[A12n-forum] ICT Update - "Cyber Shepherds and Livestock in the Sahel"

["Don Osborn" <dzo@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

The following article from the latest edition of CTA's "ICT Update" at
http://ictupdate.cta.int/index.php/article/articleview/261/1/50/ concerns
use of GPS based maps to help herders in Senegal.  An innovative use of the
technology, it also uses what is described simply in 2 references as "local
language" - apparently Pulaar.  (Funny though that people being literate
"only in the local language" is lumped together with being illiterate as a
problem).

Don Osborn
Bisharat.net


"The Cyber Shepherds and livestock in the Sahel"

How can pastoralists in the Sahel be helped to improve their livestock
management practices and to protect their pastures from drought? Alioune Kâ
describes a potential solution.


The sparsely populated Sahel, which covers roughly the same area as the
continental United States, may seem like the last place for ICTs to take
root. Yet the region is home to the Cyber Shepherds - livestock herders who
are using GIS-based maps, global positioning system (GPS) devices, mobile
phones and the web to help them manage their flocks and herds.

The Sahel has long been affected by climatic changes, which force
pastoralists and their livestock to be constantly on the move. During the
eight-month dry season they travel south in search of fresh pastures and
water supplies, and back again, in a cyclical, seasonal journey known as
transhumance. The changing rainfall patterns mean that the region's
livestock sector is extremely vulnerable to the shrinking vegetation cover
and increasing soil degradation. The movement of herds also frequently leads
to conflicts among the migrant herders and with sedentary farmers in the
more fertile south. Sustainable resource management therefore involves
addressing environmental issues, and both could benefit from technological
support to pastoralist communities on local, national and subregional
scales.

The IDRC-sponsored project 'sustainable management of pastoral resources in
the Sahel', also referred to as the Cyber Shepherd initiative, was set up in
2001 by the Ecole inter-Etats des sciences et médecine vétérinaire (EISMV)
and Centre de suivi ecologique (CSE) in Dakar, Senegal. The aim of the
project is to enable Sahelian pastoralists to access accurate information on
grazing lands in order to help them coordinate their movements and protect
land and water resources during the dry season. Project members are working
closely with grassroots communities to identify innovative ways in which
ICTs can be used to harness their traditional knowledge and know-how of
natural resource management.

dological approach
The first phase of the programme focused on compiling and assessing local
knowledge and practices in key pastoral units (PUs) in Burkina Faso, Mali
and Senegal, and on developing a range of ICT applications that would assist
pastoralists in locating available grazing lands during the dry season.

GIS-based thematic maps of seasonal movements of livestock in the PUs have
been created in the local language in cooperation with local pastoral
groups, who help to define land boundaries, identify grazing lands and
assign the symbols to be used in the maps. This participatory approach has
been adopted to ensure that the maps are transparent and accessible to local
communities.

In each pastoral unit, herders have been taught to read and to prepare
geographic maps using GPS devices. These are valuable tools for monitoring
the movements of herds, and for accurately pinpointing outbreaks of
livestock diseases and bush fires. They also provide an efficient means of
compiling inventories of water and other resources.

Several herders have been equipped with mobile phones to speed up the
exchange of information and provide them with early warning of impending
disasters. Some have received IT training so that they can access
information on the web. Computers with Internet connections have been
installed in each pastoral unit, where real-time information can be accessed
through a website set up for them in July 2003. The Gallé Aynabé site,
nicknamed 'cyber shepherd', offers advice on how to recognize and treat
animal diseases, and brings together a wide range of local resource
management knowledge and practices that can help pastoralists, such as where
to guide their herds and how to resolve land use conflicts. As part of an
experiment in the PUs of Thiel, Tessékéré and Kouthiaba in Senegal, maps and
satellite images have been posted on the site to help monitor and evaluate
the use of pastures in each unit. Pastoralists can now obtain real-time
information on the status of grazing areas and their 'carrying capacity' -
the number of animals that can be pastured there during the dry season
without risk to the environment and its resources.

In practice, the project is facing many problems that are all too common
when introducing new technologies for use in rural areas. Most local people
cannot read or write, or are literate only in the local language. Sometimes
connections fail because the network is down, or the power supply is out
(most devices are solar powered), and the equipment is not always well
maintained. These concerns will be addressed in the project's second phase,
perhaps using simpler tools and means.

The complex, ever-changing nature of resource management in the Sahel means
that local pastoralist communities need up-to-date information on pastures,
as well as the means to evaluate this information. The Cyber Shepherd
project has made this both technically and financially possible, and is
clearly demonstrating the added value of ICTs in the practical
implementation of pastoral development policy, and in helping to address the
needs of the millions of pastoralists in the Sahel.

Alioune Kâ is an engineer at CSE. For more information, visit www.cse.sn