Fading commons (Turkey): Home is where ‘yurt’ is

Fire

Transhumant goats keep traditional paths safe, leaving the right amount of shrubs to be conserved for further propagation while dispersing the seeds in vast areas through their manure. They open corridors as they walk along with the pine forests, they eat a great part of the inflammable vegetation, and protect society as a whole. And in spite of all that, they are blamed for the wildfires, which they, in fact, keep in check! Using goats as scapegoats ~ isn’t it ironic? Couldn’t it be that the cause of fires and erosion of these areas, not to mention drought and desertification, is actually because of the hurdles imposed on mobile pastoralisms?