The report "Resilient rangeland futures: insights and pathways for thriving landscapes and people" examines the ecological, social and economic importance of the world's rangelands and the pastoral communities that steward them. Drawing on decades of UNDP collaboration with governments, Indigenous Peoples, local communities and development partners, it presents experiences from East and South Asia, West Asia and North Africa, Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean, and Europe and Central Asia. The report challenges perceptions of rangelands as unproductive spaces and identifies pathways for strengthening customary governance, pastoral mobility, climate resilience, inclusive livelihoods, restoration, financing and policy systems while positioning pastoralists at the centre of decisions affecting these landscapes.
Key Insights
Rangelands cover more than half of the world's land surface, and seven of the world's 14 terrestrial biomes are considered rangelands in their natural or semi-natural state.
Around 500 million people practise pastoralism in rangelands, while at least 2 billion people benefit from the goods and services these landscapes generate. Livestock is also an important accessible source of animal protein for 1.2 billion people in developing countries living below the poverty line.
Pastoralism has existed for more than 10,000 years and relies on mobility as a core adaptation to the highly variable availability of water, forage and other natural resources across rangeland environments.
The report presents pastoralism as a potentially low-input, nature-positive and climate-resilient production system. Grazing, animal movement and appropriate fire management can play important roles in maintaining ecosystem processes when adapted to local ecological conditions.
Rangelands face interconnected pressures including agricultural expansion, mining, infrastructure development, settlements, land fragmentation, inappropriate intensification, restrictions on pastoral mobility, insecure tenure, biodiversity loss and accelerating climate change.
In East and South Asia, nearly 2 billion people depend on river basins fed by mountain systems for water, energy and food, demonstrating how the health of high-altitude rangelands affects communities far beyond pastoral areas.
West Asia and North Africa is the world's most water-scarce region, with arable land accounting for only about 5% of its land area. The region is also warming at nearly twice the global average, increasing drought, water scarcity and livelihood pressures.
In Lebanon, the report notes that more than 430,000 sheep and 535,000 goats are raised across the country. UNDP-supported approaches combine field sampling, native seed analysis, national rangeland mapping, grazing-route assessments and GPS tracking of herd movements to guide restoration and policy.
Lebanon's rangeland evidence has supported development of the country's first National Guidelines for the Sustainable Management of Rangelands and revisions to the rangeland chapter of the national Forest Law.
More than 250 million pastoralists depend on rangelands south of the Sahara. Rangelands also originate or serve as catchments for most of Africa's major rivers and wetlands, around 90% of which are transboundary, linking sustainable livestock management directly to regional water security.
In Kenya, approximately 65% of wildlife lives outside government-protected areas. Community conservancies, which combine wildlife conservation with compatible uses such as pastoralism, now cover well over 10% of the country's land area.