A semi-structured questionnaire survey of herders residing around Tandoureh, Salouk and Sarigol National Parks, northeastern Iran was carried out.
Many herders from around the region use these squatter patches, so they are plagued by theft and banditry, making them unsafe for herders living there.
They were likely tribal people in B.C. times, nomadic herders, moving around as famines and droughts hit.
In the far, far north, where the sun doesn't set for weeks, Sami reindeer herders are zipping around on ATVs and snowmobiles moving herds of reindeer around their winter grazing grounds.
While rains are somewhat better, the past months' dry spell is still snuffing out the livelihoods of thousands of herders across Niger, especially around Dakoro, a regional center where 40,000 people live, and where rains have been spotty for two years straight.
Interviews with end users were supplemented with two focus groups, each held in the Bokkos Local Government Area with groups of around 12 herders.
We read sad stories of how collectivization virtually destroyed pastoralism - but also of how herders often found ways around state policies.
"According to a special case study from last year's Global Assessment Report on Disaster Risk Reduction, of the most vulnerable Syrians dependent on agriculture, particularly in the northeast governorate of Hassakeh (but also in the south), 'nearly 75 percent... suffered total crop failure.' Herders in the northeast lost around 85 percent of their livestock, affecting 1.3 million people".
And then there were the endless meals of gristly mutton eaten around smoky stoves inside herders' gers, the unceasing cups of greasy tea.
Tells how Mongolia's dramatic shift to a market economy after the breakup of the Soviet-bloc has deregulated the cashmere industry, allowing herders to now shop their cashmere around for the best price.
