ministers and raise their awareness about pastoralists' problems.
dia, summarizing the various legislation and guidelines that India has en-
dorsed and that relate to pastoralism. These include the Convention on
Biological Diversity, the "Right to Food", and the Durban Declaration.
ing that pastoralists be included in the pending Tribal Bill so they would ob-
tain rights to use forests. They also talked with Mr A Raja (Minister of Envi-
ronment and Forests), Sharad Panwar (Minister of Agriculture), Ashok
Gahlot (Secretary of the Congress Party and former Chief Minister of Ra-
jasthan), and Manvendra Singh (BJP member of parliament for Barmer,
Rajasthan), the Communist Party of India, and others.
work should have a permanent presence in Delhi to bring pastoralism onto
the political agenda.
toralists and shot footage of their interaction with the Tribal Minister. His
film will be an important input to the lobbying activities of the LIFE Network
at the International Technical Conference on Animal Genetic Resources
that will be held in September 2007 in Switzerland.
ures are undertaken, this important genetic resource is heading for near-
extinction. During a state-level workshop of camel breeders in November
2004 in Sadri, participants requested LPPS to develop a project to revital-
ize camel husbandry as a basis for peoples' livelihoods in the arid western
districts of the state.
Project fund encouraged LPPS to submit a proposal for funding. The
League helped LPPS design the project and prepare the proposal. The
proposal emphasizes pastoralist institution building, developing camel milk
marketing as additional income opportunity, improving understanding of the
pasture problem, and identifying possible solutions. The Ford Foundation
has approved the proposal, while that submitted to the Global Environ-
mental Facility is still pending.
Pakistan's livestock policy and institutional framework from the perspective
of pastoralists. During a visit to Pakistan on 24 June8 July, she inter-
viewed a wide range of stakeholders from government and non-
government organizations, projects funded by the European Union, Fais-
alabad University, as well as livestock keepers and pastoralists.
They were hosted by the Sardar of Wadh, Mr Menghel, who arranged them
to meet with members of his tribe. These people had suffered enormously
from drought and their herds had been reduced to a small number of goats,
giving an impression of an severe emergency. There was definitely ration-
ale for interventions, but it was difficult to decide how to go about this.