Africa: New Study Unravels the Genetic History of Africa's Largest Pastoralist Fulani Community: [The Conversation Africa] The Fulani people are Africa's largest pastoralist group. There are between 25 million and 40 million Fulani people across 17 African countries, from the Atlantic shores of Senegal and Mauritania to Sudan. http://newsfeed.facilit8.network/TK5Hms #Fulani #Pastoralism #GeneticHistory #Africa #CulturalDiversity
First the thylacine, then the dingo...
"The thylacine was hunted to extinction by early European settlers, especially pastoralists, for killing livestock."
https://www.threatenedspecieslink.tas.gov.au/Pages/Thylacine.aspx
Dingoes are being culled in Victoria. How much harm to the species is needed to protect commercial profits?
"The current case is an important test for how the law balances the needs of humans and animals – and in particular, how much harm is deemed “necessary” at law to protect commercial profit and livelihood."
https://theconversation.com/dingoes-are-being-culled-in-victoria-how-much-harm-to-the-species-is-needed-to-protect-commercial-profits-245759
#dingoes #thylacine #Australia #law #extinction #pastoralism #livestock
Wage theft
"Both of Street’s parents were never paid a wage for their labour in their lifetimes; Street was only paid for his work for the first time when he was in his 30s".
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https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2025/feb/12/stolen-wages-fremantle-arts-centre-exhibition-feature
#work #WageTheft #Australia #IR #pastoralism
Also: a genuine examination of different lifestyles and governing philosophies. A handful of large-population orbital habitats could serve the role that planets do in #StarTrek. But instead of humans being a monoculture of general utopianism, examine #anarchosyndicalism in conflict with #centralplanning, #neoprmitivism / #pastoralism vs #technofuturism, etc.
Once-in-10-years floodwaters turn dry lake beds into oasis of green: A flooding event has enabled cereal and hay crops to be grown on dry lake beds in far western NSW, presenting a unique opportunity for some pastoralists. https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-01-24/crops-grow-on-dry-lake-beds-after-floods/104847386?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=mastodon #AgricultureCrops #Saltlakes #Pastoralism
Once-in-10-years floodwaters turn dry lake beds into oasis of green: A flooding event has enabled cereal and hay crops to be grown on dry lake beds in far western NSW, presenting a unique opportunity for some pastoralists. https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-01-24/crops-grow-on-south-australia-dry-lake-beds-after-floods/104847386?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=mastodon #AgricultureCrops #Saltlakes #Pastoralism
Deliberate extinction makers
Drawn to Extinction: Depicting the Thylacine | Jack Ashby
"The Linnean Society holds one of the earliest European illustrations of the species, by John Lewin, painted shortly after the species became known to the colonists. The last known thylacine died in September 1936."
"The way thylacines – and other Australian mammals – were depicted and described by artists, scientists and museums profoundly shaped the West’s relationship with them. This talk will explore their story, and how colonial ideals influence they way we have come to know them."
Next for the koala, the glider...
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O8qtzQkPfUE
#Thylacine #extinction #wildlife #paintings #illustrations #colonialism #pastoralism #legacy
Day 2 of #oeweek brings a new OA title: 'A Country of #Shepherds: Cultural Stories of a Changing #Mediterranean Landscape' by Kathleen Ann Myers.
Discover the lives of Andalusian shepherds & their impact on ecological farming & cultural heritage.
This book draws on the life stories told by #shepherds, #farmers, and their families in the #Andalusian region in #Spain to sketch out the #landscapes, actions, and challenges of people who work in #pastoralism. Their narratives highlight how local practices interact with #regional and #European communities and #policies, and they help us see a broader role for extensive grazing practices and #sustainability.
'A Country of #Shepherds' is timely, reflecting the growing interest in ecological farming methods as well as the #Spanish #government’s recent work with #UNESCO to recognise the seasonal movement of herd animals in the #IberianPeninsula as an Intangible #CulturalHeritage.
Access at https://openbookpublishers.com/books/10.11647/obp.0387
"Truth-telling is now more important than ever.
What has been a personal choice is now a national imperative […] Denialism is no longer a viable option. A wall of scholarship built by many hands over the last fifty years stands in the way." - Henry Reynolds, Truth-Telling. History, Sovereignty and the Uluru Statement
>>
Friday essay: neither a monster nor a saint … Sir Samuel Griffith, Queensland’s violent frontier and the rigours of truth-telling
https://theconversation.com/friday-essay-neither-a-monster-nor-a-saint-sir-samuel-griffith-queenslands-violent-frontier-and-the-rigours-of-truth-telling-222262
#TruthTelling #Australia #violence #denial #iconoclasm #CollectiveMemory #CulturalIdentity #IndigenousPeoples #SettlerSocieties #pastoralism #plantations #StructureOrEvent
"The first such migration is predicted to have occurred at the onset of the Neolithic, and accordingly J1e parallels the establishment of rain-fed agriculture and semi-nomadic herders throughout the Fertile Crescent. Subsequently, J1e lineages might have been involved in episodes of the expansion of pastoralists into arid habitats coinciding with the spread of Arabic and other Semitic-speaking populations."
Chiaroni, J., King, R., Myres, N. et al. The emergence of Y-chromosome haplogroup J1e among Arabic-speaking populations. Eur J Hum Genet 18, 348–353 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1038/ejhg.2009.166 #Journal #Article #Science #STEM #Genetics #Anthropology #Genealogy #Biology #Haplogroup #Neolithic #Arabic #Languages #Pastoralism #Academia #Academic #Academics @science @biology @anthropology
10/
The greenwashing of wool, explained
(thanks to @josh for the link)
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Ruminant farming’s hunger for land has made it a prime engine for colonial expansion around the world; we see this in Brazil, for example, where cattle ranching is driving illegal seizures of Indigenous land. Sheep brought by colonists to Australia “immediately trampled and destroyed all of the native yams and edible vegetables that Aboriginal people had. The land that Aboriginal people never ceded was taken for pastoral practices,” said Emma Hakansson, the Australia-based founding director of Collective Fashion Justice, which advocates for what she calls a “total ethics” fashion system: one that’s fair to people, animals, and the planet. “Animal-derived materials in particular are a focus for us because it’s in those supply chains that all three of those groups are consistently harmed.”
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A report on regenerative grazing scammers trying to get $$$$ for "carbon offsets" in Kenya
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The project, which started in January 2013, is based on the notion that replacing what it calls the traditional ‘unplanned’ grazing with ‘planned rotational grazing’ will allow vegetation in the area to (re)grow more prolifically. This in turn, the project claims, would result in greater storage of carbon in the conservancies’ soils - averaging around three-quarters of a tonne of additional carbon per hectare per year. Thus the project would allegedly generate around 1.5 millions of tonnes of extra carbon ‘storage’ per year, producing around 41 million net tonnes of carbon credits for sale over a 30-year project period. The gross value of these could be around US$300 million – US$500 million, but potentially much more.
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and
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The project has been described by the European Commission as the model on which is intends to base a forthcoming large funding programme for conservation projects in Africa called ‘NaturAfrica’.
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Ironically, the rancher practices also ruin the traditional pastoralist activity because the pastoralists there require vast, vast, tracts of land to move herds over and to find fresh pasture opportunities.
You can expect more of this scamming at #COP28 for sure.
‘Pastoralists are experts at living with uncertainty and making the most of it.’ Lovely exhibition by Pastres project in Brighton about how lessons from pastoralism help in understanding migration, pandemics , infrastructure in an uncertain world. #uncertainty #pastoralism
Who owns Australia?
Complex web of data reveals large swathes of country controlled by small number of billionaires and large companies
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https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/ng-interactive/2021/may/17/who-owns-australia
#FirstNationsPeoples #FirstNations #Country #ownership #control #pastoralism #SettlerSociety #LandTenure #LandUse #corporations
Livestock Use on Public Lands in the Western USA Exacerbates Climate Change: Implications for Climate Change Mitigation and Adaptation
This is related to "marginal lands" arguments. Ranchers and their apologists like to claim that the lands are somehow useless without their ranching business to squeeze a living profit out of the lands. It's a trick and we do actually need lots of land to be left alone to rewild - including wild animals.
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The social costs of carbon are > $500 million year−1 or approximately 26 times greater than annual grazing fees collected by managing federal agencies. These emissions and social costs do not include the likely greater ecosystems costs from grazing impacts and associated livestock management activities that reduce biodiversity, carbon stocks and rates of carbon sequestration. Cessation of grazing would decrease greenhouse gas emissions, improve soil and water resources, and would enhance/sustain native species biodiversity thus representing an important and cost-effective adaptive approach to climate change.
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https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00267-022-01633-8
8/
How the alt-right uses milk to promote white supremacy https://theconversation.com/how-the-alt-right-uses-milk-to-promote-white-supremacy-94854
If you think this is a joke, read the rest of this thread.
"My Habit"
I wrestle with resistant Vine
In Winter, tie it to the Line
Before the Buds of Spring are bursting.
By late Summer, I’m dry and thirsting
For one sweet drop of Purple Juice.
So I subject to cruel abuse
My Labor’s Fruit in vintage Fall…
And then, by rote, repeat it all.
#poetry #poem #smallpoems #shortpoems #poetrycommunity
#symbolism #pastoralpoetry #pastoralism #viticulture #wine #alcohol
"Our Overseer"
In fresh green pastures, every day,
The Shepherd stops our going astray
And disentangles horns from hedge.
He leads us to the water’s edge,
But from his lofty point of view
There’s little else for him to do.
So while he oversees our herds
He swaps sweet melodies with birds.
"Seventy per cent of Australia is under pastoral lease, so effectively 70 per cent of Australia's biodiversity is found on cattle stations.”
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-09-30/ai-technology-being-used-to-save-bilbies-plains-wanderer-kowari/102905858
#pastoralism #Australia #conservation #ThreatenedSpecies #habitat #biodiversity
"The infectious disease trap of animal agriculture"
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Conservation policies should be culturally sensitive, rigorously enforced, and have long-term community buy-in. However, a well-crafted conservation policy is still insufficient to spare land from agricultural pressures; additional land for rising populations and diets richer in animal-sourced foods must come at the expense of clearing native habitats somewhere.
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The largest increases in meat demand and production are occurring in developing, tropical regions. Meat consumption exceeds the dietary requirements in high-income countries and among increasingly urban and middle-class populations of most middle-income countries. As demand rises along with affluence in the coming decades in LMICs and high-income countries continue to sustain high levels of consumption and exports, additional land clearing and GHG emissions will occur even with ambitious levels of intensification.
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To meaningfully flatten the rising curve of animal-sourced foods, demand-side interventions should be implemented, tested, and scaled ambitiously. Even gentle changes to dining options and presentation can create large effects (64). Effective interventions range from these subtle “nudges” to more blatant rewards and incentives, as well as stringent regulations and restrictions. This spectrum has been described using the Nuffield intervention ladder, with lower rungs of “soft” methods or “carrots” (e.g., guidance, suggestions, education, and nudging) to higher rungs of increasingly forceful “hard” interventions or “sticks” at the top (e.g., taxes and bans).
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#conservation #climate #biodiversity #deforestation #zoonosis #zoonoses #animalfarming #pastoralism #herding #ranching #intensivization #extensivization #grazing #pandemic #CAFO
