FAO to be the lead agency on an initiative to raise awareness on the importance of pastoralists and rangelands
Rome: The United Nations (UN) has declared 2026 the International Year of Rangelands and Pastoralists, reflecting the important role healthy rangelands play in creating a sustainable environment, economic growth and resilient livelihoods for communities across the world.
The UN General Assembly at its Plenary Meeting on February 28, 2022, adopted the resolution that was initiated and spearheaded by Mongolia and supported by 60 Member States representing all regions of the world.
The International Year of Rangelands and Pastoralists aims to raise awareness and advocate for the value of healthy rangelands and sustainable pastoralism, as well as advocating for the need to further build the capacity of and increase responsible investment in the pastoral livestock sector. This includes sustainable land management practices, improved or restored ecosystems, and equitable access to markets, livestock health and breeding. The International Year of Rangelands and Pastoralists will be implemented by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) as the lead agency.
Rangelands and pastoralism
Rangelands and pastoralism are linked to diverse ecosystems, cultures, identities, traditional knowledge and historical experience coexisting with nature. Rangelands support the livelihoods and food security of millions of people around the world and have many benefits, not only to herders but also to other communities through biodiversity conservation, carbon sequestration and delivery of clean water. Pastoralists make the most of a variable environment by using strategic mobility seasonally.
Also read: Seven reasons why pastoralism supports a better future
However, droughts, floods, ecosystem degradation, animal diseases, pressure on land and increasingly erratic climate are compromising the economic productivity of rangelands and pastoralism, which risks exacerbating rural poverty due to the loss of pastoralists’ productive assets.
Productive rangelands and pastoralism have great potential to deliver on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), and the International Year of Rangelands and Pastoralists represents an opportunity to raise international awareness on these issues of global concern.
Encouraging participation through an International Year
FAO together with its partners in government, civil society and the scientific community will develop a series of activities linked to the International Year of Rangelands and Pastoralists, with the aim to raise awareness around the initiative and the importance of the sustainable management of rangelands and pastoralism and its contribution to achieving sustainable development. FAO Members will be encouraged to build the capacity of and increase responsible investment in the pastoral livestock sector, including for sustainable land management practices also with the aim to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, increase adaptive capacity, and maintain and enhance biodiversity in rangelands.
FAO has set up a working group on dryland forests and agro-sylvo-pastoral systems. FAO’s Globally Important Agricultural Heritage Systems recognises pastoral systems in the Republic of Kenya and the United Republic of Tanzania.
– global bihari bureau
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