Agenda

Women in Africa’s drylands could be likened to superheroes: they take care of the kids and the land, and ensure income for their families. And, as if this was not enough, they are an incredible source of knowledge on traditional practices, sustainable land management and innovations for resilience and survival during periods of drought. During this Youth Daily Show, we will present an intergenerational conversation between two women, exploring their roles in their communities, and understanding the importance of handing down knowledge from generation to generation.

Read more: Youth Participation at GLF Africa Digital Conference: A Wave of Opportunities

Join us for an exclusive screening of a brand-new documentary featuring some of Africa’s restoration champions, AFR100 Presents: The Grand African Green Up. From Ghana to Kenya, Tanzania, and Madagascar, follow narrator Wanjira Mathai for a narrative journey through a few of Africa’s regenerating landscapes. The Grand African Green Up is co-produced by AUDA-NEPAD and Justdiggit, with support from World Resources Institute.

As we enter a decade dedicated to ecosystem restoration, it is crucial to center the knowledge, interests and needs of the people that are stewarding the world’s remaining biodiversity: Indigenous peoples and local communities. During this special Youth Daily Show, Adjany Costa, a young marine biologist and ethno-conservationist from Angola, who also served as the youngest Minister of Culture, Tourism and Environment in Angola’s history, will share her own experience with community-led conservation as well as her perspective on setting robust foundations for a restoration movement that includes traditional ecological knowledge and scientific knowledge.

Land is soil, land is food, land is life. Women’s, youths’ and pastoralists’ livelihoods and income often depend on it, but limited availability of communal land and challenges to formal ownership are increasingly creating tension between herders, farmers and investors. While formal land security in Africa is increasing, the number of land disputes is also on the rise, with women and youth often on the losing end. This plenary represents an intergenerational conversation among farmers, pastoralists, youth and elders, who will share their challenges and collectively explore solutions

Degraded landscapes threaten the livelihood of the majority of rural populations. In years of implementing landscape restoration activities, it has become clear that embedding the interventions in the local communities is essential to the sustainability and success of such initiatives. A comprehensive participation of local stakeholders in the planning and implementation processes have a great potential to empower local structures and communities, especially women and youth, and become an irreplaceable core of ecosystem restoration.

GIZ and partners from its Forests4Future and Large-scale Forest Landscape Restoration (FLR) in Africa programme will showcase how initiatives such as the AFR100 and international FLR programs for restoring degraded landscapes must use this potential!

Read more: White Paper 

Get an inside look at the results of the African capacity needs assessment undertaken by the UN FAO-led taskforce on best practices. This session will raise awareness of the existing systemic capacities for restoration as well as the current gaps and barriers, and of the opportunities to meet these needs in the context of the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration.

The session will highlight pathways towards enhancing practitioners’ capacities through the development or up-scaling of key knowledge products and various capacity development initiatives, such as the Landscape Academy, the FAO-ELTI youth contest, and the Restoration Factory.

The world has experienced severe land degradation due to deforestation, climate change, drought, desertification and unsustainable land uses. Consequently, the productivity and health of farmlands, grazing lands and forests is damaged, which in turn harms the individuals and communities who depend on these resources for their food supply, health and income. As a result, many rural populations in the developing world suffer from malnutrition, loss of opportunity, increased vulnerability and poverty. Migration increases as workers move away to earn a living, which can also lead to family fragmentation and increased potential for conflict. This is not a safe or sustainable future for rural communities. Nor does it help the growth of nations reliant on primary industries, such as agriculture.

But this is changing. Communities across the world are transforming their lives and reshaping their lands through a low-cost, simple and sustainable land regeneration practice called Farmer Managed Natural Regeneration (FMNR). Through FMNR and their own efforts, communities can restore degraded lands to productivity relatively quickly and efficiently. FMNR has proven its potential in mobilizing and empowering local communities to restore their natural environment and consequently building resilience – of people, their lands and their livelihoods.
Join Tony Rinaudo (World Vision Senior Climate Action Advisor, pioneer of FMNR and Right Livelihood Award Laureate, 2018) and Irene Ojuok (Right Livelihood College PhD student at the Center for Development Research (ZEF) and Global Evergreening Ambassador) as they speak on the FMNR approach from a global and Kenyan perspective.

Read more: White Paper 

The Perspectives on Pastoralism Film Festival seeks to deepen understanding of how diverse peoples gain their livelihoods from extensive livestock production.

The relationships of pastoralist people and animals and their food production systems reflect an intimate intertwining of culture, economy and ecology in harsh environments such as Africa’s drylands. In such environments, mobility of animals plays a key role.

Films of multiple genres – spanning documentary, narrative and experimental – made by pastoralists and/or about pastoralists offer different insights into issues important to pastoralists.

This third session confronts political and economic injustices with the theme, ‘Speaking truth to power: pastoralists’ advocacy’. Nick Lunch, from Insight Share in the UK will share a few words about participatory video and the making of Olosho. After a short animation film introducing pastoralism (CELEP, 2021), there is a short film featuring Shoba Liban, Program Manager of the Pastoralist Women Health and Education non-profit organization based in Isiolo, Kenya (CELEP, 2019).

Land grabbing in pastoralist areas is unmasked through two films in this session. Olosho (2015) is a participatory video (PV) made by 6 community members in Loliondo from 5 Maasai clans in northern Tanzania, created with facilitation from InsightShare. In 1992, a hunting company from the United Arab Emirates occupied 1500 km2 of village land in Loliondo to set up a private game reserve beside the Serengeti National Park. Since then, Maasai have been denied access to vital pasture and waterpoints for their herds. The people suffered mass eviction from their villages within the disputed land. The PV training strengthened the Maasai’s self-advocacy to resist land-grabbing by foreign investors.

The last film in this session is an advocacy film, Lower Omo: local tribes under threat (2012). The filmmaker chooses to remain anonymous out of safety concerns. The think-tank, Oakland Institute, shares this film to reveal the situation of agropastoralists in the Lower Omo Valley in Southern Ethiopia, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. It is home to about 200,000 people from several ethnic groups, e.g. the Bode, Dassenach, Hamer, Karo, Kwegu, Mursi, Nyangatom and Suri. Most of them raise livestock where the annual flooding of the Omo River replenishes grazing areas and practise flood-retreat cropping on the riverbanks. Their cattle are a source of food, wealth and pride, and are intimately tied to their cultural identity. The lives and culture of these peoples are threatened by the construction of the Gibe III dam.

The themes presented will be elaborated further by Dr. Christina (Echi) Gabbert from the Institute for Social and Cultural Anthropology at Göttingen University, Germany, who can also answer questions from the audience. She has collaborated in southern Ethiopia with pastoralists over the last twenty years. Among her many publications, she is one of the editors of the book, Lands of the Future: Anthropological Perspectives on Pastoralism, Land Deals and Tropes of Modernity.

A second edition of the Perspectives on Pastoralism Film Festival will be launched in 2022. And you can be part of it! New films may now be submitted using the link below:
https://filmfreeway.com/PerspectivesonPastoralismFilmFestival
http://www.pastoralistfilmfestival.com/
http://www.celep.info/

On the one hand, we have drylands. They constitute 60% of the surface of the African continent, and while some might think they do not have much agricultural potential, they can actually sustain thriving agricultural practices, including – but not limited to – agroforestry systems.

On the other hand, we have youth. Young people are dynamic and innovative; have a high uptake of technological know-how; and are passionate, perseverant, and most of all, courageous.

During this Youth Daily Show, we want to explore the opportunities that agroforestry can bring to Africa’s drylands – not only as a sustainable food system, but also as an opportunity for youth employment and the achievement of food security for present and future generations. We will hear from amazing young professionals from across the African continent, who will share their experience with, and innovations for, dryland agroforestry.

Read more: Youth Participation at GLF Africa Digital Conference: A Wave of Opportunities

It’s hard to see where people are restoring Africa’s drylands. Where trees are growing outside of tropical forests, it’s hard for satellites to pick them up and harder to measure their economic and social benefits. It’s even harder to show progress when restoration doesn’t involve trees. In this session, you will learn directly about these challenges and opportunities from people actively restoring drylands. Together, we will unpack the what, the why, and the how of monitoring restoration in drylands — and show how tracking progress can lead to more investment and healthier communities. Join World Resources Institute for this exciting and interactive conversation.

Rangelands occupy one-third of all land on earth, are home to important biodiversity, support more than 2 billion people and significantly contribute to the SDGs. Despite their importance, rangelands continue to be characterized by chronic underinvestment and high degradation. This session will build on the ongoing global rangeland dialogue by stakeholders (UNCCD member countries, NGOs/IGOs, and rangeland local users). It will also discuss the role of partnerships – governments, local communities, the private-sector – in rangeland restoration and the impacts in Africa. The session will showcase on-the-ground impacts from countries and outline the role of women and youth.

The session is co-organized by IUCN, WWF, UNEP, FAO, ILRI, ICRAF, WOCAT

Restoring Africa’s drylands is a major economic opportunity: Every $1 invested can lead to $7-30 in economic benefits. Recognizing that opportunity, investors have committed more than $15 billion to AFR100 and the Great Green Wall through 2030. Now, billions of those dollars need to be directly invested in entrepreneurs and community organizations with the necessary long-term vision, local knowledge, and technical expertise to transform Africa’s drylands.

Join World Resources Institute (WRI) for a conversation with three private investors and the leaders of restoration projects that they have funded. Together, we will unpack how #GenerationRestoration can turn inspiring ideas into action on the ground.

A supportive policy environment must be built across the African continent to accelerate the collective movement for dryland restoration.

This plenary will call for a policy agenda to shape and meet the ambition of the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration from the start. By offering a deep dive into governance and exploring the role of local and national governments as well as citizens and the private sector, this session will provide a vision for policy coherence across sectors and scales. Join this call to action for a shift from designing policies to concretely implementing policies that make restoration work for all.

The Perspectives on Pastoralism Film Festival seeks to deepen understanding of how diverse peoples gain their livelihoods from extensive livestock production.
The relationships of pastoralist people and animals and their food production systems reflect an intimate intertwining of culture, economy and ecology in harsh environments such as Africa’s drylands. In such environments, mobility of animals plays a key role.
Films of multiple genres – spanning documentary, narrative and experimental – made by pastoralists and/or about pastoralists offer different insights into issues important to pastoralists.
The final session focuses on global recognition of pastoralism and its future with films from Uganda, India and Ireland. A short, animated film introducing pastoralism (CELEP, 2021), is followed by The Turkana (2019) shared by the Alliance for Food Sovereignty in Africa (AFSA). This video is about Turkana pastoralists of northern Uganda facing climate change.
Stories from the landscape: cattle drove (Paul Murphy, 2018) shows the living cultural heritage of transhumance in Europe: moving livestock to different grazing grounds in a seasonal cycle that goes back as long as people have been farming in the region. In Clare County of Ireland, the filmmaker follows the Burren Beo group through their Winterage Festival celebrating this ancient tradition that allows the region’s unique plant and animal life to flourish. Here, the highlands are grazed in the winter and the lowlands in summer. This is contrasted with the movement of sheep in the Alps of northern Italy, where flocks are moved to the mountain pastures for the summer.
Offering a South Asian perspective on pastoralism, Preserving Rajasthan’s camel herds (Cornelia Borrmann (reporter), Deutsche Welle, 2018) shows how the Raika people in India have been herding camels in Rajasthan for centuries. However, their traditional way of life is now under threat. A German NGO, the League for Pastoral Peoples, is trying to create better prospects for the camel herders through the sale of camel milk and other products, in order to help the Raika sustain their livelihoods.
The final film, Bayandalai: Lord of the Taiga (Aner Etxebarria Moral and Pablo Vidal Santos, 2018), leaves us with a question about the future. From inside his yurt in northern Mongolia, the reindeer herder Bayandalai ‒ an elder of the Dukhas tribe ‒ muses about the significance of life and death in the largest forest on Earth, the Taiga. Through his connection with the reindeer and with the Taiga, Bayandalai has access to spiritual and practical knowledge that he may not be able to pass on to his family members before the lures of city life — jobs, money, houses, things — entice them away.
Dr. Ann Waters-Bayer of the Agrecol Association, Dr. Margareta Lelea of the German Institute for Tropical and Subtropical Agriculture, and Loupa Pius from DADO – the Dynamic Agro-pastoralist Development Organization (DADO) Kaabong– will offer closing remarks and answer final questions.
A second edition of the Perspectives on Pastoralism Film Festival will be launched in 2022. And you can be part of it! New films may now be submitted using the link below:
https://filmfreeway.com/PerspectivesonPastoralismFilmFestival
http://www.pastoralistfilmfestival.com/
http://www.celep.info/

Women in Africa’s drylands could be likened to superheroes: they take care of the kids and the land, and ensure income for their families. And, as if this was not enough, they are an incredible source of knowledge on traditional practices, sustainable land management and innovations for resilience and survival during periods of drought. During this Youth Daily Show, we will present an intergenerational conversation between two women, exploring their roles in their communities, and understanding the importance of handing down knowledge from generation to generation.

Read more: Youth Participation at GLF Africa Digital Conference: A Wave of Opportunities

Join us for an exclusive screening of a brand-new documentary featuring some of Africa’s restoration champions, AFR100 Presents: The Grand African Green Up. From Ghana to Kenya, Tanzania, and Madagascar, follow narrator Wanjira Mathai for a narrative journey through a few of Africa’s regenerating landscapes. The Grand African Green Up is co-produced by AUDA-NEPAD and Justdiggit, with support from World Resources Institute.

As we enter a decade dedicated to ecosystem restoration, it is crucial to center the knowledge, interests and needs of the people that are stewarding the world’s remaining biodiversity: Indigenous peoples and local communities. During this special Youth Daily Show, Adjany Costa, a young marine biologist and ethno-conservationist from Angola, who also served as the youngest Minister of Culture, Tourism and Environment in Angola’s history, will share her own experience with community-led conservation as well as her perspective on setting robust foundations for a restoration movement that includes traditional ecological knowledge and scientific knowledge.

Land is soil, land is food, land is life. Women’s, youths’ and pastoralists’ livelihoods and income often depend on it, but limited availability of communal land and challenges to formal ownership are increasingly creating tension between herders, farmers and investors. While formal land security in Africa is increasing, the number of land disputes is also on the rise, with women and youth often on the losing end. This plenary represents an intergenerational conversation among farmers, pastoralists, youth and elders, who will share their challenges and collectively explore solutions

Degraded landscapes threaten the livelihood of the majority of rural populations. In years of implementing landscape restoration activities, it has become clear that embedding the interventions in the local communities is essential to the sustainability and success of such initiatives. A comprehensive participation of local stakeholders in the planning and implementation processes have a great potential to empower local structures and communities, especially women and youth, and become an irreplaceable core of ecosystem restoration.

GIZ and partners from its Forests4Future and Large-scale Forest Landscape Restoration (FLR) in Africa programme will showcase how initiatives such as the AFR100 and international FLR programs for restoring degraded landscapes must use this potential!

Read more: White Paper 

Get an inside look at the results of the African capacity needs assessment undertaken by the UN FAO-led taskforce on best practices. This session will raise awareness of the existing systemic capacities for restoration as well as the current gaps and barriers, and of the opportunities to meet these needs in the context of the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration.

The session will highlight pathways towards enhancing practitioners’ capacities through the development or up-scaling of key knowledge products and various capacity development initiatives, such as the Landscape Academy, the FAO-ELTI youth contest, and the Restoration Factory.

The world has experienced severe land degradation due to deforestation, climate change, drought, desertification and unsustainable land uses. Consequently, the productivity and health of farmlands, grazing lands and forests is damaged, which in turn harms the individuals and communities who depend on these resources for their food supply, health and income. As a result, many rural populations in the developing world suffer from malnutrition, loss of opportunity, increased vulnerability and poverty. Migration increases as workers move away to earn a living, which can also lead to family fragmentation and increased potential for conflict. This is not a safe or sustainable future for rural communities. Nor does it help the growth of nations reliant on primary industries, such as agriculture.

But this is changing. Communities across the world are transforming their lives and reshaping their lands through a low-cost, simple and sustainable land regeneration practice called Farmer Managed Natural Regeneration (FMNR). Through FMNR and their own efforts, communities can restore degraded lands to productivity relatively quickly and efficiently. FMNR has proven its potential in mobilizing and empowering local communities to restore their natural environment and consequently building resilience – of people, their lands and their livelihoods.
Join Tony Rinaudo (World Vision Senior Climate Action Advisor, pioneer of FMNR and Right Livelihood Award Laureate, 2018) and Irene Ojuok (Right Livelihood College PhD student at the Center for Development Research (ZEF) and Global Evergreening Ambassador) as they speak on the FMNR approach from a global and Kenyan perspective.

Read more: White Paper 

The Perspectives on Pastoralism Film Festival seeks to deepen understanding of how diverse peoples gain their livelihoods from extensive livestock production.

The relationships of pastoralist people and animals and their food production systems reflect an intimate intertwining of culture, economy and ecology in harsh environments such as Africa’s drylands. In such environments, mobility of animals plays a key role.

Films of multiple genres – spanning documentary, narrative and experimental – made by pastoralists and/or about pastoralists offer different insights into issues important to pastoralists.

This third session confronts political and economic injustices with the theme, ‘Speaking truth to power: pastoralists’ advocacy’. Nick Lunch, from Insight Share in the UK will share a few words about participatory video and the making of Olosho. After a short animation film introducing pastoralism (CELEP, 2021), there is a short film featuring Shoba Liban, Program Manager of the Pastoralist Women Health and Education non-profit organization based in Isiolo, Kenya (CELEP, 2019).

Land grabbing in pastoralist areas is unmasked through two films in this session. Olosho (2015) is a participatory video (PV) made by 6 community members in Loliondo from 5 Maasai clans in northern Tanzania, created with facilitation from InsightShare. In 1992, a hunting company from the United Arab Emirates occupied 1500 km2 of village land in Loliondo to set up a private game reserve beside the Serengeti National Park. Since then, Maasai have been denied access to vital pasture and waterpoints for their herds. The people suffered mass eviction from their villages within the disputed land. The PV training strengthened the Maasai’s self-advocacy to resist land-grabbing by foreign investors.

The last film in this session is an advocacy film, Lower Omo: local tribes under threat (2012). The filmmaker chooses to remain anonymous out of safety concerns. The think-tank, Oakland Institute, shares this film to reveal the situation of agropastoralists in the Lower Omo Valley in Southern Ethiopia, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. It is home to about 200,000 people from several ethnic groups, e.g. the Bode, Dassenach, Hamer, Karo, Kwegu, Mursi, Nyangatom and Suri. Most of them raise livestock where the annual flooding of the Omo River replenishes grazing areas and practise flood-retreat cropping on the riverbanks. Their cattle are a source of food, wealth and pride, and are intimately tied to their cultural identity. The lives and culture of these peoples are threatened by the construction of the Gibe III dam.

The themes presented will be elaborated further by Dr. Christina (Echi) Gabbert from the Institute for Social and Cultural Anthropology at Göttingen University, Germany, who can also answer questions from the audience. She has collaborated in southern Ethiopia with pastoralists over the last twenty years. Among her many publications, she is one of the editors of the book, Lands of the Future: Anthropological Perspectives on Pastoralism, Land Deals and Tropes of Modernity.

A second edition of the Perspectives on Pastoralism Film Festival will be launched in 2022. And you can be part of it! New films may now be submitted using the link below:
https://filmfreeway.com/PerspectivesonPastoralismFilmFestival
http://www.pastoralistfilmfestival.com/
http://www.celep.info/

On the one hand, we have drylands. They constitute 60% of the surface of the African continent, and while some might think they do not have much agricultural potential, they can actually sustain thriving agricultural practices, including – but not limited to – agroforestry systems.

On the other hand, we have youth. Young people are dynamic and innovative; have a high uptake of technological know-how; and are passionate, perseverant, and most of all, courageous.

During this Youth Daily Show, we want to explore the opportunities that agroforestry can bring to Africa’s drylands – not only as a sustainable food system, but also as an opportunity for youth employment and the achievement of food security for present and future generations. We will hear from amazing young professionals from across the African continent, who will share their experience with, and innovations for, dryland agroforestry.

Read more: Youth Participation at GLF Africa Digital Conference: A Wave of Opportunities

It’s hard to see where people are restoring Africa’s drylands. Where trees are growing outside of tropical forests, it’s hard for satellites to pick them up and harder to measure their economic and social benefits. It’s even harder to show progress when restoration doesn’t involve trees. In this session, you will learn directly about these challenges and opportunities from people actively restoring drylands. Together, we will unpack the what, the why, and the how of monitoring restoration in drylands — and show how tracking progress can lead to more investment and healthier communities. Join World Resources Institute for this exciting and interactive conversation.

Rangelands occupy one-third of all land on earth, are home to important biodiversity, support more than 2 billion people and significantly contribute to the SDGs. Despite their importance, rangelands continue to be characterized by chronic underinvestment and high degradation. This session will build on the ongoing global rangeland dialogue by stakeholders (UNCCD member countries, NGOs/IGOs, and rangeland local users). It will also discuss the role of partnerships – governments, local communities, the private-sector – in rangeland restoration and the impacts in Africa. The session will showcase on-the-ground impacts from countries and outline the role of women and youth.

The session is co-organized by IUCN, WWF, UNEP, FAO, ILRI, ICRAF, WOCAT

Restoring Africa’s drylands is a major economic opportunity: Every $1 invested can lead to $7-30 in economic benefits. Recognizing that opportunity, investors have committed more than $15 billion to AFR100 and the Great Green Wall through 2030. Now, billions of those dollars need to be directly invested in entrepreneurs and community organizations with the necessary long-term vision, local knowledge, and technical expertise to transform Africa’s drylands.

Join World Resources Institute (WRI) for a conversation with three private investors and the leaders of restoration projects that they have funded. Together, we will unpack how #GenerationRestoration can turn inspiring ideas into action on the ground.

A supportive policy environment must be built across the African continent to accelerate the collective movement for dryland restoration.

This plenary will call for a policy agenda to shape and meet the ambition of the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration from the start. By offering a deep dive into governance and exploring the role of local and national governments as well as citizens and the private sector, this session will provide a vision for policy coherence across sectors and scales. Join this call to action for a shift from designing policies to concretely implementing policies that make restoration work for all.

The Perspectives on Pastoralism Film Festival seeks to deepen understanding of how diverse peoples gain their livelihoods from extensive livestock production.
The relationships of pastoralist people and animals and their food production systems reflect an intimate intertwining of culture, economy and ecology in harsh environments such as Africa’s drylands. In such environments, mobility of animals plays a key role.
Films of multiple genres – spanning documentary, narrative and experimental – made by pastoralists and/or about pastoralists offer different insights into issues important to pastoralists.
The final session focuses on global recognition of pastoralism and its future with films from Uganda, India and Ireland. A short, animated film introducing pastoralism (CELEP, 2021), is followed by The Turkana (2019) shared by the Alliance for Food Sovereignty in Africa (AFSA). This video is about Turkana pastoralists of northern Uganda facing climate change.
Stories from the landscape: cattle drove (Paul Murphy, 2018) shows the living cultural heritage of transhumance in Europe: moving livestock to different grazing grounds in a seasonal cycle that goes back as long as people have been farming in the region. In Clare County of Ireland, the filmmaker follows the Burren Beo group through their Winterage Festival celebrating this ancient tradition that allows the region’s unique plant and animal life to flourish. Here, the highlands are grazed in the winter and the lowlands in summer. This is contrasted with the movement of sheep in the Alps of northern Italy, where flocks are moved to the mountain pastures for the summer.
Offering a South Asian perspective on pastoralism, Preserving Rajasthan’s camel herds (Cornelia Borrmann (reporter), Deutsche Welle, 2018) shows how the Raika people in India have been herding camels in Rajasthan for centuries. However, their traditional way of life is now under threat. A German NGO, the League for Pastoral Peoples, is trying to create better prospects for the camel herders through the sale of camel milk and other products, in order to help the Raika sustain their livelihoods.
The final film, Bayandalai: Lord of the Taiga (Aner Etxebarria Moral and Pablo Vidal Santos, 2018), leaves us with a question about the future. From inside his yurt in northern Mongolia, the reindeer herder Bayandalai ‒ an elder of the Dukhas tribe ‒ muses about the significance of life and death in the largest forest on Earth, the Taiga. Through his connection with the reindeer and with the Taiga, Bayandalai has access to spiritual and practical knowledge that he may not be able to pass on to his family members before the lures of city life — jobs, money, houses, things — entice them away.
Dr. Ann Waters-Bayer of the Agrecol Association, Dr. Margareta Lelea of the German Institute for Tropical and Subtropical Agriculture, and Loupa Pius from DADO – the Dynamic Agro-pastoralist Development Organization (DADO) Kaabong– will offer closing remarks and answer final questions.
A second edition of the Perspectives on Pastoralism Film Festival will be launched in 2022. And you can be part of it! New films may now be submitted using the link below:
https://filmfreeway.com/PerspectivesonPastoralismFilmFestival
http://www.pastoralistfilmfestival.com/
http://www.celep.info/

The Perspectives on Pastoralism Film Festival seeks to deepen understanding of how diverse peoples sustain their livelihoods from extensive livestock production.
The relationships between pastoralist people, animals and their food production systems reflect an intimate intertwining of culture, economy and ecology in harsh environments, such as Africa’s drylands, where the mobility of animals plays a key role.
Films of multiple genres – spanning documentary, narrative and experimental – made by pastoralists and/or about pastoralists offer different insights into issues important to pastoralists.
This first session starts with an introductory animation film (CELEP 2021). Then, we will feature the film UnderMining Uganda (Karamoja Development Forum 2017), which shows the negative impacts upon pastoralists in the Karamoja region 20 years since the start of industrial mining. This film explores the reasons why the industry is far from contributing to socioeconomic gains in this largely pastoral region. Worse, it is contributing to massive land grabs that are undermining the livelihoods of pastoralists and other inhabitants of the area. To contextualize the film, Loupa Pius from DADO – the Dynamic Agro-pastoralist Development Organization (DADO) Kaabong – will share his experiences and insights and will answer audience questions. He is also co-chair of the regional group in Eastern & Southern Africa supporting the International Year of Rangelands & Pastoralists (www.iyrp.info) that has been put forward in the United Nations.
A second edition of the Perspectives on Pastoralism Film Festival will be launched in 2022. And you can be part of it! New films may now be submitted using the link(s) below:

https://filmfreeway.com/PerspectivesonPastoralismFilmFestival
http://www.pastoralistfilmfestival.com/
http://www.celep.info/

Take a virtual trip to the great savanna lands of East Africa—cradle of humankind, home to traditional nomadic pastoralists, and last refuge of some of the most spectacular wildlife populations on earth.

Join experts from the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) including rangelands specialist Fiona Flintan, ecosystem ecologist Jason Sircely and gender scientist Renee Bullock to hear some ‘myth-busting’ facts about East Africa’s extraordinary drylands and dryland peoples, to discover why Africa’s rangelands are now in big transition, and to learn how we can best support local pastoral communities to continue their stewardship of these exceptional landscapes as they continually refine their adaptations to a changing physical, political and socio-economic climate.

Hear directly from East African pastoralists as they explain some of the major challenges they face. As agricultural ecologist Ian Scoones reminds us: ‘As we confront uncertainties in today’s complex and turbulent world, we could all learn from pastoralists, who continue to navigate uncertainties with deep knowledge and practised skill.’

The Perspectives on Pastoralism Film Festival seeks to deepen understanding of how diverse peoples sustain their livelihoods from extensive livestock production.

The relationships between pastoralist people, animals and their food production systems reflect an intimate intertwining of culture, economy and ecology in harsh environments, such as Africa’s drylands, where the mobility of animals plays a key role.

Films of multiple genres – spanning documentary, narrative and experimental – made by pastoralists and/or about pastoralists offer different insights into issues important to pastoralists.

This second session begins with an introductory animation film (CELEP 2021) and then focuses on pastoralist livelihoods in Africa through two films made in Niger. The first is a documentary, Waynaabe: Life scenes of the Wodaabe breeders (Francesco Sincich 2012), 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 film highlights how the Wodaabe value their cattle and deal with the challenges of securing a livelihood in the drylands of Niger. It was commissioned by Vétérinaires Sans Frontières (VSF) Belgium to show the setting of their work on animal health.

The next film is a short, Ngaynaaka: Herding chaos (Saverio Krätli 2017), which 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 will share insights from his experience working on Ngaynaaka: Herding chaos, and will offer an audience Q&A.
A second edition of the Perspectives on Pastoralism Film Festival will be launched in 2022. And you can be part of it! New films may now be submitted using the link(s) below:
https://filmfreeway.com/PerspectivesonPastoralismFilmFestival
http://www.pastoralistfilmfestival.com/
http://www.celep.info/

The Perspectives on Pastoralism Film Festival seeks to deepen understanding of how diverse peoples gain their livelihoods from extensive livestock production.

The relationships of pastoralist people and animals and their food production systems reflect an intimate intertwining of culture, economy and ecology in harsh environments such as Africa’s drylands. In such environments, mobility of animals plays a key role.

Films of multiple genres – spanning documentary, narrative and experimental – made by pastoralists and/or about pastoralists offer different insights into issues important to pastoralists.

This third session confronts political and economic injustices with the theme, ‘Speaking truth to power: pastoralists’ advocacy’. Nick Lunch, from Insight Share in the UK will share a few words about participatory video and the making of Olosho. After a short animation film introducing pastoralism (CELEP, 2021), there is a short film featuring Shoba Liban, Program Manager of the Pastoralist Women Health and Education non-profit organization based in Isiolo, Kenya (CELEP, 2019).

Land grabbing in pastoralist areas is unmasked through two films in this session. Olosho (2015) is a participatory video (PV) made by 6 community members in Loliondo from 5 Maasai clans in northern Tanzania, created with facilitation from InsightShare. In 1992, a hunting company from the United Arab Emirates occupied 1500 km2 of village land in Loliondo to set up a private game reserve beside the Serengeti National Park. Since then, Maasai have been denied access to vital pasture and waterpoints for their herds. The people suffered mass eviction from their villages within the disputed land. The PV training strengthened the Maasai’s self-advocacy to resist land-grabbing by foreign investors.

The last film in this session is an advocacy film, Lower Omo: local tribes under threat (2012). The filmmaker chooses to remain anonymous out of safety concerns. The think-tank, Oakland Institute, shares this film to reveal the situation of agropastoralists in the Lower Omo Valley in Southern Ethiopia, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. It is home to about 200,000 people from several ethnic groups, e.g. the Bode, Dassenach, Hamer, Karo, Kwegu, Mursi, Nyangatom and Suri. Most of them raise livestock where the annual flooding of the Omo River replenishes grazing areas and practise flood-retreat cropping on the riverbanks. Their cattle are a source of food, wealth and pride, and are intimately tied to their cultural identity. The lives and culture of these peoples are threatened by the construction of the Gibe III dam.

The themes presented will be elaborated further by Dr. Christina (Echi) Gabbert from the Institute for Social and Cultural Anthropology at Göttingen University, Germany, who can also answer questions from the audience. She has collaborated in southern Ethiopia with pastoralists over the last twenty years. Among her many publications, she is one of the editors of the book, Lands of the Future: Anthropological Perspectives on Pastoralism, Land Deals and Tropes of Modernity.

A second edition of the Perspectives on Pastoralism Film Festival will be launched in 2022. And you can be part of it! New films may now be submitted using the link below:
https://filmfreeway.com/PerspectivesonPastoralismFilmFestival
http://www.pastoralistfilmfestival.com/
http://www.celep.info/

The Perspectives on Pastoralism Film Festival seeks to deepen understanding of how diverse peoples gain their livelihoods from extensive livestock production.
The relationships of pastoralist people and animals and their food production systems reflect an intimate intertwining of culture, economy and ecology in harsh environments such as Africa’s drylands. In such environments, mobility of animals plays a key role.
Films of multiple genres – spanning documentary, narrative and experimental – made by pastoralists and/or about pastoralists offer different insights into issues important to pastoralists.
The final session focuses on global recognition of pastoralism and its future with films from Uganda, India and Ireland. A short, animated film introducing pastoralism (CELEP, 2021), is followed by The Turkana (2019) shared by the Alliance for Food Sovereignty in Africa (AFSA). This video is about Turkana pastoralists of northern Uganda facing climate change.
Stories from the landscape: cattle drove (Paul Murphy, 2018) shows the living cultural heritage of transhumance in Europe: moving livestock to different grazing grounds in a seasonal cycle that goes back as long as people have been farming in the region. In Clare County of Ireland, the filmmaker follows the Burren Beo group through their Winterage Festival celebrating this ancient tradition that allows the region’s unique plant and animal life to flourish. Here, the highlands are grazed in the winter and the lowlands in summer. This is contrasted with the movement of sheep in the Alps of northern Italy, where flocks are moved to the mountain pastures for the summer.
Offering a South Asian perspective on pastoralism, Preserving Rajasthan’s camel herds (Cornelia Borrmann (reporter), Deutsche Welle, 2018) shows how the Raika people in India have been herding camels in Rajasthan for centuries. However, their traditional way of life is now under threat. A German NGO, the League for Pastoral Peoples, is trying to create better prospects for the camel herders through the sale of camel milk and other products, in order to help the Raika sustain their livelihoods.
The final film, Bayandalai: Lord of the Taiga (Aner Etxebarria Moral and Pablo Vidal Santos, 2018), leaves us with a question about the future. From inside his yurt in northern Mongolia, the reindeer herder Bayandalai ‒ an elder of the Dukhas tribe ‒ muses about the significance of life and death in the largest forest on Earth, the Taiga. Through his connection with the reindeer and with the Taiga, Bayandalai has access to spiritual and practical knowledge that he may not be able to pass on to his family members before the lures of city life — jobs, money, houses, things — entice them away.
Dr. Ann Waters-Bayer of the Agrecol Association, Dr. Margareta Lelea of the German Institute for Tropical and Subtropical Agriculture, and Loupa Pius from DADO – the Dynamic Agro-pastoralist Development Organization (DADO) Kaabong– will offer closing remarks and answer final questions.
A second edition of the Perspectives on Pastoralism Film Festival will be launched in 2022. And you can be part of it! New films may now be submitted using the link below:
https://filmfreeway.com/PerspectivesonPastoralismFilmFestival
http://www.pastoralistfilmfestival.com/
http://www.celep.info/

Young people in Africa are increasingly interested in being a part of the restoration movement – either by leading restoration in their landscapes, or by joining an existing restoration project. But it’s not always easy to identify which activities to join, or how to start your own project. In this session, jointly organized by Youth 4 Nature (Y4N) and the Youth in Landscapes Initiative (YIL), we will explore how young people across Africa are getting involved in restoration; how they started their journeys; the challenges they have faced; and the solutions they have found. Two young African leaders at the forefront of landscape restoration will share with us their inspiring stories, and explain how drylands are landscapes of hope – for communities and for nature.

Read more: Youth Participation at GLF Africa Digital Conference: A Wave of Opportunities

The Youth population in Africa is projected to reach 1.2 billion by 2030. But lack of job opportunities, under-employment or challenging work conditions might increasingly become problematic as the number of young people increases. This Youth Daily Show, jointly organized by the African Youth Initiative on Climate Change and the Youth in Landscapes Initiative (YIL), will explore the topic of youth unemployment in Africa and how dryland’s restoration, and more in general the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration, can play a role in increasing employment opportunities for regional youth. Two young African leaders will share with us their perspectives and stories and together we will explore how the restoration of drylands can bring hope, for communities and for nature.

Read more: Youth Participation at GLF Africa Digital Conference: A Wave of Opportunities

Women in Africa’s drylands could be likened to superheroes: they take care of the kids and the land, and ensure income for their families. And, as if this was not enough, they are an incredible source of knowledge on traditional practices, sustainable land management and innovations for resilience and survival during periods of drought. During this Youth Daily Show, we will present an intergenerational conversation between two women, exploring their roles in their communities, and understanding the importance of handing down knowledge from generation to generation.

Read more: Youth Participation at GLF Africa Digital Conference: A Wave of Opportunities

As we enter a decade dedicated to ecosystem restoration, it is crucial to center the knowledge, interests and needs of the people that are stewarding the world’s remaining biodiversity: Indigenous peoples and local communities. During this special Youth Daily Show, Adjany Costa, a young marine biologist and ethno-conservationist from Angola, who also served as the youngest Minister of Culture, Tourism and Environment in Angola’s history, will share her own experience with community-led conservation as well as her perspective on setting robust foundations for a restoration movement that includes traditional ecological knowledge and scientific knowledge.

On the one hand, we have drylands. They constitute 60% of the surface of the African continent, and while some might think they do not have much agricultural potential, they can actually sustain thriving agricultural practices, including – but not limited to – agroforestry systems.

On the other hand, we have youth. Young people are dynamic and innovative; have a high uptake of technological know-how; and are passionate, perseverant, and most of all, courageous.

During this Youth Daily Show, we want to explore the opportunities that agroforestry can bring to Africa’s drylands – not only as a sustainable food system, but also as an opportunity for youth employment and the achievement of food security for present and future generations. We will hear from amazing young professionals from across the African continent, who will share their experience with, and innovations for, dryland agroforestry.

Read more: Youth Participation at GLF Africa Digital Conference: A Wave of Opportunities

Join us for an informal facilitated networking session. Guided by conversational menus, you will have the opportunity to connect with fellow conference participants in short breakout sessions. These sessions (in English and in French) are limited to 300 participants, on a first come, first served basis. Be sure to join the subsession in your preferred language.

Les sessions de réseautage vous mettront en relation avec des personnes du monde entier. Rencontrez une nouvelle personne toutes les cinq minutes ! Le modérateur vous fournira les informations que vous pourrez utiliser pour préparer vos questions afin de tirer le meilleur parti de votre temps de réseautage. Ces sessions (en anglais et en français) sont limitées à 300 participants, selon le principe du premier arrivé, premier servi. Vous auriez la possiblite de rejoindre la session dans langue de votre préférance. 

Join us for an informal facilitated networking session. Guided by conversational menus, you will have the opportunity to connect with fellow conference participants in short breakout sessions. These sessions (in English and in French) are limited to 300 participants, on a first come, first served basis. Be sure to join the subsession in your preferred language.

Les sessions de réseautage vous mettront en relation avec des personnes du monde entier. Rencontrez une nouvelle personne toutes les cinq minutes ! Le modérateur vous fournira les informations que vous pourrez utiliser pour préparer vos questions afin de tirer le meilleur parti de votre temps de réseautage. Ces sessions (en anglais et en français) sont limitées à 300 participants, selon le principe du premier arrivé, premier servi. Vous auriez la possiblite de rejoindre la session dans langue de votre préférance.