Client / Financial Support: LPP, LPPS
Duration: 23 minutes

Livestock is the new scapegoat for the environmental woes of the planet. A recent FAO study blames it for a range of phenomena from desertification to reduced biodiversity and global warming. It is being said that roaming livestock leads to overgrazing and creates deserts. Livestock depletes wildlife by encroaching on its territory and thus leads to reduced biodiversity!

But we must be careful to distinguish between animal industries and the keeping of livestock as it has been practiced by pastoralists for thousands of years and in tune with nature. For otherwise we will lose an amazingly sophisticated intermesh between people, animals, and nature that is crucial to sustaining life on earth.

Across the world people are rediscovering the breeds that have been part and parcel of the local eco-systems for centuries and are as well adapted  to nature’s requirements as the local wildlife. If our planet is to survive, this process will have to be extended across diverse landscapes, among a range of varied communities and the animals that have been their companions from the most distant past.