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Long Abstract
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As COVID-19 spread fast and widely across the world, governments swiftly resorted to lockdown measures to restrict people’s movements as the primary strategy to stem its spread. While lockdown appeared a logical move and work-from-home moved from fantasy world to reality, and virtual meetings and learning became the norm, restricted movement appeared to utterly challenge modes of life that are dependent on mobility. Pastoralism is one such mode of livelihood that primarily depends on mobility. As the world grapples with the devastating effects of climate change, the ability to move from one place to another in search for pasture and water has become ever more vital for pastoralists. Many pastoral areas are marginalized from key markets and public services and, therefore, restrictions on movement add further strain to an already deprived socioeconomic ecosystem. External sources of income such as tourism, which too are dependent on movement, have been signficantly constrained thereby further diminshing the means for pastoral livelihoods. Despite these unprecedented challenges, pastoralists have demonstrated immense resilience by devising varied coping strategies, but these response-abilities appear to vary within pastoral communities. In light of these challenges and differentiated ability to furnish coping strategies, this panel welcomes papers that discuss the dynamics of pastoralism in the face of climate change and COVID-19 and possible future avenues for pastoralists to deal with shocks and crisis as experienced in the past few years.
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