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UN Report: Climate Change and Overuse Threaten Half of Earth’s Pasture Lands, Endangering Food Supply for Billions

“Protecting Our Pastures: UN Report Highlights Threats to Food Supply and Solutions for Rangeland Management”

The United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) has recently released a report highlighting the alarming degradation of natural pasture lands on Earth. According to the report, as much as half of the planet’s natural pasture land has been degraded due to the impacts of climate change and overexploitation. This degradation puts a sixth of the world’s food supplies at risk, posing a severe threat to global food security and the livelihoods of billions of people.

The report, titled Global Land Outlook Thematic Report on Rangelands and Pastoralists, underscores the critical importance of rangelands and offers insights into better managing and restoring them while safeguarding pastoralism. Rangelands, which include grasslands, savannas, wetlands, tundra, shrublands, and deserts, make up 54 percent of all land on Earth.

The degradation of natural pastures is primarily attributed to factors such as overuse, misuse, climate change, biodiversity loss, and land use changes driven by urban expansion and population growth. These changes lead to diminished soil nutrients, salinization, erosion, and biodiversity loss, ultimately impacting plant growth, precipitation patterns, and ecosystem services.

The report emphasizes the need to protect pastoralism, a traditional way of life centered around livestock herding, which supports two billion people worldwide, including small-scale farmers, herders, and ranchers. Pastoralist communities, numbering an estimated half a billion individuals globally, often face marginalization and lack representation in policy-making processes that affect their livelihoods.

Efforts to boost productivity by converting rangelands to croplands in arid regions have resulted in lower agricultural yields and land degradation. The report highlights the importance of sustainable rangeland management practices, climate change adaptation, and mitigation strategies to enhance the resilience of rangeland ecosystems and pastoralist communities.

Recommendations from the report include integrating climate change strategies into rangeland management plans, avoiding the conversion of rangelands to unsuitable land uses, and empowering pastoralist communities to preserve their sustainable practices. The report also calls for policy changes, investments in research, and support for stakeholders to prevent further degradation of rangelands and preserve land, communities, and cultures.

The report was launched in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, ahead of the upcoming UNCCD Conference of the Parties in 2026, which will focus on the International Year of Rangelands and Pastoralists. Mongolia, known for its vast grasslands, has been highlighted as a custodian of Eurasia’s largest grasslands and a model for sustainable rangeland management practices.

In conclusion, the UNCCD report serves as a wake-up call to the global community to prioritize the protection and restoration of rangelands to ensure food security, biodiversity conservation, and the well-being of pastoralist communities worldwide. It underscores the urgent need for collaborative efforts to address the challenges facing rangelands and pastoralism in the face of climate change and land degradation.

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