Camel Farming Sustainability: The Challenges of the Camel Farming System in the XXIth Century

In some countries, camel farming is changing from traditional extensive forms to modern semi-intensive or even intensive forms. This could lead to decrease the established perception of the camel farming as an environmentally sustainable production system. The challenges for all camel stakeholders to maintain this image and to promote a “sustainable development” involve the control of the camel demography which must be balanced with the environmental carrying capacity, the preservation of the camel diversity, the development of alternative feeding systems for preserving the water resources in desert areas, the promotion of high-value products to the growing market, the control of the health constraints for a highly mobile camel population, and the respect of the social role of camel in the new living standard.