Cooling up the drylands : disentangling the pastoralism-security nexus

Abstract

This policy brief explores the dynamics, trends and challenges that characterise portions of the pastoral belt, spanning from Afghanistan to Somalia to Mauritania. Cases from ongoing trends in North-Eastern Somalia and Northern Mali provide interesting insights into the current structural crisis affecting a large part of the pastoral world. Pastoralism – mobile livestock rearing – is both a cultural identity and an economic activity. Moreover, herding represents the best way to safely occupy and secure vast, remote territories, where the costs of any other form of controlling, monitoring and patrolling would be largely higher. Although elements of heterogeneity exist, pastoral territories share similar geographical, economic as well as political configurations in the different regions of the world.