Pastoralism Value Underestimated

Eldis - Pastoralism

Eldis seems like to publish tediously long articles on pastoralism.  Luckily they often also provided executive summary.  I browsed the article linked here.  It is not quite shocking discovery but is still revealing and well justified.

We all know that government policies are largely based on economic considerations, if not completely.  So, if you want the government to involve in the conservation or exploitation of something, the best approach is to make them believe that such a proposal is profitable.  The reason why pastoralism has been neglected and considered not an ideal land-use lies in its poor economic outlook.  When I say the word "herdsmen" what do you come up with?  Exhausted men and women with shabby clothes?  Barren land?  Children who cannot attend school and with snivel hanging above their mouths?  Read on.

The author of the article cited here claims that the actual economic value of pastoralism has been severely underestimated.  If we try to replace this sector with some "modern" meat/milk production system or other economies, the result is a "vicious cycle": increasing poverty, resource conflict and environmental degradation that reinforces the very preconceptions and misunderstandings surrounding pastoralism as a livelihood system.  Therefore, pastoralism needs to be re-valuated to make sure the government know what economic loss can take place with loss of pastoralism.

The new calculation framework proposed by the author is called TEV -- Total Economic Value.  In my opinion it is a implementation of the framework given by David Pearce in his Blueprints.  No actual value in dollar is given though, because to convert all the items in the list to monetary values still needs considerable calculation for each country.  However, this framework is operational and can be used in loss-benefit analysis.

Governments have enough reason to reconsider their policies on pastoralism after a calculation using this framework.  After all, pastoralism is worth preserving.  However, what about the impact of pastoralism?  Do we as well underestimated or ignored some negative effects of it?  Such discussions may make any argument about pastoralism more solid.