These Guidelines on Sustainable Rangeland Management in Sub-Saharan Africa come at a critical moment. Rangelands are under growing pressure from land degradation as well as crop and urban land expansion, among other threats. Moreover, the capacity of rangelands to sustainably supply markets will be tested over the coming decade as the global and regional demand for beef and sheep continues to grow. African governments, stakeholders and other partners are fortunately taking note of the importance of rangelands. For example, the African Union has contributed to the renewed promotion of pastoralism under its 2013 Policy Framework for Pastoralism in Africa. Similarly, the World Bank, along with Sahelian countries, regional organizations and the UN, has committed to promote it under the Declaration of Nouakchott on pastoralism in the Sahel in 2013. In addition, considering their spatial dominance, rangelands
should continue to receive sustained attention within the land, forest restoration and climate change commitments made by governments. This interest by governments in sustainably managing rangelands has increased demand for technical information and guidance on how this can be done. That’s where we think these guidelines, which synthesize recent knowledge and practices about managing rangelands effectively, will be particularly useful. This substantial piece of work was prepared by Swiss-based Centre for Development and Environment and the World Overview on Conservation Approaches and Technologies (WOCAT) network for the World Bank on behalf of the TerrAfrica partnership on Sustainable Land Management (SLM). The 30 new case studies presented in this research cover the different regions of Sub-Saharan Africa and a diverse range of practices and systems, from small scale settled pasture to bounded rangelands with wildlife management and pastoral rangelands.