The League for Pastoral Peoples was founded in 1992 to provide relief in an acute crisis experienced by Raika camel pastoralists in India. Its initial mandate was to support pastoral societies and other small-scale livestock keepers to pursue their own vision of development through research, technical support, advisory services and advocacy.

“Pastoral peoples” are defined as people who depend for their living primarily on livestock and usually do not own land, but depend on access to “common property resources” for grazing. They inhabit those parts of the world where the potential for crop cultivation is limited due to lack of rainfall, steep terrain or extreme temperatures.

Later the members of LPP felt that the organisation should not only deal with pastoralists, but livestock keepers in general and changed its name to League for Pastoral Peoples and Endogenous Livestock Development. “Endogenous” means “proceeding from within” and expresses our belief that development should build on local knowledge, institutions, resources, rather than being determined from outside.