Across the windswept steppe landscapes of south-eastern Georgia, on the Iori Plateau, a centuries-old journey unfolds every year. In spring, shepherds begin their long migration northwards, guiding flocks on foot from the dry winter pastures of Kakheti towards the alpine meadows of Tusheti. This movement, known as transhumant pastoralism, is more than a farming practice. It is a cultural rhythm, an ecological system and a living bridge between people and the landscape.
For generations, transhumant pastoralism has shaped both Georgia’s mountain culture and its biodiversity. Shepherds and their flocks travel hundreds of kilometres annually, producing wool, meat and one of the country’s most distinctive dairy products: Guda cheese, matured in traditional sheepskin bags. The slow ascent into the mountains, the resilience of herders navigating difficult terrain and the communal production of cheese are as culturally significant as they are economically important. Yet today, this ancient system stands at a crossroads.
The Kakheti Steppes project is working to restore grasslands, strengthen sustainable pastoralism and reconnect habitats across 100,000 hectares of this landscape. Led by SABUKO, the Society for Nature Conservation and BirdLife International’s partner in Georgia, the project builds on the organisation’s earlier work in the Iori River Valley and is supported by the Endangered Landscapes & Seascapes Programme.
Landscapes under pressure
The Iori Plateau, including Chachuna Managed Reserve, Samukhi Valley, Kotsakhura Ridge and the Vashlovani Protected Areas, is a region of exceptional ecological value. Its floodplain forests, semi-arid steppes and riverine ecosystems sustain species such as the goitered gazelle, eastern imperial eagle, griffon vulture, Eurasian lynx, striped hyena and numerous steppe birds. These landscapes are not empty wilderness. They are living systems shaped by centuries of interaction between wildlife and pastoral communities.
For a long time, a relative balance existed between grazing and regeneration. However, during the Soviet period, structural changes in land governance and the loss of access to winter pastures in neighbouring republics concentrated grazing pressure on the remaining lowland areas of Georgia. Overgrazing intensified, soil erosion accelerated and desertification began to transform the steppe into increasingly fragile terrain.
Environmental degradation here cannot be understood purely as an ecological failure. It is also deeply economic. When pastoral livelihoods depend on maintaining large herds to remain profitable, this can place increasing pressure on already degraded pastures. In such contexts, conservation measures alone are insufficient. The economic realities facing local communities must also be addressed. This understanding lies at the heart of SABUKO’s work.
Conservation through coexistence
Rather than separating people from nature, the Kakheti Steppes project seeks to rebuild a functioning ecological network in which biodiversity conservation and sustainable livelihoods reinforce one another.
Restoration efforts include introducing rotational grazing systems to allow degraded pastures to recover, protecting and rehabilitating floodplain forests, and applying land management techniques designed to improve water access and vegetation resilience. At the same time, scientific monitoring tracks key species and habitats, helping to ensure that conservation actions are grounded in evidence. SABUKO also works to strengthen environmental legislation and natural resource governance, improve the management of protected areas, and invest in environmental awareness and community engagement.
The management of the Samukhi Protected Area reflects this philosophy: environmental protection and sustainable use must advance together. Pastoral communities are an integral part of this working landscape, and cultural diversity is closely intertwined with ecological diversity. Within this framework, transhumant pastoralism is not framed as a problem to eliminate, but as a practice that must continue to evolve towards sustainability.
From quantity to value: the DOVLATI model
One of the most innovative aspects of SABUKO’s approach is DOVLATI, an umbrella brand whose name translates as “wealth” or “prosperity”. Its premise is both simple and transformative. Instead of encouraging ever-larger flocks, which intensify pressure on already fragile soils, DOVLATI focuses on increasing the value of traditional sheep products, particularly Guda cheese.
By modernising production standards, establishing shared quality benchmarks, strengthening supply chains and introducing Guda cheese to wider markets, the initiative is helping shepherds generate more income from fewer animals. If sustained and expanded, this shift could reduce grazing pressure, allow pastures to regenerate and improve the long-term health of the landscape.
At the same time, it offers farmers a route towards more secure livelihoods. The principle is clear: if high-quality, authentically produced Guda cheese commands a fair price, economic security no longer needs to depend on maximising herd size. Wealth becomes decoupled from environmental depletion.
In this way, each purchase of DOVLATI-branded cheese becomes part of a wider restoration story, supporting rural families while helping to reduce pressure on the habitats of gazelles, raptors and other steppe wildlife.
Preserving a living cultural heritage
Transhumant pastoralism in Georgia embodies knowledge of seasonal cycles, mountain routes, animal husbandry, cheese-making and landscape stewardship accumulated over centuries. It is not only an agricultural method, but a cultural system embedded in identity, memory and collective experience. There is growing recognition that such practices represent an important form of intangible cultural heritage. Preserving them is not a matter of nostalgia, but of sustaining knowledge that has historically enabled people and nature to coexist.
To make this connection visible beyond policy documents and conservation plans, SABUKO has been working on a documentary film dedicated to the lives of shepherds and the landscapes they traverse. The film follows the seasonal migration towards Tusheti, captures the making of Guda cheese in remote pastures and reveals the climatic hardships, physical endurance and ecological challenges that define pastoral life today.
More than documentation, the film serves as a bridge between generations. For younger audiences, many of whom are increasingly distant from rural traditions, it offers an intimate glimpse into a way of life that has shaped Georgian culture for centuries. For international viewers, it places pastoralism within a wider conversation about sustainable land use and biodiversity conservation. By telling the shepherds’ story through film, the documentary shows how the future of pastoral traditions is closely connected to the recovery of the landscapes that support them.
A model for the future
The restoration of the Iori Plateau is not a short-term intervention, but a long-term transformation. Degraded pastures and floodplains need time to recover, wildlife populations need space to return, and pastoral communities must experience tangible benefits from more sustainable land management.
The message emerging from SABUKO’s work is both pragmatic and hopeful. Economic resilience and environmental protection are not opposing objectives. When carefully aligned, they can strengthen one another. By seeking to reduce herd sizes while increasing product value, strengthening protected areas while empowering local communities, and recognising pastoralism as both an ecological practice and a cultural heritage, SABUKO is advancing a model in which people and nature can coexist.
In the open landscapes of south-eastern Georgia, “wealth” is being redefined not as abundance without limits, but as prosperity rooted in balance. In that balance lies the future of both biodiversity and tradition.
This article was written by Ana Dumbadze and originally published in CAMCA Talking Magazine #3. It has been lightly adapted for the ELSP website.
To find out more about the restoration of the Kakheti Steppes, visit their project page.
