Coviability in the governance of pastoral systems, permanence and change

Abstract

Why does the governance of pastoral systems need to be based on coviability?Below, brief comments are presented about the coviability concept in pastoral systems: a collective approach of viability due to: first, the permanent interactions between farming systems at various scales (household, family, tribe), and secondly the need to establish rules to avoid the tragedy of commons. Based on pastoral systems located in five contrasted contexts from bioclimatic and socio-economic points of view (Tibetan Plateau, Mediterranean, Sahel, Pampa and South Patagonia), the authors describe the strong interactions between the farming systems at different scales in diverse domains: herd management, innovation, strategies to face risks, marketing, lobbying, social and cultural issues, etc. Then, they demonstrate how the local societies progressively have been constrained to established rules to access the rangeland, firstly when resources were not sufficient (tragedy of the commons) and more recently with the new environmental challenge leading to functional integrity which is coviability at the level of the rangeland management. Indeed, functional integrity refers to the collective level in the sustainable management of rangeland resources: coordination, short and long term planning of the use of resources, promoting ecosystem services, control and prevention of conflicts, considering the hopes and the fears of the local people, etc. The authors conclude with three scenarios for pastoral systems according to the level of sustainable rangeland management goals and coviability adopted by breeder societies at a local scale: rapid disappearance in the global market, resistance and protection as heritage, sustainable rangeland management and gold coviability based on functional integrity.