STARTING POINT
Hustai National Park (25-29 July 2015) - Meeting of Central Asian Pastoralists
Thirty-five pastoralist representatives in Central Asia have formed a network to voice the concerns of the region’s pastoralists to governments and development organizations. The organizations, from India, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Mongolia, Russia, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan, founded the Central Asian Network of Pastoralists at a meeting in Mongolia on 25-29 July 2015.
The “Hustai Declaration on Pastoralism and Nomadic People for Central Asia”, prepared at the meeting, describes the role of the new network. The declaration calls on national governments, international organizations, the United Nations and civil society organizations to consult and include the Central Asian pastoralist network in workshops, conferences, policy processes and programmes that may affect pastoralism in Central Asia.
The new network aims to protect and advocate the mobility rights, customary laws, cultural traditions and products of pastoralist communities. It will make policy suggestions, seek collaboration and promote the exchange of experiences and knowledge within the network.
The Hustai declaration demands that national and international policies and laws be aligned with FAO’s Voluntary Guidelines for the Governance of the Tenure of Land, Natural Resources and Fisheries.
Several communities that herd yaks were represented at the meeting. Yaks are kept in especially harsh environments, so the delegates agreed that yak herders should be represented through a separate association. Such an association could be structured and organized in a similar way to the reindeer association that supports the interests of reindeer herders in Scandinavia, Russia and Canada.
The “Hustai Declaration on Pastoralism and Nomadic People for Central Asia”, prepared at the meeting, describes the role of the new network. The declaration calls on national governments, international organizations, the United Nations and civil society organizations to consult and include the Central Asian pastoralist network in workshops, conferences, policy processes and programmes that may affect pastoralism in Central Asia.
The new network aims to protect and advocate the mobility rights, customary laws, cultural traditions and products of pastoralist communities. It will make policy suggestions, seek collaboration and promote the exchange of experiences and knowledge within the network.
The Hustai declaration demands that national and international policies and laws be aligned with FAO’s Voluntary Guidelines for the Governance of the Tenure of Land, Natural Resources and Fisheries.
Several communities that herd yaks were represented at the meeting. Yaks are kept in especially harsh environments, so the delegates agreed that yak herders should be represented through a separate association. Such an association could be structured and organized in a similar way to the reindeer association that supports the interests of reindeer herders in Scandinavia, Russia and Canada.
The I Central Asian Meeting of Pastoralists (Mongolia, 24-29 July, 2015), where the creation of a World Yak Herders Association was approved