Rangelands and pastoralism are essential for millions of people worldwide, providing or contributing to their basic livelihoods, food security, and cultural identity. Rangelands cover around half of the Earth’s land surface, often in the harshest environments. Many pastoral communities have adapted their lifestyles over generations in ways that will simultaneously use and sustain these environments for long-lasting local, regional, and global benefits.

Pastoralists’ territories of life are tangible manifestations of the deeply intertwined relationships between people and nature in the form of resilient systems that are admirably adapted to diverse ecological, economic, and social realities. Pastoralists manage and conserve various ecosystems and natural resources, such as water, soil, and biodiversity, through unique governance systems. Over generations, pastoralists have learned how to live with uncertainty – which is now proving extremely useful, especially considering climate breakdown, mass extinction and biodiversity loss, and other human-induced environmental challenges.

There is still limited recognition or respect for pastoralists’ critical socioeconomic and ecological contributions to our societies and food systems, nature and its conservation, and the governance of common resources and shared heritage. Mainstream systems continue to marginalize pastoralists and perpetuate stereotypes, policies, and laws that actively undermine and erode their territories and ways of life. At the same time, pastoralists face internal challenges of gender disparity and gradual but sustained migration of youth away from traditional livelihoods and mindsets within their own communities and territories. However, the unanimous declaration of the UN General Assembly of 2026 as the International Year of Rangelands and Pastoralists (IYRP) provides a welcome opportunity to raise awareness, shift public perception, and build political will and tangible forms of support for these key issues.

Within this context, the ICCA Consortium, in collaboration with UNDP’s Global Support Initiative for ICCAs (GSI), the GEF Small Grants Programme, and the International Support Group for the IYRP, is pleased to announce a second virtual workshop on “Rangelands and Pastoralism: Towards a Global Initiative for Pastoralists’ Territories of Life”, which will be held on 14, 15, and 18 November 2022.

The overall aim of the workshop is to initiate a collaborative global initiative that is deeply supportive of pastoralists’ territories of life and their self-determined priorities and plans. The specific objectives of the virtual workshop are as follows:

• To provide a platform for pastoralist communities and their supporting organizations to share their perspectives on and experiences with conserving, sustaining, and defending territories of life in diverse regions and contexts;
• To identify priority issues that should be addressed in a global initiative focused on pastoralists’ territories of life and primary actions and ways to support such priorities;
• To identify key potential donors and supporters to help put the proposed global initiative into practice; and
• To develop the overall framework for the proposed global initiative and appoint a Working Group to lead in the design of relevant funding proposals.

Presentations and discussions during the first two days will provide important background information on priority issues, along with discussions of coordination needs and opportunities. Building on these two days, a small team will summarize findings and prepare/propose a ‘zero draft’ framework for the Global Initiative, which will be presented on Day 3 of the workshop. On this third and final day of the virtual event, participants will collectively review, edit, update, and ultimately validate the proposed framework and will identify the team that will further develop relevant funding proposals for a Global Initiative on Pastoralists’ Territories of Life, to raise the financial support needed to put plans into action.

We would like to ask you to please share your knowledge, experiences, and suggestions during the interactive discussions.

On behalf of the co-organizers, we look forward to seeing you at the 2^nd virtual workshop on Rangelands and Pastoralism: Towards a “Global Initiative for Pastoralists’ Territories of Life.”

Shared by

Holly Jonas, ICCA Consortium Global Coordinator

Terence Hay-Edie, GEF Small Grants Programme

Igshaan Samuels, Co-Chair of IYRP Global Coordinating Group

Sutej Hugu, ICCA Consortium Regional Coordinator for East Asia

The interregional task team (CCPN, Kalpavriksh, and CENESTA)