Contemporary Pastoralism in the Dhofar Mountains of Oman

Bibliographic Data

ID18938245
AuthorsLewis Ball (0000-0003-0549-3345, The Ohio State University, corresponding author), Douglas C Macmillan (0000-0003-2573-5049, University of Kent), Joseph Tzanopoulos (0000-0002-3322-2019, University of Kent), Andrew Spalton, Hadi Al Hikmani (0000-0002-7685-0947), M Moritz (0000-0003-0644-0069, The Ohio State University)
Year2020
Volume48
Issue3
Pages267-277
Publication date2020-05-12
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueHuman Ecology (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0300-7839 • E-ISSN: 1572-9915
PublisherSpringer Science+Business Media (PUBLISHER • DE)
DOI10.1007/s10745-020-00153-5
OpenAlexW3023654400
LanguageEN
Citations received2
References cited28

In the Dhofar Mountains of Oman stakeholders are concerned about the social and ecological sustainability of pastoralism. In this study we used interviews with pastoralists to examine the prevailing drivers of pastoralism and how they are changing. We find that people are committed to pastoralism for sociocultural reasons but also that this commitment is under pressure because of husbandry costs and changing values. We find that capital investment in feedstuff enables pastoralists to overcome the density-dependent regulation of livestock populations. However, high production costs deter investment in marketing and commercialization, and there is little off take of local livestock. Our study reveals how pastoral values, passed down within households, motivate pastoralists in the face of high husbandry costs, modernization and social change

Agriculture · Agroforestry · Animal husbandry · Business · Economic growth · Economics · Geography · Livestock · Modernization theory · Natural resource economics · Pastoralism · Political science · Sociocultural evolution · Socioeconomics · Sustainability · Animal Diversity and Health Studies · Rangeland Management and Livestock Ecology · Transboundary Water Resource Management · Ecology

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Open DOIOpen Access