposed by living in a harsh and unpredictable environment.