Mobile Pastoralism and the World Heritage Convention

By Roads Less Travelled

The following paper is a report for Roads Less Travelled, a global partnership of DiversEarth, Yolda Initiative and Trashumancia y Naturaleza, which makes the case for mobile pastoralism (transhumance, nomadic and semi-nomadic pastoralism) at a global scale, through new research, support to pastoral communities, and through creative celebration of their knowledge and ways of life. This paper contributes to a stream of work by Roads Less Travelled on mobile pastoralists and protected areas.

The paper is a scoping study; part of a multiyear project looking at mobile pastoralism and conservation. It is not attempting to be comprehensive or offer a detailed analysis of the situation in the various case studies described, nor at this stage to provide concrete suggestions for ways forward. Rather, it is using World Heritage sites as a vehicle to identify some of the key issues regarding the inter-relationship between mobile pastoralists and conservation objectives, along with some tentative next steps.

The paper aims to:

Introduce concepts of mobile pastoralism and its interaction with conservation
Discuss the role of World Heritage and the Advisory Bodies
List key World Heritage sites where mobile pastoralism occurs
Provide some brief case studies of mobile pastoralism within individual World Heritage sites
Draw some very preliminary conclusions, recommendations and suggestions for next steps