Turkey hosts many mobile pastoral communities, most of which have become sedentary over the last few centuries. Even the most well-known mobile pastoralist groups still operating in the country often face obstacles to their movements, with consequences for livelihoods, animals and environments.
At the time of writing (5 April 2023), the movements of all animals in Turkey have been banned for three weeks due to foot-and-mouth disease (FMD). This prevents many pastoral communities from travelling with their animals, but it’s also an additional pretext for making it more difficult for local communities to get access to pastures.
This article is from PASTRES, a research programme that aims to learn from pastoralists about responding to uncertainty and resilience, with lessons for global challenges. PASTRES is co-hosted by IDS.
