Pastoralist: Paper prepared for IUCN 9th Technical Meeting on Pre-Industrial Man in the Tropical Environment, Nairobi 17-20 Sept. 1963

This paper deals largely with the pre-industrial pastoralist in the East African environment rather than in the world tropical setting in the hope that it will stimulate interest and discussion in the course of the pre- and post-Assembly tours. The point is made that whilst the hunters, the pastoralists and the cultivators have throughout East Africa tended to sort themselves out according to the varying types of environment available to them, there has been much interplay of forces between the various groups so it is impossible to consider " pure" pastoralism except as a hypothetical concept. When, however, " pure " pastoralism is examined it appears that its general effect on the environment is one of degradation, though not at the pace previously believed, nor at the pace at which pastoralism-cum-cultivation degredates the environment.

Though indirectly the “ pure ” pastoralist can affect the fauna by changing the environment, e.g. thickening of the bush resulting from overgrazing as in the case of Kongvva where closed deciduous bush replaced more open country; in general the direct impact of the pastoralist on the faune was not excessively damaging, as the pastoralist had by definition his own protein supply. The parks and game reserves of East Africa are in general land saved from agricultural exploitation by the presence of either the pastoralists or the tsetse fly. The elimination of either of these factors prior to the acquisition and application of adequate knowledge of the best form of land usage for the areas concerned is therefore to be deprecated. It must, however, be realized that the current population explosion, accompanied by the spread of peasant and plantation agriculture, and by increasing urbanization and industrialization entails the speedy elimination of the preindustrial pastoralist.