IDS has a strong legacy of research that has helped to shape climate and sustainability policy debates around the world. The now-completed PASTRES (Pastoralism, Uncertainty and Resilience: Global Lessons from the Margins) programme epitomises this. Its emphasis was on learning about responses to uncertainty from pastoralists in six sites in Africa, Asia and Europe.
Over six years, PASTRES addressed misplaced agendas that seek to settle or exclude pastoralists. Researchers explored pastoralists’ lives in different settings, and their relationships to wider economies and ecologies – for instance, gathering lessons on maintaining biodiversity.
Findings have been shared at international events, including UN climate and food summits, and contributed to the Dana +20 Manifesto, calling for greater respect for the rights and knowledge of mobile peoples.
Outputs from the programme included an Open Access book, Pastoralism, Uncertainty and Development, downloaded more than 2,400 times since 2023, an online course, a photography exhibition in eight countries and online, and an Uncertain Worlds exhibition in Brighton, UK, in 2023, which comprised seven illustrated stories in comic-book style.
