Overview
Description
Pastoralism is the agricultural practice of livestock production in drylands that cover 41% of the global land surface. To prepare students for work in pastoral systems, this course explores the reasons 90% of international range development projects have failed. Students will compare western and traditional pastoral systems including livestock management practices and land tenure, and discuss climate change, food security, desertification, and the UN’s Millennium Development Goals.
Units
Lecture3
Catalog Details
Offering
Offered: Every Fall
Terms
fall
Attributes
Standard
Learning Outcomes
- summarize the basic principles of pastoralism and pastoral practice.
- compare and contrast between western and traditional pastoral practices.
- identify and describe major dryland ecosystem types in relation to climate, soils, and vegetation.
- define famine, poverty, and drought, and how this relates to issues of food security, common property resources, non-equilibrial and equilibrial dynamics, the United Nations Millennium Development Goals, and sustainable development.
- name and describe key ecosystem components and processes of biological systems on rangelands and their relationship to land degradation and restoration.
- categorize observed pastoral practices into discrete systems, e.g., agropastoral, transhumance (vertical and horizontal ecologies), and nomadism.
- summarize the current issues and implications for drylands regarding global climate change.
- prepare an annotated bibliography or Sustainable Development Analysis Term Paper.