Publications

Exploring Orissa’s animal cultures with Dr. Balaram’s pathe pathshala

Ilse Koehler-Rollefson

League for Pastoral Peoples and Endogenous Livestock Development (2011)

The eastern Indian state of Orissa has a wealth of local livestock breeds, LPP's Ilse Koehler-Rollefson has learned. She visited farmers who raise Ghunsur cattle and goats, a group of nomadic pig herders, and duck keepers near the coast.
She also took part in a "roadside university", or pathe pathshala, run by Balaram Sahu, a veterinarian from Orissa, to discuss livestock health and management with local people.

Marketing products from local livestock breeds

An analysis of eight cases

Evelyn Mathias, Paul Mundy and Ilse Köhler-Rollefson

Animal Genetic Resources 47: 59-72 (2010)

Local breeds and minor species are hardy and able to thrive in harsh conditions. Their adaptive traits and unique characteristics (coloured wool or hides, extra-fine fibre, meat or milk with special tastes) offer opportunities for the marketing of speciality products and sustainable food production in marginal areas.

This study discusses eight initiatives from Africa, Asia and Latin America that help communities to produce and market various products for niche markets: milk and dairy products from dromedaries; cashmere, wool and handicrafts from goats, sheep and Bactrian camels; and meat, meat products and handicrafts from goats and sheep.

The main strategies were to seek new markets for existing or entirely new products (rather than trying to exploit existing markets). Most initiatives had some form of branding or labelling, and two had protected their products with geographical indications.

Such marketing initiatives can be started with limited capital inputs but are skill and knowledge intensive. They require strong commitment to overcome seasonal fluctuations in production, the lack of infrastructure and services, and difficulties in institution building. But when well planned and carefully managed, they can help conserve breeds as well as provide a livelihood for people involved in the value chain, allowing actors earlier in the value chain – livestock keepers and small-scale processors – to capture a greater share of the value of the end product than they would by trying to serve a mass market.

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Livestock keepers’ rights

The state of discussion

I.U. Köhler-Rollefson, E. Mathias, H. Singh, P. Vivekanandan and J. Wanyama

Animal Genetic Resources 47: 119-23 (2010)

Livestock keepers’ rights (LKR) is a concept developed by civil society during the “Interlaken process” and is advocated for by a group of non-government organizations, livestock keepers, pastoralist associations and scientists who support community-based conservation of local breeds. This study provides an overview of the rationale, history and content of LKR and suggests that biocultural or community protocols are a means of invoking the principles of LKR even in the absence of their legal enshrinement. It is concluded that besides striving for legal codification of LKR its principles should form the basis of pro-poor and ecological livestock development in general.

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2010 retrospective

Ilse Köhler-Rollefson

Summary of activities of the Local Livestock for Empowerment (LIFE) Network, 2010

Recognising ethnoveterinary medicine and community rights

An investment in our future

Evelyn Mathias

Presentation at the conference on "Ethnoveterinary medicine: Tradition, science, cultural richness". Bologna, 29 October 2010. Società Italiana di Veterinaria e Zootecnia Tropicale per la cooperazione internazionale Veterinari Senza Frontiere Italia

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Agrobiodiversity in drylands

Evelyn Mathias

Deutsche Gesellschaft für Technische Zusammenarbeit (GTZ), 2010

"When it rains and drylands bloom, one realises the remarkable diversity of living organisms they harbour. Long overlooked, this diversity is crucial to the food security of a large share of the world’s population."

This information brief describes the importance of dryland agricultural biodiversity, outlines the threats facing it, and points to the key role that local people play in conserving it.

Livestock Keepers’ Rights

A rights-based approach to invoking justice for pastoralists and biodiversity conserving livestock keepers

Ilse Köhler-Rollefson and Evelyn Mathias

Policy Matters 17, pp 113-115. 2010

Adapted livestock breeds enable their keepers to take advantage of common property resources. They are an important resource for maintaining food security in remote areas and in the adaptation to climate change. To ensure their long-term survival, the livestock keepers who have bred and nurtured these breeds need a bundle of rights that enable them to continue keeping these breeds and make a living from them. Players in livestock development should support the struggle of the livestock keepers for recognition during the negotiations at various international forums.

This article summarizes the three principles and five rights that make up Livestock Keepers' Rights.

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Biocultural Community Protocols

A tool for pastoralists to secure customary rights to the commons?

Ilse Köhler-Rollefson

Common Voices, Issue 2, 2010. Foundation for Ecological Security

Kuttapalayam Confirmation

A group of non-government organizations has called on governments and international organizations to support the conservation of livestock breeds in their original habitats - and by the livestock-keeping groups that developed them.

Members of the LIFE Network, a grouping of organizations focusing on local livestock breeds, made the call at a conference at Kuttapalayam, in Tamil Nadu, India, on 13-15 August 2010.

The final statement from the conference calls on the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations to promote agro-ecosystems approaches to the management of animal genetic resources and support indigenous and local production systems. These goals are already incorporated in the Global Plan of Action on Animal Genetic Resources.
The NGOs also demanded that livestock keepers be included in the debate about the future of livestock production and to be recognized as guardians of livestock biodiversity.

The conference statement was signed by 21 NGOs from India, South Africa, Kenya, Spain and Germany.

People-centred livestock development

A tool for sustainable development?

Ellen Geerlings

People-centred livestock development builds on livestock keepers’ own initiatives and efforts, while helping them to use the best of both local and outside knowledge and resources. This literature review summarizes and analyses the experiences of 16 projects and organizations in Africa, Latin America and Europe that use such approaches.

Geerlings, Ellen. 2010. People-centred livestock development: A tool for sustainable development? League for Pastoral Peoples and Endogenous Livestock Development. Ober-Ramstadt, Germany.

Biocultural Community Protocols for Livestock Keepers

League for Pastoral Peoples and Endogenous Livestock Development, and Local Livestock for Empowerment Network. 2010. Lokhit Pashu-Palak Sansthan (LPPS). Sadri, Rajasthan, India

Biocultural community protocols are a new approach with great potential for empowering pastoralists and other traditional livestock-keeping communities. They are both a process and a document in which communities invoke their rights as guardians of biological diversity under Article 8j of the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity. Claiming rights for in-situ conservation, they also help promote Livestock Keepers’ Rights to maintain their breeds and continue their traditional management practices.

Biocultural community protocols put on record traditional knowledge and the biodiversity that communities steward, in a process that the communities themselves drive. In developing a biocultural community protocol, communities become informed about national and international laws that protect their rights. This book provides an overview of the process as well as its legal background and describes the first experiences with implementing this approach by livestock keepers in Asia and Africa.

Endogenous Development Magazine features biocultural protocols

Bio-cultural Community Protocols enforce Biodiversity Benefits: A selection of cases and experiences. Endogenous Development Magazine 6, July 2010. COMPAS, Leusden, Netherlands

Declaration on Livestock Keepers’ Rights

Lists three principles and five rights that make up Livestock Keepers' Rights, and provides the legal instruments underpinning these rights in international law.

The Declaration is open for signatures until the end of August 2010.
The Declaration will be distributed at the tenth meeting of the Conference of the Parties (COP 10) of the Convention on Biological Diversity in Nagoya, Japan, from 18 to 29 October 2010.

To sign, please contact: LPP's Evelyn Mathias, evelyn@mamud.com or Sabine Poth, sabine@pastoralpeoples.org. Please indicate whether you would like to sign as an organization, an individual, or both.

Supporting livelihoods and local livestock breeds

Guidelines for putting Livestock Keepers’ Rights into practice

Livestock Keeper's Rights are three principles and five rights that ensure that livestock keepers can continue raising their animals. This document gives practical guidelines on how development professionals, private companies, researchers, governments and policymakers can turn the rights into practice.

Local Livestock for Empowerment: The LIFE Network

Imagine if all cows were black and white... if all the pigs were  pink... if every sheep, and every chicken, were white...

This booklet draws attention to the threat to local livestock breeds, and describes what the Local Livestock for Empowerment (LIFE) Network is doing to help pastoralists and small-scale livestock keepers to maintain them.

Internationale Tagung Tierhalterrechte und Biologische Vielfalt

Schloss Lichtenberg im Odenwald, 19. Mai 2010

International conference on Livestock Keepers' Rights and Biodiversity

Lichtenberg Castle, Odenwald, 19 May 2010

A report of a conference organized by the League for Pastoral Peoples and Endogenous Livestock Development. Summarizes presentations and discussions by livestock keepers and specialists from Germany, India, Pakistan, South Africa, Spain and Tanzania. In German.

Adding value to livestock diversity

Marketing to promote local breeds and improve livelihoods

Many local livestock breeds and minor species are in decline and may be lost because they cannot compete with high-yielding exotic breeds. Conserving these breeds is important: many have unique traits, such as hardiness and disease resistance, that are vital for future livestock production. One way to help ensure their survival may be to sell products from these breeds to high-value, specialist markets.

The Global Plan of Action for Animal Genetic Resources acknowledges the importance of market access to the sustainable use of livestock diversity and calls for development of markets for products derived from local species and breeds, and for strengthening processes that add value to their products.

This publication describes eight examples of marketing of livestock products (wool, cashmere, milk, meat and hides) from local breeds of Bactrian camels, dromedaries, goats and sheep in seven countries in Africa, Asia and Latin America. It shows how they have kept local breeds in use, while enabling the small-scale livestock keepers and pastoralists who raise them to improve their livelihoods.

LPP, LIFE Network, IUCN–WISP and FAO. 2010. Adding value to livestock diversity – Marketing to promote local breeds and improve livelihoods. FAO Animal Production and Health Paper 168. Rome.

Leveraging the potential of livestock for dryland development

Why a paradigm shift is needed

Ilse Köhler-Rollefson

Presentation at an international conference on Nurturing Arid Zones for People and the Environment at the Central Arid Zone Research Institute, Jodhpur, India, 25 November 2009.

Livestock keepers: Guardians of biodiversity

Smallholder farmers and pastoralists fulfil an invaluable yet undervalued role in conserving biodiversity. They act as guardians of locally adapted livestock breeds that can make use of even marginal environments under tough climatic conditions and therefore are a crucial resource for food security and possibly for adapting to climate change. But in addition, by sustaining animals on natural vegetation and as part of local ecosystems, these communities also make a significant contribution to the conservation of wild biodiversity and of cultural landscapes.

The Global Plan of Action for Animal Genetic Resources acknowledges and seeks to support this crucial contribution of smallholder farmers and pastoralists to keeping our planet healthy and diverse. The United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues backs up this strategic approach and calls for it to be strengthened, while the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity also commits its signatories to support in situ conservation by local and indigenous communities.

This publication provides a glimpse into the often intricate knowledge systems that pastoralists and smallholder farmers have developed for the management of their breeds in specific production systems. It also describes the multitude of threats and challenges these often marginalized communities have to cope with and suggests interventions that can sustain valuable human-animal-environment relationships and combine conservation of breeds and their ecosystems with poverty alleviation.

Prepared by Ilse Köhler-Rollefson (LPP) with contributions from Evelyn Mathias (LPP) and Irene Hoffmann (FAO)
 

Contents

Citation: FAO. 2009. Livestock keepers – Guardians of biodiversity. Animal Production and Health Paper 167. Rome.

Vier Hände für einen Höcker / Four hands for one hump

Local breeds, livelihoods and livestock keepers’ rights in South Asia

Ilse Köhler-Rollefson, H. S. Rathore and E. Mathias. Tropical Animal Health and Production. 22 Nov 2008.

Abstract

In South Asia, and throughout the developing world, the predominant official approach to livestock development has been improvement of production by means of upgrading local breeds via cross-breeding with exotic animals. This strategy has led to the replacement and dilution of locally adapted breeds with non-native ones. This has resulted in an alarming loss that has been estimated by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations to amount to one breed every two weeks. Based on selected case studies this paper argues that development strategies using locally adapted breeds and species are much more likely to benefit livestock keepers whilst also maintaining domestic animal diversity and bearing a smaller ecological footprint. It also analyses the rationale for “Livestock Keepers’ Rights”, a principle that grew out of the struggle of traditional livestock keepers to retain control over their production resources, such as grazing areas and breeding stock, in the face of unfavourable policy environments.

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Industrial livestock production and its impact on smallholders in developing countries

Consultancy Report to the League for Pastoral Peoples and Endogenous Livestock Development

Susanne Gura

An analysis of the impact of capital-intensive livestock production and how it affects resource-poor smallholders.

Herders care for biodiversity

Every month, one more livestock breed becomes extinct...

This 8-page booklet and accompanying poster, published by the League for Pastoral Peoples and Endogenous Livestock Development and the LIFE Network, highlight the issues and offer some solutions.

Endogenous livestock development

Strengthening local initiatives, using resources sustainably

Endogenous livestock development means putting small-scale livestock keepers and pastoralists at the centre of their own development. It means building on what they already do, and supporting their initiatives to improve their livelihoods, instead of imposing "solutions" from outside.

LPP and the Endogenous Livestock Development Network have published a 24-page booklet outlining the endogenous livestock development approach and introducing the ELD Network.

Looking at the bright side of life stock

The United Nations continues to see pastoralism as a main reason for desertification, says Drynet, a global initiative on drylands. But a large number of scientific studies contradict this, and instead show the positive effects of pastoralism as a land-use strategy.

LPP's Ilse Koehler-Rollefson and Silke Brehm have collated some of the bright aspects of pastoralism.

Protected areas and Livestock Keepers' Rights

"How to destroy biodiversity in protected areas?" asks this poster.

"Easy! Just ban traditional grazing there."

Banning pastoralists from traditional grazing areas alters the balance of wildlife, making scarce species such as leopards, lions and bustards even scarcer.

This poster by LPP's Ilse Koehler-Rollefson and Hanwant Singh Rathore of Indian partner Lokhit Palu-Pashak Sansthan, outlines how pastoralists are fighting such bans. It was prepared for the Working Group on Protected Areas on 11-15 February 2008 in Rome.

Livestock farming with nature

Ilse Koehler-Rollefson, Evelyn Mathias, Hanwant Singh Rathore, P. Vivekanandan and Jacob Wanyama, 2008

pp 84-86 in: Mainstreaming biodiversity issues into forestry and agriculture: Abstracts of poster presentations at the 13th meeting of the Subsidiary Body on Scientific, Technical and Technological Advice of the Convention on Biological Diversity, 18-22 Feb 2008, Rome. CBD Technical Series 34. Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity.

"Pastoralists and small-scale livestock keepers are crucial to conserving farm animal genetic resources", says this poster, presented by LPP at the 13th meeting of the Subsidiary Body on Scientific, Technical and Technological Advice of the Convention on Biological Diversity, 18-22 Feb 2008 in Rome.

The accompanying abstract, published in the CBD Technical Series 34, outlines the LIFE approach to documenting indigenous breeds, lobbying and advocacy for Livestock Keepers' Rights, and exploring value addition and marketing for livestock products.

Intellectual property rights and animal genetic resources

League for Pastoral Peoples and Endogenous Livestock Development, 2007

Confused about patents and how they relate to the livestock breeds? What's the difference between a patent and a trademark? A geographical indication and a sui generis system? What are Livestock Keepers' Rights?

This two-page leaflet explains it all in simple language.

Advocating livestock keepers' rights

at the International Technical Conference on Animal Genetic Resources, Interlaken, Switzerland 1-7 September 2007. A report by the League for Pastoral Peoples and Endogenous Livestock Development, 2007

The report details LPP's work in the build-up to and during the conference, analyses the outcomes and outlines plans for future work.

State of the World’s Animal Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture

The first draft report on the State of the World’s Animal Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture has been published by FAO.

This report covers the state of agricultural biodiversity in the livestock sector, livestock sector trends, capacities in animal genetic resource management, the management of animal genetic resources, and needs and challenges.

The report is expected to be adopted by the First International Technical Conference on Animal Genetic Resources on 1-7 September 2007 in Interlaken, Switzerland.

Section 1C, on flows of animal genetic resources, was prepared by LPP's Evelyn Mathias, Ilse Koehler-Rollefson and Paul Mundy.

High and dry

Conservation cannot ignore pastoral rights

Ilse Köhler-Rollefson

Published in Down to Earth, 31 July 2005

Describes how a directive aimed at promoting conservation in India is harming pastoralists in Rajasthan and the livestock biodiversity they conserve.

Herd movements

The exchange of livestock breeds and genes between North and South

Evelyn Mathias and Paul Mundy, 2005

An analysis of the flows of livestock breeds and genes between Germany and the developing world.

Camel yatra

Ilse Köhler-Rollefson and Hanwant Singh Rathore, 2005

Down To Earth, 31 May 2005

A journey through Rajasthan's Thar Desert to document the drastic decline in camel numbers there.

Indigenous breeds, local communities

Documenting animal breeds and breeding from a community perspective

Lokhit Pashu-Palak Sansthan and Ilse Köhler-Rollefson, 2005

Describes the threats to indigenous breeds of livestock, and how to document them as a first step in conserving them in collaboration with the communities where they evolved. Manual produced with support from GTZ.

Building an international legal framework on animal genetic resources

Can it help the drylands and food-insecure countries?

Ilse Köhler-Rollefson, 2005

Arguments for an international agreement to govern the genetic resources of farm animals. How can breeds and genes be conserved, where are the biodiversity hotspots, and what should an international agreement cover?

Saving the camel and peoples’ livelihoods

Building a Multi-Stakeholder Platform for the Conservation of the Camel in Rajasthan

Proceedings of an International Conference held on 23–25 November 2004 in Sadri. Lokhit Pashu-Palak Sansthan, Sadri, Rajasthan, India

Camel specialists from around the world discussed how to make camel keeping more profitable and attractive, so the decline in camel numbers in Rajasthan can be halted.

Saving Rajasthan's camel herds

The perspective of camel breeders

Compiled by Arun Srivastava, Ilse Köhler-Rollefson, Hanwant Singh Rathore, and Uttra Kothari. Lokhit Pashu-Palak Sansthan

Over 50 camel breeders met in Sadri, Rajasthan in November 2004 to discuss the declining numbers of camels in Rajasthan. They recommended ways to increase access to grazing, improve veterinary services, and promote the marketing of camel milk and other products.

Indigenous knowledge about animal breeding, traditional communities and the State of the World Report

League for Pastoral Peoples, Intermediate Technology Development Group East Africa, and Lokhit Pashu-Palak Sansthan, 2004

Leaflet calling that indigenous knowledge, pastoralists and other traditional livestock keeping communities be recognized in policies and databases on livestock.

The black sheep of Rajasthan

Ellen Geerlings

Seedling, October 2004. pp 11-16.

Livestock keepers' rights

Conserving breeds, supporting livelihoods

Ilse Köhler-Rollefson

League for Pastoral Peoples, 2004

Booklet outlining the case for supporting the rights of livestock keepers in order to conserve valuable animal genetic diversity.

Also available in German as Tierhalterrechte: Nutztierrassen erhalten, ländliche Existenzen bewahren

and in Karamojong as Ngapedorosyo nguna a ngikeyokok a ngibaren: Ekipitune ngibaren, ka akitogogong eyare angitunga

Il est vital de protéger les éleveurs de bétail traditionnels

Ilse Köhler-Rollefson

La Revue Durable 12, pp. 28-31, Sept-Oct 2004.

Four-page article in French: "It is vital to protect traditional livestock keepers."

Engagement für Autonomie und Identität

(Supporting independence and identity) 

Eight-page colour brochure (in German) about LPP's work to support pastoralists and promote livestock keepers' rights.

The Karen Commitment

Pastoralist/indigenous livestock keepers’ rights

One-page statement by leaders of traditional livestock and pastoral communities, government representatives, civil society organizations with a focus on livestock, genetic resources, academics and livestock researchers, meet in Karen, Kenya on  27–30 October 2003.

The Karen Commitment

Indigenous livestock breeding communities and animal genetic resources

Proceedings of a workshop of pastoralists and other communities dependent on indigenous livestock breeds, focusing on animal genetic resources and livestock breeders' rights.

Livestock diversity

Keepers' rights, shared benefits and pro-poor policies

Documentation of a workshop with NGOs, herders, scientists, and FAO. Organised by the League for Pastoral Peoples and German NGO Forum on Environment and Development, in cooperation with CENESTA/CEESP

Losing livestock, losing livelihoods

Susanne Gura and LPP

Seedling, January 2003. pp 10-14.

Intellectual property rights regime necessary for traditional livestock raisers

Ilse Köhler-Rollefson

Indigenous Knowledge and Development Monitor, 9(1), March 2001, pp 12-15. Nuffic-CIRAN, The Hague. 

Managing animal genetic resources at the community level

Ilse Köhler-Rollefson

Pages 391-399 in: Conservation and Sustainable Use of Agricultural Biodiversity: A Sourcebook. Produced by CIP-UPWARD, in partnership with GTZ, IDRC, IPGRI and SEARICE.

Management of animal genetic diversity at community level

Ilse Köhler-Rollefson

Managing Agrobiodiversity in Rural Areas, GTZ, Eschborn, 2000. 17 pp. 

Local livestock breeds for sustainable rural livelihoods

Towards community-based approaches for animal genetic resource conservation

Proceedings of a conference/workshop held on 1-4 November, 2000 in Udaipur & Sadri, Rajasthan, India. 

176 pp. ISBN 3-00-010522-0

Securing tomorrow's food

Promoting the sustainable use of farm animal genetic resources

Issues and options

A 4-page summary of the issues surrounding our disappearing livestock breeds.

Securing tomorrow's food

Promoting the sustainable use of farm animal genetic resources

Information for action

A 70-page dossier with the details.

A field manual of camel diseases

Traditional and Modern Health Care for the Dromedary

Sheep husbandry and ethnoveterinary knowledge of Raika sheep pastoralists in Rajasthan, India

Ellen Geerlings, 2001

Implementing the Convention on Biodiversity with respect to domestic animal diversity

Ilse Köhler-Rollefson, 2000

pp. 55-63 in: Experiences in Farmer’s Biodiversity Management: Report on the International Workshop on Animal and Plant Genetic Resources in Agriculture at the Biosphere Reserve Schorfheide-Chorin, Germany, 16-18 May 2000. German NGO Forum on Environment & Development, Bonn.

Indigenous institutions for managing livestock genetic diversity in Rajasthan (India)

Hanwant Singh Rathore and Ilse Köhler-Rollefson, 2000

pp 47-54 in: Experiences in Farmer’s Biodiversity Management: Report on the International Workshop on Animal and Plant Genetic Resources in Agriculture at the Biosphere Reserve Schorfheide-Chorin, Germany, 16-18 May 2000. German NGO Forum on Environment & Development, Bonn.