Having the will to continue their way of life in the 21^st century however, is unfortunately not enough. Ignorance, misinformation, social prejudice, and harmful policies and legislation are threatening the livelihoods of mobile pastoralists – and along with that their roles as stewards of our local natural landscapes.

To help communities respond to these challenges, we (DiversEarth, Yolda Initiative and Trashumancia Y Naturaleza) have developed Roads less Travelled – a new global and collaborative programme of research, lobbying, outreach and celebration to inform decision makers on the benefits mobile pastoralist communities bring to nature, climate and all societies, at the cost of none and to the benefit of all.

People have and always will be a part of nature, which is why ‘conventional conservation’ methods of removing settled groups of people from a natural environment – of separating humans and nature – to preserve it doesn’t work. The displacement of these caretakers and the abandonment of their way of life can cause irreparable damages to the surrounding ecosystem, including flooding, wildfires, habitat loss, fragmentation or homogenisation and the resulting species decline. When ‘caretaker communities’, empowered enough to cope with externally imposed changes, can continue living in and managing an area they have been settled in for centuries the balance of nature is maintained and biodiversity can flourish.

We strongly believe that nature can be protected in many different ways, by many different people – there isn’t just one correct method. We see this in communities across the globe who maintain their surrounding nature simply by how they live their lives.

Having the will to continue their way of life in the 21^st century however, is unfortunately not enough. Ignorance, misinformation, social prejudice, and harmful policies and legislation are threatening the livelihoods of mobile pastoralists – and along with that their roles as stewards of our local natural landscapes.

To help communities respond to these challenges, we (DiversEarth, Yolda Initiative and Trashumancia Y Naturaleza) have developed Roads less Travelled – a new global and collaborative programme of research, lobbying, outreach and celebration to inform decision makers on the benefits mobile pastoralist communities bring to nature, climate and all societies, at the cost of none and to the benefit of all.

Securing the rights of mobile pastoralists nationally and globally by contributing research to resolutions used to influence organisations’ and governments’ priorities and activities – such as: