The conservation and improvement of resources: the grazing animal
- 3 May 1977
- journal article
- research article
- Published by The Royal Society in Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London. B, Biological Sciences
- Vol. 278 (962) , 565-582
- https://doi.org/10.1098/rstb.1977.0063
Abstract
A comparison of livestock productivity in the arid zones of central Australia and sub-Saharan Africa is used to illustrate the ecological, social and economic factors which together determine the contrasting ways in which animal resources may be developed. Severe ecological restraints necessarily result in fluctuating animal populations and in the need for effective measures to control soil erosion, to prevent serious over-grazing, to vary stocking rates and to maintain the water supply. The aims, attitudes and needs of livestock owners also need to be recognized. Australian cattlemen primarily want to produce meat in order to make money; many African nomadic pastoralists primarily want to produce milk in order to feed their families. Degrees of achieving these aims and, at the same time, of preserving the necessary measure of ecological stability depend also upon a range of structural, economic and fiscal policies and opportunities. The need to coordinate livestock and rangeland research, planning and development on a multi-disciplinary basis is emphasized and the difficulties of doing so discussed.This publication has 5 references indexed in Scilit:
- The evaluation and exploitation of semi-arid lands: Australian experiencePhilosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London. B, Biological Sciences, 1977
- Mankind at the Turning PointJournal of Dynamic Systems, Measurement, and Control, 1975
- Triumph of the NomadsPublished by Springer Nature ,1975
- An Ecologically Based Simulation-Optimization Approach to Natural Resource PlanningAnnual Review of Ecology and Systematics, 1972
- The Seasonal Factor in Human Culture Illustrated from the Life of a Contemporary Nomadic GroupProceedings of the Prehistoric Society, 1939