Research Partnerships with Developing Countries
A Programme funded by Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF) and Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC)

Landless Pastoralists – A Transhumant System Under Siege in the Hindu-kush-Himalayan Mountains: livelihood options for marginalised populations

In the North West Frontier Province in Pakistan (NWFP) conditions for irrigated agriculture and cropping are difficult due to a dominantly mountainous terrain. The majority of the territory can thus only be used extensively through different migratory livestock production systems. Among them the traditional long distance landless herder (LDLH) system has in the recent past been affected by a range of processes leading to a siege-like situation. Rapid population growth has led to the expansion of cultivated and constructed land on the expense of key pasture areas. The difficult access to social services such as veterinary, health, education and legal services has further increased the marginalization of the LDLH compared to sedentary farmers. In addition the national policies and the prevailing legal framework are favouring landowners while exclud-ing LDLH. Moreover, the local conservationist lobby - in particular the forest department - has managed to attract powerful international donors to promote the cause of bio-diversity conserva-tion through aforestation and so-called 'social forestry programs'. By declaring the grazing land used by the LDLH as forestable land, the LDLH are the first to be expulsed. Many well-intended development projects have thus had highly negative impacts on this population group making it ultimately an easy prey for fundamentalists. So far neither the land use system of LDLH nor the above described problematic has been inves-tigated in more details despite the fact that the LDLH account for about twenty percent of the local rural population. The main cause for this surprising situation may be found in the difficulty to communicate with people who are constantly on the move without having a voice. Therefore we propose to assess the current situation of LDLH by focusing on issues related to their mobil-ity, the condition of pastures, and the access to social services using a variety of methods and a strong participatory approach. Based on the gained improved understanding, options, opportuni-ties and recommendations will be identified and jointly discussed with the various stakeholder groups in multi-level multi-stakeholder dialogues. The principle assumption of the project is, that by involving the mobile herders as the real future managers of the pastures not only the ecologic environment can be improved but also the socio-economic conditions which shape the livelihoods of the LDLH. Ultimately this may help in reducing the potential for violent conflicts among the local population in an area which is already suffering from different internal and external inter-ventions fuelling violence.

Contact Addresses:

Prof. Urs Wiesmann
Zentrum für Entwicklung und Umwelt
Geographisches Institut
Universität Bern
Hallerstrasse 10
CH-3012 Bern
urs.wiesmann(at)cde.unibe.ch

Dr. Inam Ur-Rahim
Holistic Understanding for Justified
Research and Actions (HUJRA)
College Colony
PK- Saidu Sharif, Swat, NWFP
Pakistan
irahim33(at)yahoo.com