Members of the five culture groups are keen observers of environmental and social linkages, and in our interviews cited some of acacia’s keystone properties with these words: “All the living organisms in the desert benefit from acacia. It is like a chain: every organism depends on another one, and you always find acacia on the chain” (Ababda man, age 60+). “If acacias go, no life will remain on the desert” (Ababda man, age 35–40). “Nothing is better than green trees. There is no life without these trees.” (Hadendowa woman, age 50). “Without the trees, there are no animals and no Bedouin” (Ma‘aza man, age

45). Here we examine the cultural and ecological Danusertib molecular weight contexts of acacias in pastoral nomadism, emphasizing traditional ecological knowledge (TEK) and other traditional knowledge and perceptions of the trees. We see how this knowledge guides decision-making, revealing acacias as a particularly critical component Epacadostat of the pastoral livelihood. We discuss aspects

of kinship, territorial organization, spiritual beliefs and tribal law that relate directly to the status of trees on the cultural landscape. We discuss how people accommodate variable environmental and economic conditions in ways that affect their relationships with trees. We conclude with perspectives on changes in nomadic knowledge systems, management and livelihood in the region’s dryland ecosystems, and on the continued existence and possible restoration of these ecosystems in the future. However widely it may be viewed as a desert wilderness we see the eastern Sahara—including our study area of the RSH of eastern Egypt and northeastern Sudan—as a cultural landscape best understood through attention to the dynamics of human-environment interaction and human culture (Krzywinski and Pierce 2001; Reynolds Chloroambucil et al. 2007). The geographical concept of cultural landscape denotes a landscape shaped by human culture, in contrast with a primordial “natural landscape” (Schlüter

1907; Sauer 1925; Krzywinski et al. 2009). Today this concept, which is especially relevant to our study, is also relevant to sustainable management of natural resources worldwide: The term “cultural landscape” embraces a diversity of manifestations of the interaction between humankind and its natural environment. Cultural landscapes often reflect specific techniques of sustainable land-use, considering the characteristics and limits of the natural environment they are established in, and a specific spiritual relation to nature. Protection of cultural landscapes can contribute to modern techniques of sustainable land-use and can maintain or enhance natural values in the landscape. The continued existence of traditional forms of land-use supports biological diversity in many regions of the world. The protection of traditional cultural landscapes is therefore helpful in maintaining biological diversity.