COP17 desertification: recognising the role of pastoralism in sustainable ecosystem management

Event 23 July 2026

COP17 on combating desertification will be held in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, from 17 to 28 August 2026. United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) is gradually recognising the role of pastoralism in sustainable land management. CIRAD will be at COP17 to call for greater recognition of pastoral socio-ecosystems, which are a real asset for the planet.

Mongolia, a pastoral country, is hosting COP17 in its capital Ulaanbaatar, from 17 to 28 August 2026 © Tristan Parry Imageo
Mongolia, a pastoral country, is hosting COP17 in its capital Ulaanbaatar, from 17 to 28 August 2026 © Tristan Parry Imageo

The essentials

CIRAD scientists will be at Desertification COP17 to call for greater consideration of scientific knowledge of the role of pastoralism in combating desertification.
Pastoralism helps to preserve biodiversity and adapt to climate change, but pastoral systems are under threat from increased land pressure and widespread natural resource degradation.
Almost 500 million people worldwide rely on pastoralism for a living, 70% of them women and young people.
Rangelands house 67% of the world's biodiversity hotspots and cover almost half its land area.
Grasslands and rangelands store almost a third of the world's soil carbon.

With their agroecological practices, pastoral societies contribute to sustainable global food systems. However, they now face a range of threats: climate change, biodiversity loss, pollution, the loss of traditional knowledge and the marginalisation of pastoralists are all undermining these systems.

Supporting pastoralism via the Rio Conventions

Provided States recognise its true worth, pastoralism can play a key role in tackling global challenges. It is an agricultural production practice, a way of life, a nature-based solution and a socio-ecosystem capable of responding to current environmental crises. Pastoralism is a crucial ally in achieving the aims of the three Rio Conventions, with the following events this year: Desertification COP17 in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, Biodiversity COP17 in Yerevan, Armenia (18-30 October), and Climate COP31 in Antalya, Türkiye (9-20 November 2026).

The really challenge is no longer to demonstrate the merits of pastoralism for the climate, biodiversity or soils, taken separately, but to gain recognition of its capacity to produce simultaneous co-benefits for local communities, food systems and ecosystems. The issue is making the approach built on the synergies between the three Rio Conventions the basis for future public policy and investment, to benefit pastoralists and sustainable rangeland management.

Jean-Daniel Cesaro

geographer at CIRAD and member of the French Scientific Committee on Desertification

CIRAD is working with its partners to gain greater global recognition of pastoral systems.

It has three priority lines of work that it will be defending at this year's three COPs:
1.   supporting sustainable transition in pastoral territories;
2.   co-producing knowledge and data to trigger international synergies that benefit pastoralism;
3.   consolidate multi-stakeholder and multi-level cooperation to benefit pastoralism.

To find out more, see:

Position Pastoralisme et conventions de Rio

(Re)listen to the conference on pastoralism and global challenges (Pastoralisme et défis globaux: terres, climat, biodiversité au cœur des négociations internationales) held on the CIRAD-AFD stand at the 2026 Paris International Agricultural Show:

CIRAD at COP17

The following people will be at COP17 in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia: Serena Ferrari, economist, member of IYRP, the International Year of Rangelands and Pastoralists 2026, and Jean-Daniel Cesaro, geographer and member of the French Scientific Committee on Desertification, and the entire Team France (AVSF, CARI, CIRAD, IRD, Association française de pastoralisme, etc), in the France pavilion.

CIRAD at COP17

Following this COP17, CIRAD will be organising an online press briefing (for journalists) on 15 September 2026 (10:30-12:00 CEST) on "The year of three COPs: issues for agriculture in the global South".
Information and registration: presse@cirad.fr

The International Year of Rangelands and Pastoralists

To promote the role and know-how of pastoralists in response to global challenges and obtain recognition of the importance of such socio-ecosystems in the three Rio Conventions, the UN has declared 2026 the International Year of Rangelands and Pastoralists (IYRP).

CIRAD will be working throughout this international year, and participating in the Global Pastoralist Gathering and Conference, which will bring together 300 delegates from 102 countries ahead of COP17 in Ulaanbaatar. Following the event, recommendations will be drafted and reported to policymakers at the opening of COP17.

The Global Pastoralist Gathering, organised ahead of COP17 in Mongolia, is the culmination of an unprecedented international push by pastoral communities and the start point for a Global Alliance for Rangelands and Pastoralists. The ambition is to ensure that pastoralists' views continue to fuel public policy well beyond the International Year of Rangelands and Pastoralists. Pastoralists are not only asking to be heard; they are asking to be recognised as fully-fledged partners in building a more sustainable future.

Serena Ferrari

economist at CIRAD, member of the International Year of Rangelands and Pastoralists 2026

CIRAD and its partners will also be promoting an immersive exhibition, "Transhumance 360°", which uses virtual reality headsets to take visitors on a trip through pastoral landscapes. The exhibition, which has already been shown at several international events, will be accessible during COP17 on the Team France collective stand.

Discover the Transhumance 360° exhibition

CIRAD experts presented the issues surrounding pastoralism and the main events planned for this international year at an online press briefing, (replay available).

Concrete work to support pastoralists

CIRAD works with pastoralists the world over, and with its partners, to tackle the issues they face.

Its expertise rests on the results of action research projects alongside pastoral communities over several years, from West Africa to central Asia via southern Africa: land restoration led by livestock farmers, cohabitation between livestock and wildlife, resilience to climate and security crises, or trans-border territorial foresight exercises.

Five countries, five stories giving a different picture of pastoralism

Factsheets have been produced for five countries, and are available to journalists on request from presse@cirad.fr:

Mongolia: in the COP17 host country, livestock farmers are designing their future
A couple of months ahead of COP17, Mongolia—with almost 77% of its land area degraded—is testing its own solutions with livestock farmers.
Mozambique: livestock and wildlife, cohabitation needs to be reinvented
On the fringes of a National Park, livestock farmers and large wild mammals must learn to share water, grasslands... and diseases.
Burkina Faso/Togo: a border area aiming for more peaceful transhumance by 2035
What if, rather than submitting to tensions regarding transhumance, a cross-border territory were to write its own scenarios for the future?
Senegal: when livestock farmers manage reforestation
What if the best way of restoring degraded areas were to leave it up to livestock farmers to decide?
Sahel: pastoralism in the light of climate and security crises
In the Sahel, livestock farmers' resilience hinges on a map: that of transhumance routes, water points and livestock markets. (See 10 ans d'action au pastoralisme au Sahel)