Transhumant pastoralist knowledge of infectious diseases and adoption of alternative land use strategies in the Hindu-Kush Himalayan (HKH) region of Pakistan
Introduction
Seasonal migration is a common and necessary practice of transhumant communities in the Hindu-Kush Himalayan (HKH) mountainous region of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP). Migration is forced by extreme cold weather and food shortages during winter (Hussain et al., 2016). Most of the HKH regions are covered with snow cover for at least six months during winter, during which time livestock grazers customarily manage to meet the needs of both humans and livestock feed through transhumance (Hussain et al., 2016, Gentle and Thwaites, 2016). Researchers have reported transhumance as a cause of many infectious disease outbreaks in animals and humans (Egeru et al., 2020, Mohamed, 2020); migration increases their chance of contact with geographically limited and seasonally abundant disease. The spread of infectious diseases among humans and livestock poses a serious threat to the welfare and economies of farming communities (Fèvre et al., 2006); it also poses a significant threat to human and animal health and can reduce productivity. Outbreaks of epidemic diseases have consequences not only for transhumant communities but also for the entire neighborhood in which they live (Knight-Jones and Rushton, 2013). The immune systems of members of pastoralist communities have not learned how to resist and can acquire severe diseases from neighborhoods. In many cases, the members can disseminate their diseases to the host communities.
Recently, the main challenges faced by transhumant communities has been the spread of the novel Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) in humans (Sohrabi et al., 2020) and foot and mouth disease (FMD) in animals (Abubakar et al., 2012). Transhumant communities on their migratory routes and their animal grazing spread these diseases to distant locations; they develop diseases through encounters with the host animal or humans. These infectious disease outbreaks put restrictions on seasonal migration, which expose the transhumant communities to famine and losses of livestock and livelihoods (Segars et al., 2020, Boughton et al., 2020, Decaro and Lorusso, 2020). This recent outbreak of COVID-19 disturbed the range management strategies of transhumant communities, putting pressure on existing feed storage (Hussain et al., 2019). Restricted movement leads to intensive grazing. The ability of mountainous transhumant communities to adapt to extreme cold weather and restrictions on migration is crucial if they want to avoid long-term negative impacts (Hussain et al., 2016).
First-hand information and a basic understanding of infectious diseases can help transhumant communities avoid long-term negative impacts and help authorities control the spread of infectious diseases during long-distance migrations (Jafari-Gh et al., 2020, Das et al., 2020). Research has shown that a lack of awareness on the part of transhumant communities and poor control measures by some infectious disease control authorities are the main contributing factors to disease outbreaks (Ali et al., 2020, Sichewo et al., 2020). Proper awareness and an understanding of disease would help transhumant communities make informed decisions, such as those related to long-distance migration, alternative strategy adoption, timely isolation of diseased animals or humans and medication (Jafari-Gh et al., 2020). Therefore, it is very important to understand the awareness of transhumant communities related to disease spread in animals and humans and their attitudes toward the adoption of adaptation measures to limit the impact and spread of such diseases (Van den Broucke, 2020).
The current COVID-19 pandemic and its control protocols, i.e., restrictions on moments, social isolation, and social distancing, compelled entrepreneurs to consider alternative adoption measures. Research studies have shown that infectious disease outbreaks will likely increase in the future (Alanezi, 2017, Gupta et al., 2020, Pham et al., 2020), which is a potential threat to transhumant long-distance migration. Transhumant communities need to design alternative strategies to cope with the challenges of restricting long-distance migration. The adoption of alternative measures through the involvement of target communities and forest/rangeland professionals would help them minimize financial losses (Castillo et al., 2020).
Farm forestry and cereal-forage crop rotation are widely practiced, alternative measures adopted during extreme weather and climate change situations (Doelman et al., 2020, Tahmasebi et al., 2020). The adoption of farm forestry and cereal-forage crop rotation is a primary solution to long-distance migration in the case of disease outbreaks (Martín et al., 2020, Lizarazo et al., 2020). The adoption of farm forestry and cereal-forage crop rotation will not only provide food to humans and animals but also help humans cope with the problem of soil carbon losses due to increased deforestation and overgrazing (Regan et al., 2020, Abegaz et al., 2020).
Awareness and knowledge of disease outbreaks in the context of extreme weather and adoption of area-specific strategies may help transhumant communities avoid long-distance migration. Awareness is the key factor that determines the adoption of traditional adaptation strategies; however, the awareness and adoption of new practices depend on various factors (Myeni and Moeletsi, 2020). Previous studies have found that farmer awareness and adoption of relevant strategies depend on the socioeconomic and demographic conditions of their local communities and concerned department capacity (Ullah et al., 2020a, Ullah et al., 2020b, Jafari-Gh et al., 2020, Zakaria et al., 2020, Ali et al., 2020).
Several studies have demonstrated the effects of socioeconomic factors on transhumant pastoralists’ awareness (Kerven et al., 2016, Jones et al., 2020). However, very few attempts (if any) have been made to assess the effects of socioeconomic factors on transhumant pastoralist awareness of infectious diseases. Additionally, several studies have demonstrated the factors affecting the adoption of alternative land use strategies of pastoralist transhumant communities (Namgay et al., 2014, Ayantunde et al., 2014). However, the effects of transhumant pastoralists’ awareness of infectious disease spread (such as COVID-19) on the adoption of alternative land use strategies in mountainous regions are relatively new and understudied. Thus, this research was designed to gain a better understanding of transhumant livestock grazers’ knowledge of COVID-19 in humans and other viral diseases in livestock in the HKH mountainous region of KP to support the development of effective monitoring and control approaches for infectious diseases. Specifically, we intended (1) to assess the factors determining pastoralists’ awareness of infectious disease outbreaks in humans and animals considering COVID-19 and FMD as cases and (2) to identify the effect of pastoralists’ awareness of these diseases on pastoralists’ adoption of multifunctional fodder trees and cereal forage crop rotation. Consequently, this study is expected to provide insights into transhumant livestock production for sustainable forest and agropastoral development in the HKH region of KP.
Section snippets
Study area
The study was conducted at the Dir-Kohistan Forest Division, which is part of the HKH region of KP, Pakistan. This region is located between 35°9’ and 35°47’ latitude and between 71°52’ and 72°22’ longitude, with a total area of 167,032.39 ha. The average annual precipitation of this region ranges from 1000 mm to 1600 mm, while the average annual temperature ranges from 0° to 32°C. This region consists of 56,822.27 ha of coniferous forest, where mostly transhumant communities reside. These
Descriptive results
The descriptive results are shown in Table 2. The socioeconomic features of the sampled rural community members reflected the lack of development at the regional level compared to that at the national level. The literacy status was highly discouraging compared to that at the national level, where more than 71% of men are literate (Statista, 2020a, Statista, 2020b). Compared to the national mean age of 21.8, the mean age of the study region was much higher (Statista, 2020a, Statista, 2020b).
Conclusion and recommendations
This study aimed to identify the factors that affect transhumant community awareness of recently emerged COVID-19 in humans and FMD disease in animals in the HKH region of Pakistan. This study also focused on alternative strategies adopted by transhumant communities to cope with the restrictions put on seasonal migration due to the fear of disease spread. To link the awareness of disease outbreaks to the adoption of alternative strategies, a focus group discussion and a socioeconomic survey
Conflicts of interest
The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.
Acknowledgements
The first author acknowledges the Leibniz Centre for Agricultural Landscape Research (ZALF) for providing technical and administrative assistance during the span of this research work.
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