Rangelands and pastoralists: a missing link for sustainable development

Guest blog by Maryam Niamir-Fuller, Global Secretariat of the Global Alliance for Rangelands and Pastoralists

 Welcome to the International Year of Rangelands and Pastoralists – 2026.

The IYRP 2026 came about because the United Nations recognized that rangelands and pastoralists are an issue of global significance.

This International Year is not symbolic. It is corrective.

The IYRP Global Alliance for Rangelands and Pastoralists has been advocating for a stronger recognition of the value and significance of rangelands and pastoralism, as a production system distinctly different from confined, factory-farmed livestock systems. Over its 10-year journey, the Global Alliance has become a multi-disciplinary network of practitioners and researchers, from anthropologists and economists to veterinarians and range managers, and a multi-stakeholder alliance of pastoralists, scientists, governments and civil society.  More than 420 organizations worldwide have pledged their support, and the list continues to grow.

What are rangelands? Who are pastoralists?

Rangelands are lands on which the indigenous vegetation predominantly has grasses, grass-like plants, forbs or shrubs that are grazed or have the potential to be grazed; it is a native or semi-native ecosystem used by grazing livestock and wildlife. Rangelands include grasslands, savannas, shrublands, deserts, tundra, and alpine vegetation. It is estimated that rangelands span half of the earth’s land mass - yet they receive far less attention than forests and cropland.

Rangelands harbor significant biodiversity and many critically endangered species. Well-managed rangelands are a carbon sink.

Almost every country in the world has some type of rangeland where domestic or semi-domesticated animals graze and browse, under the stewardship of pastoralists. In some countries, they are the dominant land category.

Estimates of the numbers of pastoralists worldwide range from 22 million to more than 1 billion, depending on the definition used. In Africa, pastoralists contribute from 10 to 44 per cent of the GDP, and that doesn’t count the vast informal sector. In Mongolia, the livestock sector employs about a third of its population and contributes to 84% of agricultural GDP. In Ethiopia, 90% of livestock exports are sourced from pastoralists' herds.

Influential voices argue that pastoralism is an archaic form of production that must be “modernized”. Some conclude that livestock destroy the planet, and that meat is inherently harmful. Others assume that rangelands are degraded forests or that deserts are empty and expanding. Many economists and policy makers think that pastoralists are poor and a drain on society, and that pastoralists need to settle in towns to get goods and services.

Pastoralism is a production system adapted to variability. It operates in environments where rainfall is unpredictable, where cropping would fail, and where mobility is not weakness but risk management. It is fundamentally different from factory-farmed livestock systems dependent on cultivated feed and high external inputs. Conflating the two obscures ecological reality and policy nuance.

Rangelands are not empty.
Pastoralists are not relics.
Livestock, when managed within ecological limits, are not inherently destructive.

Our aim for IYRP is to dispel these myths through scientific evidence, public awareness, and creating space for pastoralists’ voices to be heard.

Rangeland conversion is causing land degradation

The most urgent and pressing issue facing rangelands today is conversion. Evidence suggests that we are witnessing another wave of massive land use change around the world - this time from rangeland to cropland. In many countries, rangelands are still perceived as “wastelands” that need to be brought under “production” because livestock use is deemed to be inferior to crop production.

While cropland expansion is the primary driver, other pressures include urbanization, mining, industrial development, strict conservation, and indiscriminate afforestation. Conversion compresses livestock into smaller land areas, increasing localized degradation, and reinforcing the misconception that livestock are inherently harmful.

Paradoxically, the more success we have in preventing deforestation, the greater the  pressure on rangelands. As global efforts to reduce deforestation intensify — rightly so — crop production pressure spills over onto grasslands and savannahs. As more trees are grown for carbon in lands unsuited to forest, and as more livestock are fed on cultivated feed in confined systems, the ecological and economic space for natural grazing landscapes shrinks.

There is something structurally wrong when forest protection comes at the expense of grasslands.

Fewer smallholders and a crisis of privatization of pastoral commons

Another growing concern is the appropriation of land and livestock by outside investors that is leading to fewer smallholders and the privatization of common land. “Pastoral commons” are those rangelands that are collectively managed by a local community, local government or a higher public entity.  They are important resources for many reasons: they are supplementary in times of drought or fire, available for seasonal rotation, and as biological reserves.  When managed properly they act as an insurance policy in times of stress. They can be found in all pastoralist systems in the world, because they are an adaptation to the seasonality and variability of rangeland productivity. They are an adaptation, not an accident.

The tragedy is not communal management. The tragedy is failure to legally recognize, manage and protect the commons.

Reports indicate that two-thirds of public rangeland in the USA is used by only 10% of permit holders who are mostly investors, mining companies and public utilities. In Africa, “armchair” pastoralists – urban investors who purchase herds and hire a herder - are fencing off the common land, with no regard to management guidelines, community rules, and cooperation. To protect their grazing lands, local pastoralists are forced to fence as well. In the Greater Mara region of Kenya, fenced off areas have increased by 20% between 2010 and 2016. Such conversion exploits the common good for the good of the individual. A scramble for land and ecosystem collapse are inevitable unless laws are enacted and enforced.

Protect, restore and recover rangelands for pastoral use

Advocacy over the past decade has contributed to important policy shifts. South Africa recently passed laws protecting rangelands and in Montenegro a decision was taken not to create a military base in an ecologically sensitive montane grassland used by generations of pastoralists. The Indian Forest Rights Act of 2006 allows pastoralists to graze their animals in regulated forests, however, enforcement of the law remains a challenge. In Karamoja, Uganda, the European Parliament has condemned the government-sanctioned acquisition of pastoral land by international hunting and tourism businesses.

International development organizations and many governments have adopted the concept of Indigenous and Local Community Conservation Areas and Territories of Life (ICCA) to protect common land. Transhumance – the practice of seasonal droving of animals – has been recognized as a UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage, with several European countries participating in the inscription.

 

In many instances, rangeland restoration depends less on costly interventions and more on protecting land from conversion, restoring mobility and improving governance — actions that require political will more than financial resources.

Recovering rangelands through land use change may appear an impossible challenge, but markets can often drive it when the true economic, social and environmental values of rangelands are recognized.

Signs of progress

There are encouraging shifts in thinking. We increasingly acknowledge that animals need to keep moving, and that they should walk to the feed rather than have feed transported to confined systems. Around the world, there is talk of regenerative agriculture, of rewilding, of re-establishing livestock routes and corridors, and many other exciting new management approaches. There is growing consensus on what sustainability means for rangelands and for pastoralists.

The UNCCD COP 16 and CMS COP 15 recognize the importance of rangelands and pastoralism – and hopefully CBD and UNFCCC will follow. If rangelands and pastoralists continue to be overlooked in global sustainability debates, a substantial portion of the Earth’s landmass and population will remain marginalized — with significant consequences for achieving the Sustainable Development Goals.

This International Year invites action:

Ø  For governments, it means reviewing land classification systems that label rangelands as wastelands or mix them up with forests or croplands. It means securing pastoral land tenure, protecting commons and preventing unsustainable conversion.

Ø  For development agencies and financiers, it means aligning climate and biodiversity finance with pastoral systems rather than marginalizing them.

Ø  For the public, it means reconsidering assumptions about livestock, mobility and sustainability.

The success of IYRP will be judged according to the extent in which it has challenged misconceptions, strengthened global policy frameworks, and ensured that rangelands and pastoralists are fully integral to sustainable development.