Our History
Our story started with the need to support communities that live in and around protected areas to enable their economic development while supporting the health of the landscapes they depend on. Implementing the Herding for Health (H4H) model helps mitigate human-wildlife conflict, particularly by reducing retaliation killings of predators that prey on livestock. This is achieved by supporting better livestock management, which significantly minimises conflict with wildlife.
The H4H model also helps unlock trade barriers that limit economic opportunities for communities near protected areas where diseases like foot and mouth disease (FMD) are prevalent and where limited market options for the sale of their livestock exist. At its core, the H4H model aims to support the coexistence of both human and wildlife populations by promoting strategic livestock management that restores ecosystem functions and halts land degradation.
In 2014, a community leader from the Amashangaan tribal area outside of South Africa’s Kruger National Park succinctly captured a central tension between poverty and nature conservation: “Help us look after our cattle, and we will look after our rhino as well.” These words ignited a partnership between two organisations, Conservation International (CI) and Peace Parks Foundation (PPF), who joined hands and met with livestock owners and herders to understand their underlying challenges when trying to provide for families.
Using indigenous knowledge, the H4H Programme was established in 2017 and rolled out to communities. By adapting the H4H model to various landscapes, CI and PPF discovered a mechanism to ensure that the model is fit for purpose, leading to compounding impact on landscapes, human wellbeing, and animal health.
Our Challenge
Uncontrolled animal movement is one of the biggest challenges in communal rangelands. Livestock that is not kraaled and herded properly results in:
- Rangeland degradation
- Predation
- Disease transmission through contact with wildlife
- Poor herd health (high mortality and morbidity)
- Poor production
- Stock theft
- Tourism conflict
- Poor market and trade confidence
Our Opportunity
Regaining livestock movement control in communal rangelands through skills development, improved resources and incentives can lead to multiple positive effects.
We're tackling a set of critical challenges that arise from the imbalance between seasonal carrying capacity and rotational grazing, including:
Management
Uncontrolled animal movement
Overgrazing
Under-utilisation
Disease transmission through contact with wildlife
Poor herd health and production
Environmental
Soil erosion
Loss of soil water retention capacity
Biodiversity loss
Invasive alien species
Reduced ecosystem functioning and services
Predation
Impacts of climate change
Socioeconomic
Stock theft
Tourism conflict
Restricted livestock trade
Weak local natural resource governance
Lack of representation by women
High vulnerability to climate change
Poverty and limited economic opportunities
Jacques van Rooyen