Vulnerability and Resilience of Human-Natural Systems of Pastoralism Worldwide

Review: Impact of Food and Climate Change on Pastoral Industries

“…Pastoralism, found mainly in low-income countries and sometimes in isolated less developed regions of high-income countries, is a form of livestock production where human activity and nature affect each other. Pastoralism is the caring and herding of large animals in dryland areas when looked at through a production perspective (Dong et al, 2016). From a livelihood perspective, pastoralism is the subsistence and successful living through herding livestock in less productive lands (IFAD, 2008).…”

“…"Pastoral system, " an alternative term for pastoralism, is the livestock production system where grazing of animals is the major land use. There are at least five different forms of pastoralism depending on herd mobility pattern, resource use and income generated from livestock and livestock products ( Table 1; Dong et al, 2016). Nomadic and transhumant pastoralism are the most common forms.…”

“…Vertical transhumance is typically practiced in mountainous regions (e.g., Bavaria in Austria, Swiss Alps), while horizontal transhumances is practiced in plain land areas (e.g., Mongolia). Horizontal pastoralism is more vulnerable to climatic or socio-economic changes than vertical pastoralism (Dong et al, 2016). Agro-pastoralism is a form of pastoralism in which most of the family income is generated from cultivating crops compared to pastoralists that generate more than 50% of family income from livestock and livestock products (IFAD, 2008).…”

“…Pastoralism has considerable economic ecological, and sociocultural importance (summarized in Figure 1). Pastoralists make their livelihoods in some of the harshest of conditions and unpredictable climatic conditions, however, they face challenges due to demographic, economic, political and climatic changes (Dong et al, 2016). Since the industrial revolution, the concentration of greenhouse gases (GHG) in the atmosphere have increased resulting in global land surface temperature rise, sea level rise, and drought in some areas (e.g., West Asia, North-Eastern Asia).…”

Estimation of Rangeland Production in the Arid Oriental Region (Morocco) Combining Remote Sensing Vegetation and Rainfall Indices: Challenges and Lessons Learned

“…In the current context of climate change, rangeland areas are subject to an increase in climate hazards, especially in the variability of rains [9,11], and local increases in drought episodes (e.g., in the Mediterranean region: [11]), causing important variations in forage yield from year to year [10,12]. The degradation of the vegetation cover caused by natural conditions is aggravated in these areas by increased pressure due to population growth and the demand for more food, economic development, technological progress, etc., causing alterations in the vegetation cover, including losses in biomass, by human-induced factors such as overgrazing or transformation of rangeland into cultivated areas [2,4,[13][14][15][16].…”