Source: Pastoralists gather in Mongolia for the UN Desertification conference | zimbabweland
Today, COP17 of the UNCCD (UN Convention to Combat Desertification) kicks off in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia. Top of the agenda is how to manage rangelands that support millions of pastoralists worldwide in sustainable ways. 2026 is the International Year of Rangelands and Pastoralists (IYRP), and the global gathering of pastoralists has just concluded. Many pastoralists and allies will be present at the COP, making the case for a new perspective on pastoralism. I hope that there will be Zimbabwean representation too, as livestock, rangelands and sustainability is a key issue in southern Africa too.
Back in April, I was invited to present at the Pastoralism and Dryland Development (PADD) seminar series in Nairobi organised by the Jameel Observatory/ILRI and the Rift Valley Institute and hosted by the British Institute for Eastern Africa. The talk was chaired by Tahira Mohamed and Rahma Hassan and explores new narratives for pastoralism and how they can link to the IYRP 2026.
Also, since January, we have been digging into the archives of the PASTRES project to present a blog summarising findings around each of the IYRP themes. We have been publishing one blog each month, aiming to contribute to the strong global advocacy for pastoralism that the events in Mongolia are focusing on.
The monthly PASTRES blog series has highlighted different dimensions of what is often overlooked about pastoralism and pastoralists and what we can learn from them, in critical areas such as climate resilience, desertification and biodiversity loss. Here are the links to each of the contributions so far.
January: A new narrative for pastoralism
This blog post introduces the international year, looks at what policy change is needed, and learning from the work PASTRES did to challenge several problematic narratives and assumptions used in mainstream policy related to pastoralism.
Read the blog: A new narrative for pastoralism: Opening the 2026 international year of rangelands and pastoralists
February: Pastoral mobility
February’s theme was ‘mobility and access’ and this blog highlights how mobility matters, with the ability to move to respond to variable conditions central to pastoral strategies.
Read the blog: Why pastoral mobility is essential
March: Rethinking social and economic services
To fit with the month of ‘social and economic services’, this blog post highlights how standard approaches to social assistance, humanitarian aid, social protection, and insurance are often not well-suited to pastoral areas.
Read the blog: Rethinking social and economic services in pastoral areas
April: Pastoralists and climate change
This blog posts discusses how too often all livestock are lumped together as being bad for the planet but highlighting how pastoral livestock systems are very different to industrial scale livestock.
Read the blog: Pastoralists, climate change and rethinking resilience
May: Pastoralism and the environment
The blog post for May’s theme of ‘biodiversity and ecosystem services’ unpicks many of the misunderstandings about the relationships between pastoralist livestock keeping and the environment that confuse policymaking around the world.
Read the blog: Pastoralists as guardians of the environment
June: Desertification and sustainable land use
This blog post recaps the PASTRES critique of ‘desertification narratives’ in pastoral areas for the IYRP theme that focused on ‘Soils, Water Resources and Sustainable Land Use’.
Read the blog: Challenging desertification narrativ
July: Real markets, complex value chains and pastoral livelihoods
This blog post focuses on how how pastoralists navigate market relations and complex value chains under conditions of uncertainty, responding to the IYRP theme on ‘Sustainable Consumption and Value Chains’.
Read the blog: Real markets, complex value chains and pastoral livelihoods
Read the full blog series, including the blog posts over the next six months on the PASTRES website.
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