Issue 5, April 2007
Endogenous Livestock
Development Network
www.eldev.net
Inside
First African ELD
meeting, Addis Ababa,
Ethiopia 3
Experiences in en-
dogenous livestock
development 3
News 6
Workshops on
Livestock Keepers'
Rights 7
Avian influenza
8
Publications 8
Coming up 9
Links: Organizations in
endogenous livestock
development 9
People and Livestock
is an occasional newslet-
ter for those interested
in promoting socially and
ecologically responsible
livestock development.
It is produced by the
Endogenous Livestock
Development network
with support from HIVOS/
Biodiversity Fund
Please send news and
contributions to Evelyn
Mathias, evelyn@mamud.
com
Design & layout: Paul
Mundy, paul@mamud.
com
The opinions expressed
do not necessarily reflect
those of HIVOS/Biodiver-
sity Fund
·
·
·
·
·
·
·
·
Note to readers
This issue of the PaL Newsletter is edited by the coordinators of the Endogenous
Livestock Development (ELD) Network, Katrien van't Hooft, Getachew Gebru and
Evelyn Mathias. Members of the ELDev mailing list automatically receive People and
Livestock by email.
Short contributions for future issues are very welcome (maximum of 500 words). The
editors reserve the right to edit contributions and adapt them to the style of the news-
letter. We are also happy to include announcements you may have, provided they are
relevant to the focus of this newsletter. Please send any information for the next issue
to Evelyn Mathias (evelyn@mamud.com).
People
and
Livestock
Socially and ecologically responsible development
Focus
The Endogenous Livestock Development Network
Katrien van't Hooft, Getachew Gebru and Evelyn Mathias
The Endogenous Livestock Development (ELD) Network aims to improve the liveli-
hoods of people who depend on livestock by promoting endogenous development, or
"development from within". The network aims to:
· Improve livelihoods of the poor from small-scale farming and livestock keeping
· Prevent further erosion of livestock diversity and natural resources
· Increase the capacity of development organizations to support livestock-keeping
peoples
· Avoid repeating mistakes in livestock development processes
· Improve understanding of the risks and opportunities of high-input commercial live-
stock-keeping
· Focus attention on low-input livestock keeping in education, research and policy.
What is endogenous development?
The word endogenous means "growing from within". Endogenous development means
working
with local people, rather than for them. It implies supporting their initiatives,
and basing development efforts on their knowledge, resources and world-views with-
out romanticizing these practices. It stimulates people to use their own capacities in
solving problems and improve their lives.
There are many ways to support local initiatives. They include strengthening local identi-
ties, organization and marketing. Endogenous livestock development aims to optimize
livestock keeping as part of how people earn a living. This process often requires a
conscious redefinition of the relationship between local people and supporting agencies.
The word
endogenous should not be confused with indigenous as used in indige-
nous knowledge, a concept often seen as limited to traditional knowledge. Endogenous
development includes the use of both inside (local) and outside (external) resources in
a combined way. It often starts with indigenous knowledge, but it is not limited to it.
Why the Endogenous Livestock Development Network?
The ELD network was established with the overall aim of improving the livelihoods of
livestock-dependent peoples, promoting "development from within" as a valid devel-
opment option. Numerous individuals and organizations are involved in participatory
livestock development all over the world. Some focus on ethnoveterinary practices,
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and
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Issue5,April2007
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others on family poultry, pastoralism, training paravets, or supporting local innovation
in livestock. But such initiatives often do not know about each other and what they are
doing. The ELD network seeks to join these initiatives by creating a joint learning and
action platform. It aims to induce a paradigm shift in mainstream livestock development
approaches. There is a need to reorient these mainstream approaches, as they tend
to favour industrialized livestock keeping, do not involve local communities in decision-
making, and affect local people's food security.
The network has the following objectives:
· Create a global umbrella for joint learning, collaboration and networking
· Deepen the understanding and implications of endogenous livestock development
· Support field-based endogenous livestock development initiatives
· Influence livestock-related education, research and policies.
Network structure
Initiated in 2003, the network has an open structure and runs its activities on a limited
budget, capitalizing on activities and resources of its member organizations. The net
-
work has a decision-making advisory board of 13 members based in Bolivia, Ethiopia,
Germany, Ghana, India, Mexico, Mozambique, the Netherlands, Nigeria, and the USA.
The network has grown steadily, and several international networks and organizations
have started integrating information and activities on endogenous livestock develop-
ment into their work. Since 2006 the initiative has been supported by the HIVOS Biodi-
versity Fund.
In October 2006, the advisory board met for the first time in Bonn, Germany. The board
made regional plans for Africa, Central and South America and India. It decided to focus
joint efforts on five areas:
· Ethnoveterinary medicine
· Education
· Markets
· HIV/AIDS
· NorthSouth exchange.
Get involved
You can get involved in the network if you would like to...
· Have information about relevant activities and events related to endogenous live-
stock development
· Want to learn from others working in the livestock development sector
· Need links for information, student internships or funding
· Are seeking a way to document and publish your experiences
· Are looking for cross-cultural SouthSouth and NorthSouth exchanges
· Want to compare your own activities to new concepts
· Are engaged in one of the network's focus areas.
To join the network, you can visit www.yahoogroups.com/group/ELDev/ and click on
Join This Group. Or send a blank email to ELDev-subscribe@yahoogroups.com
The ELDev website, www.eldev.net, is currently under construction, but it has an
increasing amount of information on various aspects of endogenous livestock develop-
ment.
More information: please contact one of the coordinators: Katrien van't Hooft,
katrien.hooft@etcnl.nl; Evelyn Mathias, evelyn@mamud.com; or Getachew Gebru,
g.gebru@cgiar.org
The ELD Network seeks to
create a joint learning and
action platform for livestock
development initiatives
Join the ELDev Network by
visiting www.yahoogroups.
com/group/ELDev/
Page of 9
People
and
Livestock
Issue5,April2007
First African ELD meeting, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
On 45 July 2006, representatives from organizations from Ethiopia, Ghana, Senegal,
and Mozambique met in Addis Ababa to analyse the value of endogenous livestock
development in Africa and to establish priorities. They decided to explore linkages with
other organizations involved in related activities in Africa, and to initiate specific events.
One of these a workshop to raise awareness of local innovations and endogenous
livestock development in Mozambique took place in December 2006 (see the
News
section). Other activities on education and HIV/AIDS are planned.
More information: contact Getachew Gebru, g.gebru@cgiar.org
Experiences in endogenous livestock development
The Endogenous Livestock Development Network sponsored a session at the October
2006 Tropentag conference on Prosperity and Poverty in a Globalized World: Challeng-
es for Agricultural Research in Bonn. Below are summaries of the posters and papers
presented. See the Links
section for details of some of the organizations involved.
Prosperity and poverty in a globalized world? Challenges for agricultural
research in India
Nitya Ghotge and Sagari Ramdas (ANTHRA, India)
In 1996, the Indian NGO ANTHRA began action research with pastoralists, tribal peo-
ples and farmers. They documented, validated and disseminated valuable local practic-
es related to livestock breeds, livestock health care, housing and management, grazing
management, etc, as well as the gender dimension of these practices. Many of these
work well and are in tune with local cultures, economies and environment. Applied ap-
propriately, they have huge potential to improve the livelihood of marginal communities.
More information: www.tropentag.de/2006/proceedings/node381.html or contact
anthra@vsnl.com
Potential of ELD to enhance livestock research for poverty alleviation
Katrien van't Hooft (ETC Foundation, Netherlands), David Millar (CECIK, Ghana), Henry
Njakoi (Heifer Project, Cameroon) and Ellen Geerlings (LPP, Germany)
A workshop in Cameroon showed that farmers and fieldworkers from NGOs and the
government all perceived that "development has to come from outside". A high degree
of dependency on outside support implies a serious obstacle to sustained development.
Nine months later, all participants were revisited and a consistent change in attitude was
found: increased self-awareness, creativity and initiative. For the farmers this meant
more experimentation, improved organization and marketing strategies, and better rela
-
tions with support organizations. The fieldworkers were able to support farmers' initia
-
tives more effectively. Various direct and indirect effects on poverty alleviation could be
identified. This outcome has been documented in a short film.
More information: www.tropentag.de/links/vant_Hooft_TwDLv534.pdf or contact
katrien.hooft@etcnl.nl
Ethnomedical traditions: A methodology for their documentation,
assessment and promotion
Balakrishnan Nair (FRLHT, India)
The Foundation of Revitalization of Local Health Traditions (FRLHT) developed an
Ayurveda-based assessment methodology to identify safe and effective ethnoveterinary
Summaries of
presentations on
endogenous livestock
development at the Bonn
Tropentag conference
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practices in southern India. It was found that nearly 70% of the local practices had sup-
portive evidence from Ayurveda (an Indian medical system) and modern pharmacology.
More information: www.tropentag.de/2006/proceedings/node443.html or contact
nair.mnb@frlht.org
Direct involvement of indigenous women in sheep improvement research in
Chiapas, Mexico
Raul Perezgrovas (UNACH, Mexico)
Government programmes in Mexico have unsuccessfully attempted to absorb the local
wool sheep with high producing breeds, such as the Merino. The Institute of Indigenous
Studies (UNACH) has collaborated with Tzotzil women in a sheep-improvement plan
based on their own needs and fleece quality criteria. Direct participation of local experts
in sheep husbandry and weaving has been a key issue in the success of this innovative
research programme.
More information: www.tropentag.de/2006/abstracts/links/Perezgrovas_37sWPj3T.php
or contact raulperezgrovas@yahoo.com.mx
Laboratory and clinical testing versus evidence from the field: The
challenges of validating peoples' animal healthcare practices
Evelyn Mathias (LPP, Germany)
While many plants have proven to contain active ingredients, clinical studies have fre-
quently failed to confirm their efficacy; other studies have been criticized for their meth
-
odological flaws. Short term and reductionistic laboratory and clinical studies may not
be able to capture a plant's gradually developing long-term effects and interaction with
management factors. To give justice to the holistic nature of ethnoveterinary medicine,
such studies should be combined with other validation approaches, such as literature
study, social science methods and economic parameters. They should also consider the
husbandry system and the cultural context of the practice under study.
More information: www.tropentag.de/2006/abstracts/posters/492.pdf or contact
evelyn@mamud.com
Endogenous development of pastoral and livestock communities in Nigeria:
Role of research
Jerome Gefu (NAPRI, Nigeria)
Extensive pastoral production occurs in some 65% of Africa's drylands. Applied re-
search of the Rural Sociology and Pastoral Systems Department of the National Animal
Production Research Institute at Ahmadu Bello University aimed at providing good
understanding of the nature and dynamism of animal production systems in pasto-
ral communities. Various livestock health care delivery and production systems with
practical relevance to improved production in pastoral communities were classified and
documented. The research results have had a positive influence on government policy
for integrating traditional practices and technologies into scientific procedures of animal
health and production.
More information: www.tropentag.de/2006/proceedings/node441.html or contact
jgefu@yahoo.com
Action research in reviving endogenous rangeland management in southern
Ethiopia: A case from Southern Ethiopia
Getachew Gebru, Solomon Desta, Dadhi Amosha (Parima, Global Livestock CRSP)
and Layne Coppock (Utah State University, USA)
A variety of methodologies,
one common focus:
supporting local people's
strategies and goals
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People
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Burning is the most cost-effective means of manipulating vegetation in savannah eco-
systems. In the 1970s a blanket national ban on the use of fire was initiated in Ethiopia
to protect crops and natural resources from indiscriminate burning. The unintended
side-effect has been a weakening of traditional forms of rangeland management. Efforts
by Borana pastoral communities to revive indigenous range management practices,
such as burning, are now gaining the positive attention of policy makers. An alliance
among pastoral communities, researchers, policy makers and development actors has
been forged to reintroduce burning to fire-responding ecosystems. The process required
a combination of indigenous knowledge and modern technology, training and research,
as well as creation of a truly collaborative research approach.
More information: www.tropentag.de/2006/abstracts/links/Coppock_CKoZVTBM.php or
contact g.gebru@cgiar.org
Participatory research that builds on local innovation in beekeeping to
escape poverty
Hailu Araya (ISD, Ethiopia), Yohannes Gebremichael (Addis Ababa University, Ethio-
pia), Abera Gebreamlak (Tigray Bureau of ARD, Ethiopia) and Ann Waters-Bayer (ETC
Foundation, Netherlands)
In the drylands of northern Ethiopia, many smallholders earn income by selling honey
and bee colonies, which are in high demand and expensive. This is an important con-
tribution to the families' food security. Some farmers have been creative in developing
their own innovations, often related to beehive modification and queen rearing, but also
to honey separation and bee-forage selection. PROFIEET (Promoting Farmer Innova-
tion and Experimentation in Ethiopia) is bringing together smallholder beekeepers to
show and explain their innovations to each other and to formal researchers and exten-
sion workers. Together they develop ideas for join experimentation and participatory
technology development.
More information: www.tropentag.de/2006/abstracts/full/418.pdf, www.prolinnova.net/
Ethiopia or contact hailuara@yahoo.com
Promotion of traditional animal traction practices among the Shangaan
people of Mozambique for poverty alleviation
Romuald Rutazihana, Jacob Wanyama and Emma Bradley (VetAid, Mozambique)
The Shangan people are agropastoralists living in southern Mozambique. Like most
poor rural populations in developing countries, they have developed a rich knowledge
on how to keep cattle and donkeys for transport and land-tilling. A series of disasters,
such as the civil war, have seriously affected the number of animals as well as knowl-
edge related to them. Together with the agropastoralists, VetAid Mozambique has
evaluated the traditional techniques of animal traction and designed a programme to
integrate these elements with appropriate modern techniques. This approach aims to
promote the use of animal draft power towards improved food-security.
More information: www.tropentag.de/2006/abstracts/full/418.pdf, www.vetaid.org/
projects-mozambique.asp, or contact wanyama@vetaid.net
Dairy cattle for poverty alleviation in southern Tanzania
Wolfgang Bayer (AGRECOL, Germany) and Lucas Basilio Kapunda (Southern Highland
Network, Tanzania)
Over the past 50 years, various ways of increasing dairy production have been tried in
Tanzania, with the Heifer-in-Trust scheme being the most successful. Groups of farmers
receive a small number of exotic diary heifers (mostly Holstein-Friesian crosses), which
were distributed to individual families. Farmers are obliged to keep the cows indoors
and advised to make compost with the manure. Two calves have to be repaid for each
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heifer: one is passed to another group member and the other one to the project. Income
from the milk sales have helped farmers to acquire additional land. Families that barely
managed to survived six years ago are now considered wealthy. However, only 23%
of the households in any village are reached, and the success depends on the good
functioning of the farmers' groups. It was also found that the project reaches mostly the
moderately poor and able-bodied people, and that dairy production is most successful
in peri-urban areas.
More information: www.tropentag.de/2006/abstracts/full/415.pdf or contact
wb_bayer@web.de
News
Workshop on the future of animal genetic resources, Bonn, Germany
A workshop on "The Future of Animal Genetic Resources: Under Corporate Control or
in the Hands of Farmers and Pastoralists?" was held on 1618 October 2006, in Bonn,
Germany. While concentration in the livestock breeding industry is fast increasing (see
also Gura's 2007 study in the Publications section), and exotic breeds are transferred
to the South in large quantities, local smallholder livestock keepers are losing access
to grazing lands. The growth of large-scale biofuel plantations may add to these pres
-
sures.
Workshop participants ranging from livestock keepers to government representatives
emphasized the importance of livestock keepers' rights to their breeds as well as to
the productive resources (e.g., grazing land, water, animal health services and credit)
needed for their production. Local breed development should become a priority in pov-
erty alleviation programmes.
Organized by LPP together with the LIFE Network, the workshop was held in prepara
-
tion of the International Technical Conference on Animal Genetic Resources that will be
held in Interlaken, Switzerland, in September 2007 (see
Forthcoming).
More information: www.pastoralpeoples.org. To join the movement for Livestock
Keepers' Rights in preparation for the Interlaken conference, contact Susanne Gura,
gura@dinse.net or Ilse Köhler-Rollefson, ilse@pastoralpeoples.org
Conference on the future of transhumance pastoralism, Abuja, Nigeria
An international conference on the future of transhumance pastoralism in West and
Central Africa was held in Abuja, Nigeria on 2024 November 2006. The major theme
was the pastoral food and product chain: strategies, dynamics, conflicts and interven
-
tions. The conference was organized by the National Animal Production Research
Institute, in coordination with the National Special Programme on Food Security, the
National Fadama Development Project and the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural
Development. Participants from over 20 countries of Africa and Europe attended.
More information: www.landcoalition.org/pdf/ev06NigeriaPastoralism, or contact Jerome
Gefu, jgefu@yahoo.com
Prolinnova meeting in Mozambique
VetAid organized a first workshop on supporting local innovation in Mozambique on
46 December 2006, in Chokwe, Gaza Province. Twenty-six participants from different
stakeholder groups shared their experiences and challenges. They decided to form a
network to support and learn from each other, influence policy and mainstream more
participatory agriculture research for development. A core team made up of VetAid and
ADCR was formed to keep contact with partners, monitor progress, contact new part-
ners and governmental agencies, raise funds and organize a follow-up workshop in
2007.
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People
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Issue5,April2007
More information: www.prolinnova.net/news11-122006.php, or contact Jacob Wanyama,
wanyama@vetaid.net
Seminar on Deccani sheep, Hyderabad, India
ANTHRA, Jana Jagran and the Indian Society for Sheep and Goat Production and Uti
-
lization jointly organized a national seminar on the sustainable use and conservation of
the Deccani sheep breed in Hyderabad on 2022 February 2007. Participants included
scientists from key national research institutions, animal husbandry departments from
the states of Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra and Karnataka, veterinarians, academics,
people working with textiles, handicrafts and hand loom products, community repre-
sentatives and NGOs. They discussed and developed recommendations in the areas of
breeding, nutrition, feeds and fodder, health care, marketing and institutions.
More information: contact Sagari Ramdas, sagari.ramdas@gmail.com
Workshops on Livestock Keepers' Rights
Pastoralists and other livestock keepers should have the right to participate in formu-
lating national policies. That was one of the conclusions of a workshop on pastoral-
ists, livestock keepers' rights and animal genetic resources, on 2426 February 2007.
Around 100 pastoralists from all over India attended the workshop in Sadri, Rajasthan,
along with delegations from Mongolia, Iran and the Philippines.
The workshop also demanded official recognition for pastoralists as custodians of ani
-
mal genetic resources. Their mobile way of life and their traditional rights to use forest
lands and other natural resources must be protected, said participants.
An international meeting followed immediately after the national workshop. Participants
from Bangladesh, China, Germany, India, Iran, Mongolia, Sri Lanka, Sudan, Thailand,
the UK and Vietnam, along with the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United
Nations, clarified the concept of
Livestock Keepers' Rights. This a bundle of rights
and recommendations for strengthening the role of livestock keepers in animal genetic
resource management, developed over almost 7 years in a series of meetings involving
livestock keepers and pastoralists in Rome, Karen (Kenya), Bellagio (Italy) and Yabello
(Ethiopia).
The cornerstones of Livestock Keepers' Rights include:
· Livestock keepers are creators of breeds and custodians of animal genetic resourc-
es
· The sustainable use of traditional breeds depends on the conservation of their eco-
systems
· Traditional breeds are collective property and products of indigenous knowledge
and cultural expression
· Livestock keepers have the right to make breeding decisions
· Livestock keepers have the right to participate in policy making processes on issues
relating to animal genetic resources
· Livestock keepers need support for training and capacity building in the provision of
services along the food chain.
Issues discussed at the Sadri meeting included:
· The loss of grazing land and traditional knowledge, leading to the erosion of animal
genetic resources
· The dangers of intensive, industrial food production systems and their narrowing of
animal genetic diversity
· The threat to the right of livestock keepers to breed their own animals
· The lack of support for Livestock Keepers' Rights from governments worldwide
· The need to build the capacity of livestock keepers.
More information: www.pastoralpeoples.org or contact Perumval Vivekanandan,
vivekseva@yahoo.co.in
Livestock keepers are
creators of breeds and
custodians of animal
genetic resources
People
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Issue5,April2007
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Avian influenza
Publications
More information:
www.fao.org/newsroom/en/
news/2007/1000527/index.
html,
www.fao.org/newsroom/en/
news/2007/1000534/ and
www.fao.org/avianflu/en/
Avian influenza
communication
Links to information on bird
flu
www.comminit.com/
avianinfluenza.html
Rural poultry
e-Newsletter, 9th edition
www.kyeemafoundation.
org/news.php
Food security and poultry
production: How to cope with
avian influenza"
Conference in Berlin, Ger-
many, 1920 October 2006
www.poultry.kvl.dk/
upload/poultry/news/
pah_dokumentation_short_
version_end_051206__2_
.pdf
Impact of avian influenza on
smallholder poultry production
in West Africa: The need for
collaborative regional action
Conference in Tamale,
Ghana, 1214 September
2006
www.poultry.kvl.dk/
Information_resources/
Workshop_proceedings.
aspx
FAO has recorded fewer
outbreaks in 2007, but bird
flu continues to be a threat.
During a conference on
"Vaccination: A tool for the
control of Avian Influenza"
in Verona on 2022 March
2007, some 400 delegates
recommended that poul-
try should be vaccinated
against the disease, partic-
ularly in endemic countries
and when other control
measures (stamping out,
movement controls and
biosecurity) are ineffective.
Protecting indigenous
knowledge against biopiracy in
the Andes
Alejandro Argumedo and
Michel Pimbert. 2006.
International Institute for
Environment and Develop-
ment, London
The Indigenous Biocul-
tural Heritage Register
was developed by Andean
communities in Peru to
gain legal rights to the
knowledge and protect it
against biopiracy. Based
on traditional Andean sci-
ence and technology, it
also uses modern tools to
collect, document, store,
and administer information.
www.iied.org
IIED Drylands Issue Papers
Available in English and
French.
Conflicts between farmers
and herders in northwest-
ern Mali (No. 141)
Pastoralism: Drylands'
invisible asset? Developing
a framework for assessing
the value of pastoralism in
East Africa (No. 132)
www.iied.org
LEISA Magazine
This magazine on low
external input and sus-
tainable agriculture pro-
vides technical and social
options to improve farm
productivity and income in
an ecologically sound way.
Free of charge to organiza
-
tions and individuals from
the South. Issues 18.1
and 21.3 have a special
livestock focus. Available
in English and various re-
gional editions/languages.
www.leisa.info
Endogenous livestock
development: Can it help the
poor?
Evelyn Mathias, Ilse Köh-
ler-Rollefson, Ellen Geer-
lings, Katrien van't Hooft.
Tropentag, Bonn, Oct 2005
www.tropentag.de/2005/
abstracts/full/583.pdf
Compas Magazine
This six-monthly magazine
of the Compas network
presents examples of
supporting endogenous
development in crops,
natural resource manage-
ment, livestock and health.
Available in English and
Spanish, free of charge.
www.compasnet.org
Anuario de Estudios Indígenas
XI, 00
This book of the Institute of
Indigenous Studies in Chi-
apas, Mexico, describes
numerous experiences
with endogenous livestock
development, especially in
Latin America
www.iei.unach.mx
Livestock genetics companies:
Concentration and proprietary
strategies of an emerging
power in the global food
economy
Susanne Gura, 2007.
League for Pastoral
Peoples and Endogenous
Livestock Development,
Ober-Ramstadt, Germany
Scarcely noticed by the
public, a concentration
process is taking place not
only in livestock production
and processing, but also
in the livestock breed-
ing industry. This process
increases environmental
pollution and animal wel-
fare problems, and causes
serious losses of biological,
food and cultural diversity.
This report investigates the
concentration and proprie-
tary strategies of the global
livestock industry and how
they influence the animal
breeds raised by farmers
worldwide.
www.pastoralpeoples.org,
or contact Susanne Gura,
gura@dinse.net
Endogenous versus
globalized: An alternative
vision of livestock
development for the poor
Ilse Köhler-Rollefson,
2007. League for Pastoral
Peoples and Endogenous
Livestock Development
This discussion paper
concludes that following
in the tracks of Northern
livestock development may
be disastrous for develop-
ing countries that cannot
absorb rural poor into the
urban labour force.
www.pastoralpeoples.
org/docs/endogenous_vs_
globalized.pdf
Page 9 of 9
People
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Issue5,April2007
Coming up
Links: Organizations in endogenous livestock development
Agrecol
Founded in the 1980s, the
German Association for
AgriCulture and Ecology
(AGRECOL) is a working
group that promotes lo-
cally adapted, ecologically
sound land use in Africa,
Asia, Latin America and
Eastern Europe.
More information: www.
agrecol.de
ANTHRA
ANTHRA is a resource
organization working on
strengthening peoples' live-
lihoods, through supporting
sustainable and equitable
livestock production in
different agro-ecological
contexts in India.
More information: www.
anthra.org
Compas
Based at the ETC Founda-
tion in the Netherlands,
Compas is an international
network designed to under-
stand the diversity of rural
peoples' knowledge, en-
courage local experimenta-
tion on basis of farmers'
worldviews, and enhance
inter-cultural dialogue on
farmers' knowledge and
indigenous learning
More information: www.
compasnet.org
FRLHT
The Foundation of Revi-
talization of Local Health
Traditions (FRLHT) de-
signs and implements
programmes on Indian
traditional systems of medi-
cine, the conservation of
the natural resources and
the revitalization of social
processes for transmission
of this heritage.
More information: www.
frlht.org.in
LPP
The League for Pastoral
Peoples and Endogenous
Livestock Development
(LPP) supports pastoral
societies and other small-
scale livestock keepers to
help them pursue their own
vision of development.
More information: www.
pastoralpeoples.org
PARIMA
Established in 1997, the
Pastoral Risk Manage-
ment (PARIMA) project is
a component of the Global
Livestock Collaborative
Research Program in East
African rangelands. It aims
to build local capacity of
pastoralist communities in
terms of asset conserva-
tion, income diversification
and collective action.
More information: http://
glcrsp.ucdavis.edu/
projects/#PARIMA
UNACH
The Institute of Indig-
enous Studies in Mexico
(UNACH) is working with
Tzotzil ethnic communities
of Mayan origin in Chiapas
highlands, who depend
to a large extent on their
income derived from sheep
husbandry and weaving
woollen clothes.
More information: www.iei.
unach.mx
First International Technical
Conference on Animal Genetic
Resources
17 September 2007,
Interlaken, Switzerland
Will provide the opportunity
to reach agreement on how
best to address priorities
for the sustainable use,
development and conser-
vation of animal genetic
resources, and to raise
awareness and apprecia-
tion of the various stake-
holders and policy makers
vis-a-vis the significance of
such genetic resources.
www.fao.org/ag/againfo/
programmes/en/genetics/
angrvent2007.html, or
contact Irene Hoffmann,
irene.hoffmann@fao.org
For information on
civil society activities,
contact Susanne Gura,
gura@dinse.net or Ilse
Köhler-Rollefson, ilse@
pastoralpeoples.org
International Grasslands/
Rangeland Congress
29 June5 July 2008, Ho-
hhot, China
Focuses on "multifunctional
grasslands and range-
lands in a changing world",
with the subthemes: (1)
Grasslands/rangelands
resources and ecology; (2)
Grasslands/ rangelands
production systems; (3)
Grasslands/rangelands
people and policies.
http://igc-irc2008.org/
invitation.htm, or contact
secretariat2008@hotmail.
com or secretariat2008@
yahoo.com.cn
XVIth IUAES Congress
1523 July 2008, Kunming,
Yunnan, China,
Organized by the Interna
-
tional Union of Anthropo
-
logical and Ethnological
Sciences (IUAES) and the
Commission on Nomadic
Peoples. A proposed panel
will focus on "Resilience
to resistance: Pastoralist
strategies in response to
contemporary political and
ecological disruption and
change in Africa".
More information: www.
icaes2008.org, or contact
Michael Bollig, michael.
bollig@uni-koeln.de or
John Galaty, john.galaty@
mcgill.ca
1st IFOAM International
Conference on Marketing of
Organic and Regional Values
2628 August 2007,
Schwäbisch Hall, Germany
Will address ways to foster
identity and uniqueness of
agricultural products and
food through marketing
strategies, and how to best
communicate this infor-
mation to the consumer.
Organized by Organic
Services and Ecoland
in cooperation with the
International Federation of
Organic Agriculture Move-
ments
www.ifoam.org/events/
ifoam_conferences/
regional_values_2007.html