ABSTRACT. Pastoralists' knowledge of adaptive rangeland management in Iran has long been only selectively analyzed and documented. This study attempts to rectify that by outlining the indigenous ecological knowledge of the pastoralists of Nariyan village in the Taleghan region of northern Iran, and by evaluating the influence of such knowledge on rangeland management. Local herd owners operate according to traditional herding practices; their knowledge of rangeland plants and principles of sustainable rangeland management is indigenous and is based on centuries of experience and observation. Their in-depth knowledge covers the medicinal properties of various local plant species and the palatability of the most salient forage species in terms of sustaining the sheep and goats that are their livelihood. This study investigates some of the traditional strategies of rangeland management used in the Taleghan region, the rationale and timing of livestock rotation in the rangelands, local landscape classification, and local know-how in animal husbandry, all of which are indispensable in contributing to the pastoralists' survival and maintenance of the local environment.

No abstract

Through an in-depth ethnographic case study, we explore water management practices within the Jiroft County province in Iran and discuss the applicability of indigenous knowledge of regional water management to the resource governance of arid regions across the world. We explore, through qualitative analysis, the relationship between community social structure, indigenous knowledge, water management technologies and practices, and water governance rules under conditions of anthropogenic climate change. From participant observational and interview data (n = 32), we find that historically-dependent community roles establish a social contract for water distribution. Cultural conventions establish linked hierarchies of water ownership, profit-sharing and social responsibility; collectively they construct an equitable system of role-sharing, social benefit distribution, socioecological resilience and adaptive capacity in the face of climate change-induced drought. We conclude that the combination of hierarchical land ownership-based water distribution and what we term 'bilateral compensatory mutual assistance' for the lowest-profit agricultural water users, provides a model of spontaneous common pool resource management that bolsters community drought resilience. We use this case to proffer recommendations for adapting other centralized, grey infrastructure and regulatory models of water management from lessons learned from this spontaneous adaptive management case.

No abstract

No abstract

Mutual help among pastoralists plays a key role in herding in rural Iran where pastoralists share a rich knowledge of dairy production. Nariyan village, located in the Taleghan region in Northern Iran, was chosen for this study on local traditions of the dairy production chain because it is still largely based on reciprocal sharing of labour and milk and local traditions of social cohesion. The results reveal that an elaborate network of communal institutions, based on seasonal cooperation, exists among pastoralists that regulate the use and management of milk and milk products. Different social roles, such as those of owners of herds of different sizes, herd manager and shepherds, are organised in a traditional co-operative institution, called Shirvâreh, a summer seasonal cooperative that strengthens social ties among the pastoralists and guarantees an efficient dairy production chain for subsistence and marketing. Precise data on milk-sharing reciprocity, such as are provided in this paper, seem to be rare for this geographical region if there are any at all, and this fills a gap in empirical rangeland science as it adds to the theory of traditional knowledge being a means to harmonise societal inequalities.Additional keywords: cooperative livestock management, local collective action, milk exchange, mutual help, social cohesion.

No abstract

No abstract