Resilient Pastoralism:Towards Sustainable Futures in Rangelands

该项目侧重于在牧民社区建立复原力方面的挑战，参考肯尼亚和蒙古的案例研究国家，以及通过全球牧民网络向全球南方的其他国家提供援助。通过将最新可用的遥感(RS)数据集与创新的途径和方法相结合，以了解牧民和政策群体复原力的文化维度、含义和实践，并评估研究吸收和数据需求的障碍，我们将为牧区复原力的真正转变奠定基础。这不仅对牧民社区的生计至关重要，而且对实现当前的国家经济发展计划和愿望也至关重要。为了实现我们项目的目标，我们汇集了一个跨学科的团队，其中结合了遥感技术、牧场管理、社会经济学和牧业治理、风险和危害评估、牧场人与环境关系、文化地理学和牧业人类学方面的专业知识。这项工作的更广泛背景是畜牧业作为全世界约5亿人的核心生计战略的重要性，这些人通常生活在极易受气候变化影响的边际干旱环境中，他们往往是最脆弱的社区之一。提高对牧民生计和复原力的理解也是当代全球发展优先事项的核心，正如联合国环境规划署(2016年)关于可持续牧业的决议所强调的那样，捐助者将当代牧业定位为实现非洲2063年以及联合国2030年发展议程的关键(粮农组织，2016年)。具体的挑战和问题包括对牧民复原力的特定文化意义、做法和优先事项缺乏关注，以及牧民社区和政策制定者缺乏参与和吸收以前的研究和数据集的相关挑战。因此，在知识交流、沟通和翻译方面存在着明显的挑战，这阻碍了当地发展具有文化意义的有效复原力和为此提供的政策支持。也缺乏对为什么会出现这种情况的理解，换句话说，利益相关者想要什么却没有交付&如何解决这个问题。因此，我们的目标是：i)从真正的跨学科和地方/土著视角对牧区复原力提供新的理解；ii)对不同国家和牧区系统的牧区复原力进行比较；Iii)研究和测试如何加强数据集和产出的相关性和吸收，包括通过检查新获得的遥感数据集和iv)通过关注复原的文化含义和背景、历史和人与自然关系的理解，以及创新方法，结合新的遥感数据集，以加强对障碍的了解，从而加强对未来研究数据的吸收，支持积极/当地理想的复原能力。通过实现这些目标，我们的工作将通过加强理解和提供数据和知识交流来支持复原能力，从而造福当地牧民社区。对于政策制定者、捐助者和非政府组织，我们的工作将就牧民社区的信息需求和要求、吸收研究成果的障碍以及如何克服这些障碍提供明确的指导；政策制定者还将受益于与项目组合作，将成果应用于未来与改善牧民生计相关的具体发展政策和议程。对于所有受益者，特别是实施牧区复原力工作的学者、捐助者和非政府组织，他们将受益于在该项目期间试验和开发的新方法和跨学科方法。该项目还将对自然科学和社会科学、艺术和人文领域正在进行的辩论作出重要贡献。

This project focuses on the challenges of building resilience in pastoralist communities, with reference to case study countries of Kenya & Mongolia, & to other countries in the Global South, through global pastoralist networks. Through integrating newly available remote sensing (RS) datasets, with innovative approaches & methodologies for understanding cultural dimensions, meanings & practices of resilience & evaluating barriers to research uptake & data needs of both pastoralist & policy communities, we will lay the foundations for real transformations in pastoral resilience. This is vital not only for pastoralist communities' livelihoods, but for realisation of current national economic development plans & aspirations. In order to realise our project's goals we bring together an interdisciplinary team which combines expertise in remote sensing techniques; rangeland management; socio-economics & governance of pastoralism; assessment of risk & hazard; human-environment relations in rangelands; & cultural geographies & anthropologies of pastoralism. The wider context for this work is the importance of pastoralism as a central livelihood strategy for some 500 million people worldwide, typically in marginal dryland environments highly susceptible to climate change & who often number amongst the most vulnerable communities. Enhanced understandings of pastoral livelihoods & resilience are also central to contemporary global development priorities, as emphasised by UNEA (2016) resolution on sustainable pastoralism & by donors' positioning of contemporary pastoralism as essential to achievement of Africa 2063 as well as UN 2030 Development Agendas (FAO, 2016). Specific challenges & issues include the lack of attention to culturally specific meanings, practices & priorities around pastoral resilience, & the linked challenge of a lack of engagement & uptake of previous research & datasets by pastoralist communities & policy-makers. There are thus marked challenges in knowledge exchange, communication & translation, which hinder local development of culturally meaningful & effective resilience & policy support for this. There is also a lack of understanding of why this is the case, in other words of what stakeholders want that is not being delivered, & how can this be addressed. Our objectives are thus i) to provide new understandings of pastoral resilience from genuinely interdisciplinary & local/indigenous perspectives; ii) to derive comparative insights into pastoral resilience across diverse countries & pastoral systems; iii) to examine & test ways to enhance relevance & uptake of datasets & outputs, including through examination of newly available remote sensing datasets & iv) through attention to cultural meanings & contexts of resilience, histories & understandings of human-nature relationships, & innovative methods, integrated with new RS datasets, to enhance understanding of barriers to & thus to enhance uptake of research data in the future, supporting positive/locally desirable dimensions of resilience.Through realisation of these objectives, our work will benefit local pastoralist communities, through enhanced understanding & provision of data & knowledge exchange to support resilience. For policymakers, donors & NGOs our work will provide clear guidance on the information needs & requirements of pastoral communities, barriers to uptake of research outputs & how these can be overcome; policymakers will also benefit from working with the project team on application of results to specific development policies & agendas pertinent to enhanced pastoral livelihoods in the future. For all beneficiaries, but especially academics, donors & NGOs implementing work on pastoral resilience, they will benefit from the new methods & interdisciplinary approaches trialled & developed during this project. The project will also make important contributions to ongoing debates across the natural & social sciences, arts & humanities.