More than half of the world’s land mass is rangeland – and yet these landscapes and the people who inhabit and manage them have been largely neglected. They are a main source of food and feed for humanity, and yet they are also the world economy’s dumping ground. It is time to shift perspective – from ‘a rangeland problem’ to ‘a sustainable rangeland solution’. It is time to commit globally to halt indiscriminate rangeland conversion, to pass judicious policies and laws that support and enhance rangelands and pastoralism, and to upgrade LDN as a global consensus and tool with stronger targets and funding for rangelands.

The United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) has designated 2026 the International Year of Rangelands and Pastoralists (IYRP 2026) to enhance rangeland management and the lives of pastoralists. With this declaration, UN Member States are called upon to invest in sustainable rangeland management, to restore degraded lands, to improve market access by pastoralists, to enhance livestock extension services, and to fill knowledge gaps on rangelands and pastoralism. This brief summarizes the findings of a comprehensive science review undertaken by a team of experts from the IYRP International Support Group, a coalition of more than 320 organizations worldwide, to determine key issues to address in rangelands and pastoralism and targets to set in the ‘land degradation neutrality’ work proposed by the UN Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) to maintain or enhance the world’s land-based natural capital.

Rangelands occupy more than half of the Earth’s land surface. Pastoralism has been practiced for millennia on rangelands as a way for communities to adapt to climatically variable and uncertain environments. More than two billion people today depend directly or indirectly on pastoralist livelihoods, value chains and foods. Pastoralism remains the most viable way to manage rangeland ecosystems for the benefit of both people and the environment. In addition to producing nourishing milk and meat from livestock herds, pastoralism on rangelands and farmlands provides essential ecosystem services by enriching soils, capturing carbon, dispersing seed, shaping landscapes and conserving biodiversity, including the many endangered wildlife species that make rangelands their home.