Herders’ traditional knowledge and worldview and their role in protecting biodiversity and ecosystem services
Abstract
Traditional herding and conservation management is interdependent. Herders know well their environment, its wildlife, they learn the centuries-old herding skills from their parents and elders, but also from personal experience. The first author (also a herder himself) of the paper interviewed seven herders about their knowledge and understanding of pastures and grazing. Herders utilized sandy, loess and salt steppes. Results show that herders regarded nature as their home, they regulated grazing by partitioning the pasture, and rotational resting of the parts. They had daily and seasonal plans how to utilize the biomass of their pastures to sustain or increase its ecosystem services on the long term. Abandoned areas (with reed and litter) were restored efficiently. These traditional practices are vital also for the protection of biodiversity. The paper was written for those conservationists and researchers, how want to learn more about the role traditional herders and their traditional ecological knowledge could play in maintaining functionally healthy pasture ecosystems. As a herder put it: „wildlife has a cycle, and livestock is needed for this cycle”.
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