Pastoralism, conservation and the overgrazing controversy

Homewood, Katherine; Rodgers, W. A.

doi:10.1017/cbo9780511565335.009

Cited by 67 publications

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“…Scientific knowledge offers one set of tools to deconstruct these narratives, giving empirical evidence to support or reject a specific claim. For instance, claims of overgrazed rangelands triggering desertification in African and Central Asian drylands have been shown to be inconsistent or unfounded in a number of individual and in-depth studies (Homewood and Rodgers 1987;Homewood 2008). The case study presented in this paper illustrates how claims regarding the link between ownership and sustainable use are used to impose the interests of powerful groups.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In the Logone Floodplain, Cameroon, two-thirds of the biomass is stored underground and the aboveground vegetation is inaccessible due to floods during four to six months of the year (Scholte, 2007). Thus, due to the presence of natural reserves and the continual process of recolonization, high densities of livestock can be kept by pastoralists, even to the point of temporary overgrazing in some resource patches, with no cumulative effect on the long-term sustainability of the system (Homewood, 1994;Homewood and Rodgers, 1987). The importance of unexploitable reserves has been shown to be part of many systems and is fundamental to population dynamics and evolution (Berryman and Hawkins, 2006) However, density-dependence, equilibrium, OF / IFD, and metapopulation all remain important drivers of socio-ecological systems.…”

Section: Ecologists' Perspectivementioning

confidence: 99%

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Sustainability and Land tenure: Who owns the floodplain in the Pantanal, Brazil?

2017

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In seeking to achieve poverty alleviation and environmental conservation, public policy has often centred on guaranteeing land titles to local peoples. However, such approaches have brought unintended outcomes, replacing small-scale economies and natural areas by intensive exploitation of resources with no clear improvement in local people's wellbeing. To understand this, we go beyond a general political ecology framing to consider relations between sustainability and land tenure, focusing on the intersection of economics, ecology and anthropology to understand how land tenure, property and use play out on the ground. We draw together different concepts including bundle of rights, de facto and de jure resource use, property regimes, density-dependence and non-equilibrium theory. The significance of this threediscipline view is illustrated through a case study of the Pantanal wetland, Brazil, where conservationists, the government and the local population contest ownership of the Paraguay River floodplain. Government sought to address conflicts around tenure and access through a narrow view of property, which failed to encompass the overlapping layers of land tenure, property and use on the ground and only served to create further legal battles. This article concludes that a more complex view combining the three perspectives is needed in the case of the Pantanal, and in other cases of contested property rights, in order to resolve conflicting claims and foster sustainability. We dissect both the power plays involved between different groups competing for control of a valuable resource, and the legal frameworks which can and should provide checks and balances in the system. The more nuanced grasp that emerges of local systems of tenure and access, of how these diverge from western property concepts, and of their environmental implications favours a better understanding of local realities, allowing for better management policy and consequently contributing more effectively towards poverty alleviation and environmental protection.Keywords: sustainability, land tenure, property, resource use, the Pantanal Highlights Conventional property systems do not map well onto unpredictable, dynamic ecosystems  Resource access and use in wetlands and semi-arid rangelands are customarily mobile  Locally-adapted resource use, not specific property regime, dictates sustainability  Economics, anthropology and ecology help address land conflict in Brazil's Pantanal

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Ecologists' Perspectivementioning

confidence: 99%

Sustainability and Land tenure: Who owns the floodplain in the Pantanal, Brazil?

2017

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“…As Turner (2015: 3) recently pointed out, political ecologists have long criticized "truth claims made in the name of environmental science" (cf. Fairhead and Leach 1996;Forsyth 2003;Goldman et al 2011;Homewood and Rodgers 1987;Leach and Mearns 1996;Scoones 1996;Stott and Sullivan 2000). Recently, and taking a slightly different turn, the growing body of literature on the politics of ecology investigates environmental knowledge production and its political influences and implications (Turner 2015).…”

Section: Journal Of Political Ecologymentioning

confidence: 99%

An ecology of difference: fence-line contrast photographs as scientific models in ecology

Hongslo¹

2015

Journal of Political Ecology

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Political ecologists have long acknowledged the links between knowledge and power. Recently there has also been a growing interest in detailed studies about knowledge production within critical political ecology. This article is a study of the use of photographs in scientific articles on dryland ecology, and investigates the functions of photographs. Contrary to the straightforward manner in which they are presented, photographs are not value-free documentary proofs of 'how things are.' Rather, photographs constitute arguments in their own right. Using photographic and textual theory, this study analyzes two articles that include photographs of fence-line contrasts between two different management regimes. Contrasting areas divided by a fence-line is a methodology that demonstrates how management differences lead to differences in vegetation. In a Southern African context, however, differences across a fence tend to encompass deep racial and economic divides, and the fence-line photos risk encompassing these differences. This article argues that the fence-line contrast photographs in this study function as models that order the causal links between vegetation dynamics, land tenure and land management. These models correspond closely to equilibrium models in range ecology, and the fence-line photographs thus contribute to a degradation narrative that has been influential for land reform policies in Southern Africa, and that feeds into land use policies that favor private land ownership in communal areas. Keywords: Critical political ecology, fence-line photography, scientific models, rangeland ecology, Southern Africa RésumeLes écologistes politiques ont depuis longtemps reconnu les liens entre le savoir et le pouvoir. Récemment, il a également eu un intérêt dans les études détaillées sur la production de connaissances au sein de l'écologie politique critique. Cet article est une étude de l'utilisation des photographies dans des articles scientifiques sur l'écologie des zones arides. Il étudie également les fonctions de photographies. Ils ne sont pas simples ou sans valeur. Au contraire, les photographies sont des arguments dans leur propre droit. En utilisant la théorie photographique et textuelle, cette étude analyse deux articles qui comprennent des photographies de contrastes long des clôtures, entre deux régimes de gestion différents. Contrastant zones divisées par un 'fenceline' est une méthodologie qui démontre comment les différences de gestion conduisent à différents types de végétation. Dans un contexte de l'Afrique australe, les divisions raciales et économiques profonds peuvent également être exposés. Cet article soutient que les photographies de 'fencelines' dans cette étude sont des modèles qui commandent les liens de causalité entre la dynamique de la végétation, le régime foncier et la gestion des terres. Ces modèles correspondent étroitement aux «modèles d'équilibre» dans l'écologie des pâturages. Les photographies 'fenceline' contribuent ainsi à un récit de dégradation qui a eu une influ...

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“…It is when changes became permanent, meaning that the degradation of the vegetation cover is beyond recovery, thereby increasing soil erosion, that we are facing overgrazing. The combined effects of vegetation loss and soil degradation lead to the reduction of soil infiltration capacity, influencing primary production and ultimately animal productivity (Homewood and Rodgers 1987). A dynamic simulation model addressing the processes of desertification due to overgrazing, illustrated in dehesa extensive livestock farming scenarios (Ibáñez et al 2007), proposes some early warning ecological and economic indicators, of which the quantity of pasture stands out.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Overgrazing in the Montado? The need for monitoring grazing pressure at paddock scale

2015

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Montados are presently facing the threat of either abandonment or intensification, and livestock overgrazing has been suspected of contributing to reduced natural regeneration and biodiversity. However, reliable data are to our knowledge, lacking. To avoid potential risks of overgrazing, an adaptive and efficient management is essential. In the present paper we review the main sources of complexity for grazing management linked with interactions among pasture, livestock and human decisions. We describe the overgrazing risk in montados and favour grazing pressure over stocking rate, as a key indicator for monitoring changes and support management decisions. We suggest the use of presently available imaging and communication technologies for assessing pasture dynamics and livestock spatial location. This simple and effective tools used for monitoring the grazing pressure, could provide an efficient day-to-day aid for farm managers' operational use and also for rangeland research through data collection and analysis.

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Pastoralism, conservation and the overgrazing controversy

Cited by 67 publications

References 0 publications

Sustainability and Land tenure: Who owns the floodplain in the Pantanal, Brazil?

Sustainability and Land tenure: Who owns the floodplain in the Pantanal, Brazil?

An ecology of difference: fence-line contrast photographs as scientific models in ecology

Overgrazing in the Montado? The need for monitoring grazing pressure at paddock scale

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