The World Initiative on Sustainable Pastoralism - WISP

The World Initiative on Sustainable Pastoralism (WISP) is being spearheaded by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and The World Conservation Union (IUCN), in collaboration with partners. WISP is a global approach to raise the profile of pastoralism as a sustainable and valid form of dryland use. The Initiative aims further to assist pastoralists to improve their livelihood.

WISP aims to:

		Work through consultative partnerships for greater recognition of the need for sustainable pastoral development.
		Provide the social, economic and environmental arguments for supportive pastoralist policies.
		Advocate in favour of support systems that enable the self-evolution of pastoralists.
		Work to assemble pastoralists and pastoral knowledge to change perceptions and policy decisions.

WISP is a long term initiative which will encourage the development and implementation of additional investments and projects on sustainable pastoral development. WISP’s initial phase runs from 2005 until end 2008.

Addressing Threats to Pastoral Land Use
An initial formulation workshop in Nairobi, Kenya (April 2004) and more recently, the Global Pastoralist Gathering (Ethiopia, January 2005) have demonstrated a need to address the following constraints affecting mobile pastoralism:

		Securing rights to land and natural resources: WISP will address land use, land loss, land conflicts, sustainable land management and multiple ecosystem niches;
		The economic case: WISP will make economic arguments for pastoralism, as well as improve markets for the diverse products which pastoralists produce;
		Pastoralist services: WISP will facilitate mobile services and help remove the barriers that push pastoralists to sedentarize.

Awareness and capacity building will be made possible through the establishment of Regional WISP Networks. These networks will, either build on existing networks, or be housed in permanent institutions (regional or national) that could ensure their sustainability.

At the seventh session of the Conference of the Parties of UNCCD in Nairobi, Kenya from the 17th to 28th October, 2005 the World Initiative on Sustainable Pastoralism organized a side event – the Pastoralist Manyatta – from the 19 to 21 of October to provide a forum for drylands community voices.
For more information on the side event, please click here.