Nomadic pastoralism has been defended at the on-going UN Climate Change Conference as being resilient to climate extremities.
Activists from Africa said instead of harming the environment, traditional livestock keeping has sustained biodiversity.
"We don't accept the notion that nomadic pastoralists were contributing to climate change", said Gideon Ole Sanago, who works with the Arusha-based NGO.
He told a parallel meeting at the conference at Glasgow on Tuesday this week that nomadic people were the victims, not the cause of climate extremities.
He cited the Maasai and Barbaig traditional cattle herders as among the indigenous communities whose mode of life should not be blamed for global climate hazards.
Mr. Sanago, who is a coordinator for Climate Change with the PINGOS Forum NGO based here, was responding to suggestions that the herders should discard their nomadic way of life.
"If you tell a Maasai to abandon cattle, that will be the end of his or her livelihood", he said, noting that the pastoral economy hardly contributed to carbon gas emissions like other sectors.
He added that instead the traditional cattle herders in Tanzania have been victims of climate-related hazards ravaging the world even with limited emissions from their countries.
For Tanzania and other African countries these have manifested as severe droughts which had decimated large herds of livestock and severe hunger to the herders.
According to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), Africa emitted only four percent of the greenhouse gases (GHGs) globally.
He said besides land erosion in some spots due to large concentrations of animals, many areas inhabited by the indigenous communities have been safe from large scale loss of biological resources.
Mr. Sanago sits on the Global Steering Committee of the International Indigenous People's Forum on Climate Change representing the Africa region.
However, he said the indigenous people have an important role to play "and must play" on a larger scale in taming climate change.
"Indigenous Peoples are the solution through the application of our knowledge as key adaptation and mitigation measures to climate change effects,” he pointed out.
Cattle herders in the Horn of Africa, notably Ethiopia, have also lately been reported to be confronting the worst consequences of extreme weather.
Ethiopia, which is leading in Africa in livestock population- followed by Tanzania,has 15 percent of its people involved in pastoralism compared to 10 percent for Tanzania.
Speakers at various side meetings at COP26, according to dispatches to The Citizen, insisted that pastoralism was more responsive to environmental and climate variability.
The developing countries are seeking financial support that would address the loss and damage as well as debt relief for a green and inclusive recovery.
Mithika Mwenda, the executive director of Pan African Climate Justice Alliance (Pacja) urged the African delegates to work tirelessly to ensure the anticipated results at COP26.
"We recognize the world must urgently come together - in person and inclusively - to agree on action to tackle climate change,” he pointed out.
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