Natural Justice and the League for Pastoral Peoples and Endogenous Livestock Development (LPP) organized a day long pre-conference workshop on January 10 at the International Association for the Study of the Commons (IASC) Conference 2011 in Hyderabad. The workshop was very well-attended and focused on the role of biocultural community protocols in securing livestock keepers’ rights to their commons. The workshop had presentations by Dr. Ilse Kohler-Rollefson (LPP), Kabir Bavikatte (Natural Justice), Kamal Kishore (Rainfed Livestock Network), Lalji Desai (World Alliance of Mobile Indigenous Peoples), and Saverio Kratli (editor, Nomadic Peoples Journal). The workshop was facilitated by Gino Cocchiaro (Natural Justice). The presentations led to a rich discussion that affirmed the importance of biocultural community protocols in securing livestock keepers’ rights.
The day ended with the official inauguration of the 2011 IASC Conference. The keynote lecture was given by the 2009 Nobel Laureate in Economics, Dr. Elinor Ostrom, followed by a stimulating talk by Jairam Ramesh (Minister for Environmental Affairs, India). With over 700 participants from 69 countries, the 2011 IASC Conference that will take place over the next four days promises to be a great success.
