Mongolian pastoralism is characterized by multi-species human and animal mobilities conditioned by economic, social, cultural and environmental factors. These mobilities are seen as an efficient response of humans and animals to adapt to a challenging environment, currently even more so due to new environmental constraints. In addition to an increase in interannual climate variability, there is also overgrazing attributed to overly large herds and low annual human and animal mobility. The current literature suggests that one of the major scientific problems is the impossibility to identify where animals are moving and in what numbers.
Thus, our study aims to understand what motivates nomadic pastoral mobilities (animal needs, human imperatives, climate, pasture conditions...). Our study focused mainly on human and camel mobilities, at the scale of the camp site and the territory as defined by pastoral activities; while the maximum perimeter was defined by camels’ paths, the most self-sufficient livestock species, and the most sensitive to climatic variations. It therefore seems to be particularly appropriate for the study of an animal’s strategy to adapt in response to annual climatic variability.
This presentation is based on a 5-month field research conducted in the Bayanhongor region (Gobi Desert), among two herder families during the winters 2022 and 2023. The survey is based on a methodology combining GPS tracking of several herds and their herders and observations, coupled with interviews, as well as videos and photos taken to characterize the environment and allow an analysis of the interactions between the different functional groups at the herd level. A posteriori,
This example, on a narrow spatial and temporal scale, demonstrates the interest of using these tools to understand how each functional group, both human and animal, interacts according to different types of relationships to make the decision to move together in a fragile environmental context.
