Rangeland restoration and sustainable pastoralism go hand in hand. This was the main conclusion of a session titled: “Guardians of Rangelands: combatting desertification in the rangeland through sustainable pastoralism,” jointly organized by FAO’s Pastoralist Knowledge Hub and the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) on the sidelines of the thirteen session of the Conference of the Parties (COP 13) to the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD).

A third of the earth’s land surface can be classified as rangelands, which includes such fragile ecosystems as grasslands, shrublands, wetlands, highlands, and deserts. These environments are highly vulnerable to climate change and desertification. Extensive livestock keeping or pastoralism is highly adapted to the variable climatic conditions found in the world’s rangelands. It employs strategic mobility to make the most of scarce resources and produce animal source foods where no crops would grow.

Yet pastoralism is seen as a cause of environmental degradation. There is a long standing belief that extensive pastoralist production is detrimental to rangeland health through overgrazing and lack of consideration for shared resources. This is reflected in government policies that aim to enclose and privatize pastoral lands. This disrupts their traditional system of resource management and threatens the future of pastoralism.

Nahid Naghizadeh, from the Centre for Sustainable Development and Environment (Cenesta) in Iran, pointed out that many pastoral areas are recognized as Indigenous Peoples' and Community Conserved Territories and Areas (ICCAs). By reviving the traditional institutions for resource governance and leadership, Cenesta hopes to protect the ancestral rights of tribal communities over their natural resources and the rangelands from exploitation.

Jonathan Davies, from IUCN, pointed out that countries such as Jordan have institutionalized local pastoralist customary management systems such as the Al Hima into law through its Updated Rangeland Strategy. In fact, this policy also won the bronze Future Policy Award that recognizes policies that combat desertification and land degradation. He emphasized the reciprocal relationship between landscape restoration, and meeting global restoration commitments such as the Bonn Challenge and Aichi targets, with sustainable pastoralism.

Pastoralism provides valuable ecosystem services such as improved soil fertility and soil carbon sequestration, water regulation, seed dispersal, disease and pest regulation, biodiversity conservation and fire management that contribute to rangeland and global environmental sustainability. Kirk Olson, from the Wildlife Conservation Society, gave examples from his experiences working in the rangelands of Mongolia of how working with pastoralists is one way of ensuring the continued sustenance of grassland resources, including some spectacular wildlife species.

Organized as part of the Landscape Restoration Day celebrations, the event aimed to dispel myths about the negative impact of pastoralism on the landscape and to encourage the development of sustainable pastoralism for improving rangeland health. Healthy rangelands, in turn, provide a resource base conducive to sustainable pastoralism.