Grassroots Vol 22 No 1 | Page 18

NEWS

Getting African grasslands right , for people and wildlife alike : Q & A with Susanne Vetter

Kang-Chun Cheng

Current Address : Mongabay Reprinted from : https :// bit . ly / 36a1Daa

• Africa ’ s vast grasslands are well known for their iconic wildlife , but far less appreciated for the other ecosystem services they provide , including sequestering immense amounts of carbon and supporting millions of people practising the ancient occupation of livestock herding .

• Susanne Vetter , a plant ecologist at Rhodes University in South Africa , studies the roles not only of plants but also of people in these landscapes .

• Through her work , she has gained a rosier view of pastoralism , and its ability to coexist with wildlife , than many conservationists and policymakers hold .

• Mongabay recently interviewed Susanne Vetter via email about common misconceptions of African grasslands and the pastoralist communities who depend on them .

All across the arid and semi-arid landscapes of Africa , grasslands meet the eye . These ecosystems provide a wealth of environmental services , sequestering immense amounts of carbon ( grazing lands store up to 30 % of the world ’ s soil carbon , by one estimate ) and harbouring tremendous biodiversity . This includes some of the world ’ s most iconic remaining megafauna , such as elephants , rhinos and lions , and epic annual migrations of 1.5 million thundering wildebeest .

These immense swaths of grass also sustain people practising one of the world ’ s most ancient occupations : livestock herding . Some 268 million pastoralists live in Africa , contributing an estimated 10-44 % of the GDP of African nations , according to a 2013 African Union report . Out of necessity , herders are resourceful , innovative and resilient . They require large areas of land to graze their livestock , which is why many pastoral communities across the world are nomadic or semi-nomadic . Their cows , goats , camels and sheep convert what other people may dismiss as wasteland into milk and meat . At times , these animals are the only viable way to make a living in remote , dry landscapes .

Yet as populations of both people and their animals burgeon , as grasslands become segmented through fencing , property privatization , development projects and extractive industries , and as government policies encourage shifts away from pastoral livelihoods , both herders and the grasslands they depend on are facing new challenges .

Figure 1 . Two Maasai boys were tasked with bringing the herd home in Amboseli National Park , Kenya . Image by Kang- Chun Cheng .

17 Grassroots Vol 22 No 1 March 2022