On Wednesday 2 and Thursday 3 June, our ‘Perspectives on Pastoralism’ film festival was part of the Global Landscape Forum conference on dry land restoration in Africa, just a few days before the start of the UN decade dedicated to ecosystem restoration. Our selection of films offered the audiences the opportunity to learn more about pastoralists and the impressive and biodiverse drylands they know to manage sustainably providing them in their livelihoods. Our film festival took place across 4 sessions of the conference.
Session 2: Pastoralist livelihoods in Africa
This second session focused on pastoralist livelihoods in Africa through two films made in Niger. The first is the documentary, ‘Waynaabe: Life scenes of the Wodaabe’, which shows the life of nomadic Wodaabe livestock keepers through the eyes of the young mother Mooro. Her unmarried niece, Mariama, explains the worso, a ceremonial gathering of their clan in Akadaney. The second film, ‘Ngaynaaka: Herding chaos’, focuses on how pastoralists thrive on nature’s variability. As the environment becomes more unpredictable, people all over the world face higher costs in an effort to sustain the usual strategies aimed at controlling it. The Wodaabe pastoralists show that there is another way.
Dr. Saverio Krätli, an honorary editor of the journal Nomadic Peoples, is an anthropologist specializing in pastoral systems. Saverio has worked extensively across sub-Saharan Africa. Among his many publications, he wrote the Pastoral Development Orientation Framework in 2019. Saverio shared insights from his experience working on ‘Ngaynaaka: Herding chaos’, and answered audience questions.
Re-watch the second session here.
Programme
