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.
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.
A biocultural protocol is a document that records a community's role in ecosystem management, and states its rights to benefit from the ecosystem. Several groups of livestock keepers have created biocultural protocols describing their animal breeds and their indigenous knowledge about their breeds.