Impact of communication technologies on pastoralist societies
Conference Publication ResearchOnline@JCUAbstract
The rangelands cover approximately 20% of the World's land surface and provide 16% of annual food production as meat and milk for local and distant markets (Holechek, 2013). Food production from rangelands represents an important source of nutrition as global human population is projected to exceed 9 billion by 2050 (United Nations, 2015). There is pressure to increase production from the pastoralism but this has to be done sustainably to ensure the productive capacity is not eroded in the longer term for short term gains. Information technology represents a very real opportunity to improve livelihoods, increase food production and secure environmental outcomes in the pastoral lands. About 70% of the World’s pastoral lands are found in developing and emerging economies where they support indigenous human populations existing in a close synergy with their livestock (Reid et al., 2014). Such societies are driven by cultural mores that often lead to sub-optimal livestock production, over grazing and poor resilience to factors such as climate change and societal upheaval. In developed countries, pastoral lands are under threat from depopulation, loss or lack of infrastructure to support developed production systems and competition for alternative use of the rangelands, such as carbon storage, mining, ecosystem services and tourism (Roxburgh and Pratley, 2015). Against this background then, how can information technologies transform the pastoral lands from marginal production systems to those that are resilient to challenges, sustainable in the long term and deliver optimum levels of livestock production?
Journal
N/A
Publication Name
International Rangeland Congress
Volume
N/A
ISBN/ISSN
978-1-77136-458-4
Edition
N/A
Issue
N/A
Pages Count
6
Location
Saskatoon, Canada
Publisher
10th International Rangeland Congress
Publisher Url
N/A
Publisher Location
Saskatoon, Canada
Publish Date
N/A
Url
N/A
Date
N/A
EISSN
N/A
DOI
N/A