Grazing Into the Anthropocene or Back to the Future?

Abstract

This essay examines three central components of extensive livestock production—herd composition, grazing/pasture management, and rangeland tenure. In all of these areas, fenced, and open-range forms of migratory pastoralism face a number of shared problems. Set aside the presumption that either one of these systems is technically or institutionally more advanced than the other, and it turns out that each has lessons for the other. 1. For a variety of reasons, including climate change, we can look forward to a future world with less grass, which presents a challenge for livestock producers reliant on grass feeding livestock. With little delay and minimal scientific support, East African pastoralists are already adjusting to a new woody world by diversifying the species composition of their herds to include more browsers—camels and goats. There is a potential lesson here for commercial ranchers who have traded the stability of mixed herds for the profitability of keeping sheep or cattle alone. 2. Migratory rangeland systems distribute livestock very differently than fenced, rotational systems of livestock, and pasture management. Whereas, migratory herds exploit environmental heterogeneity, fenced ranching attempts to suppress it. Emerging archaeological evidence is demonstrating that pastoralists have amplified rangeland heterogeneity for millennia; ecological research shows that this heterogeneity sustains both plant and wildlife biodiversity at the landscape scale; and new approaches to ranch management are appropriating aspects of migratory herding for use on fenced ranches. A rapprochement between the environmental sciences, ranching, and open-range migratory pastoralism has occurred and merits wider policy recognition. 3. In contemporary Africa, indigenous tenure regimes that sustain open rangelands are eroding under pressure from market penetration and state encapsulation. At the same time in the American West, there are emerging novel land tenure instruments that replicate some of the most important functional characteristics of tenure arrangements in pastoral Africa. After many false starts, it appears that some aspects of American ranching do provide an appropriate model for the preservation of the open-range migratory systems that they were once supposed to supplant. “Development” policy needs to reflect upon this inversion of roles and its implications for accommodating diversity.

Wilder rangelands as a natural climate opportunity: Linking climate action to biodiversity conservation and social transformation

“…For example, African rangeland policies mainly target livestock production and trade, often neglecting biodiversity as well as crucial social, economic, and environmental aspects needed to sustainably manage natural resources and support pastoralists' livelihoods and access rights (African Union 2013 ). In many rangelands, communal land usage is customary, allowing pastoralists to move livestock based on forage availability, disease, rainfall, and fire patterns (Behnke and Scoones 1993 ). However, unregulated grazing and rising livestock numbers on some communal rangelands have contributed to their deterioration (Behnke and Scoones 1993 ).…”

“…In many rangelands, communal land usage is customary, allowing pastoralists to move livestock based on forage availability, disease, rainfall, and fire patterns (Behnke and Scoones 1993 ). However, unregulated grazing and rising livestock numbers on some communal rangelands have contributed to their deterioration (Behnke and Scoones 1993 ). The shift towards land tenure privatization has disrupted pastoralists' traditional rights and animal movement strategies, frequently without local community input, negatively impacting livelihoods and rangeland management practices (Behnke and Scoones 1993 ).…”

“…However, unregulated grazing and rising livestock numbers on some communal rangelands have contributed to their deterioration (Behnke and Scoones 1993 ). The shift towards land tenure privatization has disrupted pastoralists' traditional rights and animal movement strategies, frequently without local community input, negatively impacting livelihoods and rangeland management practices (Behnke and Scoones 1993 ). Without policies that directly address land tenure and communal ownership (African Union 2013 ), there is high risk that private enterprises (corporate or otherwise), or the establishment of protected areas, replace the use of rangelands by local and indigenous peoples.…”

Soil Microbial Community and Enzymatic Activity of Grasslands under Different Use Practices: A Review

“…The pressure from grazing animals' hooves compacts the topsoil, which promotes the formation of a dense and elastic sward. On mineral soils, however, intensive animal browsing has a negative effect on the physical and chemical properties of the turf, e.g., it reduces the porosity of the soil and thus limits water and air retention [48][49][50].…”

Short-term responses of herbaceous vegetation to bush clearing in semi-arid rangelands of South Africa

“…Amongst other strategies, pastoralists need to increase goat herd sizes to manage resprouting and seedling recruitment of woody plants through browsing (Maguraushe 2015). Increasing goat herds is not only the strategy to manage bush thickening, but also for diversifying livestock products to sustain pastoralists' livelihoods (Behnke 2021).…”