http://www.fao.org/pastoralist-knowledge-hub/pastoralist-networks/regional-networks/central-asia/en/ Pablo Manzano Baena from FAO presented eight policy issues relevant to pastoralism at the Central Asian meeting of pastoralists that took place from 25-29 July 2015 in the Hustai National Park, Mongolia. ©FAO: www.fao.org

1. Policy issues relevant to
pastoralists
Pablo Manzano
FAO

2. • 1. – Value addition of pastoralist food products
• Women involvement is considered a key element in order to facilitate
their participation, as the products where the focus is on are usually
manufactured or processed by pastoralist women.
• - Terra Madre meetings
• 2. – Innovations in pastoralism societies
• New technologies, such as mobile phones, offer new tools for livelihood
improvement in pastoralist communities and the innovations derived from
these technologies are usually not brought by actors outside the
communities, but rather adapted by the communities themselves to their
needs.
• Reviewing these innovations are will promote the South-South learning
and collaboration between pastoralist organizations, translating into an
improvement of the living standards of pastoralists. Role by youth is key.
• What is the institutional/legal framework? What limitations are faced, e.g.
use of some tools whose usage is restricted?

3. • 3. – Internal organization of pastoralist organizations and expectations of
pastoralist participation at international events
• Needs for transparency and visibility in the process of representing
pastoralists, an area that many pastoralist organizations have been weak
at so far.
• Processes inside the pastoralist organizations have a direct influence on
how the representation of pastoralists at the international arena is
achieved and why the local structuring is key to the expectations about
the pastoralist participation.
• 4. – Food security and how it affects pastoralists
• In food security, pastoralists usually have been particularly hit.
• Work that the pastoralist constituency has been developing in the last
years in the framework of the Committee on World Food Security (CFS), as
well as in the recently held Second International Conference on Nutrition
(ICN2). Link with the CFS – revision on the Biofuels, Responsible
Agriculture Investment (RAI) and Global Strategic Framework (GSF).

4. • 5. – Land issues
• Land tenure: a central theme across the world.
• Pastoralist work around FAO’s Voluntary Guidelines on the
Responsible Governance of Tenure of Land, Fisheries and Forests
(VGGT).
•
• 6. – Environmental aspects related to ecosystem services
• Role of pastoralists and their breeds in providing ecosystem
services.
• Latest developments at the United Nations Environmental
Programme (UNEP) following participation in their General
Assembly and in establishing guidelines for the development of
new Sustainable Development Goals, broadly framed by UNEP with
the term “green economy”, as well as on FAO’s Global Plan of
Action for Animal Genetic Resources.

5. • 7. – Environmental aspects related to climate change
• Role of pastoralists in climate change mitigation and adaptation – the latter tightly
related to the food security and innovations discussions.
• Participation in FAO’s Global Agenda on Sustainable Livestock and Livestock
Environmental Assessment Performance (LEAP) Partnership initiatives.
•
• 8. – Indigenous peoples
• Role of pastoralists in the indigenous struggle; experience of pastoralist
representatives in the UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues (UNPFII), the
International Fund for Agriculture Development’s Indigenous Peoples Forum, the
World Bank safeguard policies for the Forest Carbon Partnership Facility (FCPF), or
the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) Expert Mechanism
for the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (EMRIP)
• Existing legal options to protect and strengthen Indigenous Knowledge (IK): tools
such as Biocultural Community Protocols under the Nagoya Protocol or the World
Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) Community Trade Marks.