Public Lecture on "How Do Pastoralist Communities Weather the Climate Crisis?"

On 29 May 2025, Dr. Ayat Ullah, Postdoctoral Researcher at the OSCE Academy, gave a public lecture “How Do Pastoralist Communities Weather the Climate Crisis?”. Dr. Pal Dunay, Director of the OSCE Academy, opened the online lecture and welcomed the participants. The lecture explored how communities living in pastures, areas especially sensitive to climate change, are building resilience towards extreme weather conditions and are maintaining their “economic” activities in the Hindu Kush Himalaya area. It is notable that while grazing lands and forests are regarded as “commons”, the cultivated land areas are owned by a few. Apart from low literacy rates and a lack of access to information due to poor infrastructure, these communities also have interethnic conflicts over land and resources. The research applied a participatory approach, using focus group discussions, interviews, and community tools such as Venn diagrams and seasonal calendars to analyze household and community strategies, as well as access to resources and institutions. To support these efforts, at the end of his presentation, Dr. Ullah recommended policies to improve access to information and invest in infrastructure, and incorporate financial tools like livestock insurance. The lecture was concluded with questions from the audience on gender specific implications and existing projects such as the Billion Tree Afforestation Project (BTAP), a large-scale afforestation initiative in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan, which also supported this research initiative.

This presentation is a part of the Postdoctoral Fellowship programme aimed at increasing the capacity and research output of the OSCE Academy. The programme is financially supported by the Norwegian Institute of International Affairs (NUPI), which has been one of the key donors and partners of the Academy since 2010.

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