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La mobilité du bétail joue un rôle central dans le fonctionnement des agroécosystèmes, mais peut participer à leur dégradation. Evaluer l'impact de la mobilité des animaux sur la durabilité des agroécosystèmes nécessite de disposer d'outils et de méthodes de terrain accessibles permettant d'appréhender cette mobilité pour la diversité des systèmes d'élevage. Des typologies décrivant la diversité des systèmes d'élevage d'Asie sur Sud-Est ont été réalisées à partir de méthodes classiques (enquêtes sur la mobilité, cartographie mentales des paysages, enquête sur les pratiques d'affouragement). Nous proposons de construire des typologies des systèmes d'élevage comparables en mobilisant un système embarqué équipé d'un capteur GPS adapté aux milieux pastoraux tropicaux. En 2018, nous avons testé cette méthode sur des bovins de deux sites contrastés d'Asie du Sud-Est (Salakpra, nord Thaïlande et Quài Nưa, nord-ouest Vietnam). La typologie proposée est basée sur deux indicateurs quantitatifs : La distribution d'utilisation couplée à une carte d'occupation des sols permet de décrire la probabilité d'utilisation d'un habitat par un animal pendant une période donnée. La distance à la ferme (ou à un site de parcage nocturne) permet de quantifier les pratiques de conduite au pâturage. La méthode proposée de mobiliser les données GPS pour établir une typologie des systèmes d'élevage semble adaptée à différents contextes agrosylvopastoraux d'Asie du Sud-Est et permet de construire des typologies des systèmes d'élevage comparables à celles préétablies. L'utilisation de capteurs embarqués pourrait également soutenir la gestion territoriale du cheptel par les acteurs locaux afin de limiter les conflits d'usage et d'améliorer la gestion des ressources naturelles pastorales et non pastorales.

Small breeders in Egypt raise locally adapted sheep and goats breeds, which have the ability to produce and reproduce under the prevailing harsh conditions. Improving resilience of their production system is a major challenge to support socioeconomic development. However, little is known about the productive abilities of these breeds in small farming systems. The present work is an attempt to assess the performance of local breeds in small farming systems, and their capacity to cope with feed scarcity and harsh climatic conditions. In 2018, a retrospective survey was conducted over 12 month period to assess demographic rates of 25 local Barki sheep and goat flocks in the rain-fed area of Coastal Zone of Western Desert (CZWD) and 28 local Saidi sheep and goat flocks under the hot intensive agriculture system in Upper Egypt (UE). Flocks are larger, reproductive performance and offtake rates are higher (and mortality lower) in the CZWD, a region specialized in small ruminant breeding whereas it remains a secondary activity in Upper Egypt. The marketing season is mainly during Korban Eid festival. Their main challenges are frequent incidence of drought in the CZWD and high prices of feed stuffs in both sites. Our study suggests breeders have different strategies in UE and the CZWD when confronted with feed shortage. Breeders in the CZWD purchase feed to maintain high herd productivity whereas in UE small ruminant breeding is a minor activity with less productive animals that are resilient to feed shortage.

Deforestation is a major cause or wildlife decline in tropical ecosystems. The conversion of mature forest to fields by shifting cultivation leaves behind follow lands with secondary vegetation. Paradoxically, secondary forest regrowth that provides abundant forage in comparison with mature forests can benefit some species as the African elephant (Loxodonta africana) but they are also attracted towards human communities and cultivations raising conservation issues. The study was conducted in Gile National Reserve, Mozambique, an unfenced protected area composed of Miombo woodland. Among 60 elephants remaining in the Reserve, 5 individuals were equipped with GPS collars in 2014 in 2016. Deforestation was monitored by remote sensing from 1990 to 2016 and a map of forest productivity was built To test our hypothesis, we modelled resource selection functions using the GPS data. Elephants spend about half of their time in the core area and half in the buffer zone where most of the deforestation occurs. Elephants neither prefer nor avoid pristine forest habitats and cleared between 1990 and 2005. They prefer areas cleared since 2005 where forest regrowth occurred since 2009. The areas the most selected were cleared between 2010 and 2013 and were in cultivation during the study. Shifting agriculture leads to the displacement elephants toward cultivated fields and regenerating forest vegetation thus increasing Human/Elephant conflicts. This resource selection strategy also raises conservation questions related to the Reserve management aiming at reducing deforestation. Diversity of habitats should be maintained and resource selection linked to vegetation dynamics should be further understood.

Context - Water provisioning in drylands alters herbivore space use. However little is known on the effect of the spatial distribution of artificial water sources on animal movement patterns. The spatial distribution of waterholes implies diverging predictions for animal movement patterns. At broad scales, animals should select areas where resource patches are close-by to minimise movement costs (landscape complementation). Yet at fine scales, central place effects lead to the depletion of patches that are close to one another and that should ultimately be avoided by consumers. Objectives - We developed a multi-scale resource selection framework to test whether animal movement is driven by landscape complementation or resource depletion and identify at which spatial scale these processes are relevant from an animal's perspective. Methods - During the dry season, surface water and forage are non-substitutable resources for African elephants. Eight family herds were tracked using GPS loggers in Hwange National Park, Zimbabwe. We explained habitat selection during foraging trips by mapping surface water at two scales with gaussian kernels of varying widths placed over each waterhole. Results - Unexpectedly, elephants select areas with low waterhole density at both fine scales (

Territorial approaches invite us to consider multiple actors, multiple land use and feedbacks among actors and between societies and their environment. In terms of development, they emphasize on the importance of local scale governance systems as opposed to centralized top-down governance. Studying, managing and developing territories involves dealing with my heterogeneous actors, multiple land use and power imbalances. How can we encourage local actors to go beyond “business as usual” and transcend historical conflicts, collaborate and collectively re-think local governance of spaces and natural resources they share? Coexistence between agriculture and conservation is a major issue in the global South. There is more to coexistence issues than human-wildlife conflicts. By taking conservation beyond the boundaries of protected areas, Transfrontier Conservation Areas (TFCAs) have created heterogeneous mosaics of land uses including National parks, Protected Forests, private conservancies, CBNRM areas and farming communal areas. The stakes are high and tensions between actors rooted in the history of these places. If they are to achieve their objectives of meeting conservation and rural development goals, TFCAs need to develop practices and methods that bring these different land users to meet, share and negotiate at the local, national and regional scales. In this paper, we come back on over 10 years of collaboration between researchers and local actors in Zimbabwe. Focused on a recent participatory modelling project, we show how a strong and long-term partnership between researchers and local actors creates mutual trust and allows the development of tools and arenas through which dialogue can take place, new local social dynamics can emerge, and innovative local governance practices can be designed.