Know To Move, Move To Know: Ecological Knowledge and Herd Movement Strategies Among the Wodaabe of Southeastern Niger

by Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, FAO Interdepartmental Working Group on Biological Diversity for Food and Agriculture Staff (Contribution by)

Overview

The present case study sets out the vital role that local knowledge plays in conserving biodiversity and ecosystems function in semi-arid rangelands. This study describes in detail the activities of the Wodaabe nomads, who strive to promote the prosperity of their herds through pastoral mobility and labour. The latter comprises many tasks such as driving animals to graze, watering animals at wells, feeding them minerals, searching for pastures. The relationship between the herder, his red Zebu cattle and the bush land is marked on the one hand by cultural values such as the endeavour to leave the herd in good shape to his descendants; and on the other hand by Sahelian economic life in which the Wodaabe work to maximise herd fertility in order to gain animal wealth for market exchange and milk for household consumption.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9789251050613
Publisher:	Food & Agriculture Organization of the United Nations
Publication date:	01/01/2003
Pages:	72
Product dimensions:	8.20(w) x 11.60(h) x 0.30(d)

About the Author

Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations