Dryland cultural ecology often involves mobility. As already discussed, livestock mobility allows humans and domestic stock to take advantage of rainfed natural resources without overgrazing or overhunting a single site on the landscape. Mobility is itself quite complex and closely related to the abundance of biodiversity and water resources. Mobility may involve a seasonal migration, often with domestic animals adapted to arid conditions, or it may be driven by rain patterns which are quite erratic. These movements are not arbitrary and are associated with long-term traditional tenure agreements, which are nested into larger human landscape systems of rights and responsibilities.111 There are vertical nomadic groups who use altitude to secure resources. They will move up and down a mountain escarpment as the seasons change, but with rights to move laterally if necessary, according to certain social rules. There are people who live in fairly flat territories, but will move animals to higher or lower altitudes in the case of prolonged drought. There are others who have widespread territories with migratory corridors to move in between sedentary communities or navigate landscape features such as mountain valleys. They will typically not use a part of their territory in order to protect it as a refuge during times of climatic stress.333 These types of mobile systems reach back far into the history of modern human civilisation. The Kalahari San have probably occupied arid and dry sub-humid regions of South Africa for at least 100,000 years. Other dryland peoples such as the Bedouin or the Mongols have managed their rangelands for less time, with possibly 6,000 to 8,000 years of occupation andspecialisation. The ecosystems where these peoples live have changed radically during these time frames, with the natural resource and other governance systems having to adjust over time, and shifts in exploitation of different species required for human survival and ecosystems integrity. Changing political boundaries and governance systems have altered the power dynamics, tenure systems, land use and occupancy patterns, and in some cases have substantially disrupted the ability of dryland peoples to govern their traditional territories or move smoothly across the landscapes.444 Mobile pastoral systems are a feature common to all dryland regions from mountain ecosystems in Latin America, Europe and Asia to the savannahs of Africa. Livestock mobility is an ancient form of land use that is well adapted to the challenges of both coping with scarce natural resources and environmental constraints such as drought, and maintaining sustainable and productive livelihoods. Such economies are based on domesticated animals, including cattle, sheep, goats, horses, camels, yaks, llamas, and alpacas. The herds undergo seasonal migrations which guarantee a constant supply of fodder and water. More than 200 million people are estimated to rely on pastoralism, and their livelihoods make a major contribution to the national economy of many countries. In Mongolia, for example, livestock is responsible for one-third of GDP and 50% of the population is dependent on livestock production for their livelihoods143.
555 One of the interesting elements of understanding governance and decision making in ecologically sensitive environments is to study the indigenous systems which are based on principles of rights and responsibilities, equity within the community of users, and also the need to respect the capacity of the ecosystem to regenerate and provide ongoing services to future generations. Indigenous systems in the drylands are based on sustainable use, knowledge of biodiversity and of dryland ecology, and then a moral/normative framework that includes both humans and other species. This contrasts with modern state systems wherein there may be a normative framework concerning rights and responsibility of the citizenry, but this may not be associated with environmental duties and intergenerational responsibilities for sustainability
đang được dịch, vui lòng đợi..
