PLAN DE LA PRESENTATION

1. Nouveaux enjeux et opportunités pour le pastoralisme dans les pays ACPLégislation pour le pastoralisme et certificat de transhumance de la CEDEAO Bruxelles 22 février Bouréima DODO STP/RBM

2. PLAN DE LA PRESENTATION I. Current context relating to stock-rearing legislation in West Africa; II. Analysis of national and regional legislation; III. Challenges and perspectives.

3. I. Contexte Actuel des législations pastorales en Afrique de l’ouest. 1.1. A legal arsenal at a national level: A legal arsenal of national legislative systems (Mali, Burkina Faso, Niger, Mauritania), under development (Chad, Benin); 1.2. Sub-regional regulatory provisions: Background Decision A/DEC.5/10/98: Sub-regional regulation associated with regional stock-droving regulations: adopted at the 21st Summit in October 1998 in Abuja. This decision was backed by a regulation passed during the 49th Session of Ministers from January 26 to 29 2003.

4. Content of the decision For the departure countries: • To seek an international transhumance [regional stock-droving] certificate; • To respect the essential movement of stock via the droving routes; • To respect the obligation to cross national borders during daylight hours; • To respect the obligation to have at least two drovers/shepherds in charge of the animals. For the destination countries: The duties of the destination country include communicating the arrival dates, defining withdrawal zones and the establishment of a dispute settlement committee, the members of which must include a representative of the stock-farmers.

5. SUITE 1.3. Information on the ECOWAS stock rearing action plan • The implementation of the ECOWAP the details of which enable the adoption of the ECOWAS stock-rearing action plan adopted in 2011 in Bamako by the ministers responsible for stock farming and including a sub-section entitled “Protecting and facilitating cross-border stock movements and dispute minimisation/prevention”; • The existence of the ECOWAS taskforce on stock-rearing which enabled the development of the stock-rearing action plan in which the Billital Maroobe Network is involved and which incorporates the essential recommendations of the Gogounou forum: (i) the establishment of a transhumance observatory designed to boost the distribution of information relating to stock movement and to regulate cross-border stock movements; (ii) a sub-regional droving routes management charter; (iii) an exercise in capitalising, updating, translating and popularising the texts of the regulations governing transhumance.

6. II. Analyse des législations nationales et régionales 2.1. Significant advances • A recognition of stock droving as a reasonable and sustainable system of managing grazing resources; • an acknowledgement of the right to move stock from one region to another for grazing purposes throughout the whole of the territory; • the protection of stock access routes to surface water either in the public or private domain where farming is carried out.

7. 2.2. Areas of inadequacy • The inclusion of agriculture in development strategies and legislation • legislative systems unsuited to the realities of grazing and a fragmentary application; • a political perspective unsuited to the realities of stock grazing, one which is oriented towards technical and economic simplification; • over-simplified perceptions of cultures and ethnicities; • a sub-regional political will which is out of step with national realities; • the persistence of paradigms of pastoral systems (prejudices, unfavourable perceptions); • a low level of involvement of the stock farmers in policy development and implementation procedures; • CIT [Technical Innovation Centre] tool essentially directed towards health and safety issues, neglecting the social dimension and the pressing need for resources which underpin mobility.

8. III. Défis et perspectives • The popularisation and appropriation of the texts by the grazing communities; • An assessment of Decision A/DEC.5/10/98 relating to transhumance; • Reversing the political position which goes against stock rearing; • Designing political instruments which include references to stock-rearing factors; • Investment in a hands-on approach to transhumance management via inter-community cross-border relations; • Meeting the new challenges which undermine stock rearing activities (lack of security in the Sahel, the monopolisation of land); • The development of strategies to respond to crises and climate change based on the resilience of the stock farmers; • Buttressing the powers of civil society to play a greater part in political dialogue and in policy development procedures.

9. CONCLUSIONS Faced with these challenges and perspectives, the RBM stands as a frame of reference for stock farmers with regard to actions to be undertaken and/or lobbied for and which would be better constructed and better defined and organised. The major issue remains, however, the preservation of the social aspect of stock rearing, particularly in the Sahel, in a context characterised by a recurrence of crises and the inadequacy of public prevention and management systems in supplying the graziers with relevant and appropriate responses. The fact is that every year thousands of graziers are driven away from the pastoral system due to a lack of the cultural and productive expertise in dealing with ever-growing demand in a hard and competitive environment.

10. THANK YOU FOR YOUR ATTENTION!!! THE AFRICAN GRAZIERS AND STOCK RAISERS ORGANISATION