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65 Köhler-Rollefson, Kakar, Mathias, Singh Rathore and Wanyama
Laws were discussed with participants and
included in the protocol. After amendments and corrections, the final draft was
declared.
The BCP has given the Pashtun a
concrete document which can be used to
inform others about their role and importance. The process has helped livestock
keepers organise themselves. They are
stronger now and have a forum to defend
their rights. SAVES has used the BCP to
highlight the important role of the Pashtun
in biodiversity and livestock conservation
with national and international policy
makers. For example, the Pashtun have
defined and reported some breeds of livestock which were unknown before. As the
founder of SAVES and co-author of this
article, Abdul Raziq Kakar says:
In my view, BCP is a process of organising
and strengthening our community and
protecting our community and its livestock culture.
Constraints and solutions
It was difficult to organise these meetings.
The area is vast and inaccessible, with little
mobile phone connectivity in many parts.
The mobile way of life of many pastoralists
contributes to this constraint.
Often, people were busy and had little
time for extended discussions. To overcome
this, the traditional information system
called hall was used. Hall is the exchange
of information about the rains, weather,
grass conditions, disease, mortalities, movement and news. People share information
with others they meet – especially relating
to livestock and livelihoods. Horses and
camels were used to access remote areas. To
involve more people, elders were included
from the start. Elders are highly respected
and we took care to explain the process and
rationale. Actively involving community
elders was also important for generating
local ownership of the BCP process.
More work is needed to expand the
Pashtun BCP content and process and link
it with other Pashtun communities living
in adjoining areas. These communities are
separated either by international borders
or provincial and administrative boundaries.
Raika Biocultural Protocol
The Raika are the largest pastoral community of western Rajasthan in north-west
India. They have a close relationship with
the camel, but have also developed many
other livestock breeds, including cattle,
sheep and goats. They are an extremely
egalitarian society, often sharing animals
amongst each other. As long as common
property resources are amply available, the
Raika feel strong and prosperous. Historically, they also have a close relationship
with the ruling class of Rajputs, caring for
their camel breeding herds, and enjoying
grazing privileges in forests. But over the
last 60 years, the Raika have suffered as
developments have eroded common property resources and restricted access to
remaining areas, such as intensified crop
cultivation, new wildlife sanctuaries, population pressures, road building and land
enclosures. There is also a split between
traditional animal-keeping Raika and
educated young people who are not interested in livestock and do not value
traditional knowledge highly.
The Raika Biocultural Protocol
describes a number of local breeds that
they have been stewarding, including
camel, Nari cattle, Botic sheep, and Sirohi
and Marwari goats. The protocol sets out,
among other things:
• biocultural values and roles of the Raika
for in situ conservation;
• sustainable use of animal genetic diversity and forest and rangeland ecosystems;
• customary laws and decision-making
processes (e.g. relating to prior informed
consent); and
• the rights and responsibilities of the
community and government agencies
under national and international laws and
policies.