Community Location Map
📍 Location: Global Rangelands, Savannas, Deserts & Steppes
Overview & Cultural Background
Global mobile pastoralists encompass diverse Indigenous and local communities who move livestock seasonally to exploit patchy pasture and water resources across mountain ranges, deserts, tundras, and steppes. Mobile pastoralism represents a refined human adaptation that balances ecological sustainability with food security across non-arable lands.
From the Eurasian steppes to the African Sahel and the High Andes, mobile herders maintain rich intangible cultural heritage, oral literature, customary legal systems, and ecological stewardship. UN declarations designate pastoralism as a sustainable food production model crucial for global biodiversity conservation.
Key facts
- Estimated Population: Estimated 500 million people relying on mobile livestock production systems worldwide
- Primary Livestock Herded: Camels, cattle, sheep, goats, yaks, reindeer, horses, llamas, and alpacas
- ️ Contemporary Challenges: State-sponsored forced sedentarization policies, national border restrictions impeding seasonal mobility, loss of grazing corridors to infrastructure, and lack of mobile veterinary, health, and educational services.
Featured Films in the Festival Program
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Pastoralism is the future ⏱ 2 min | 🌍 Global | 🎬 CELEP & VSF International