Presented by Abdelkader Bensada. During IUCN: Building partnerships for rangeland restoration in Africa session of GLF Africa

1. GLF-RESTORING AFRICA’S DRYLANDS:
ACCELERATING ACTION ON THE GROUND
2-3 June 2021
Abdelkader Bensada
Ecosystems Division
UN Environment
Knowledge Gaps about
Sustainability in Pastoralism
and Rangelands

2. Slido will be used during this
session
Join us by scanning the QR Code
# GLFAfrica

3. Pastoralism is
practiced by
hundreds of
millions of people
worldwide
The unique biological and
cultural diversity of
rangelands contribute to
goods, services, knowledge
and heritages that benefit
humans beyond the herding
communities.

4. United Nations Environmental
Assembly (UNEA3) adopted a
resolution toward sustainable
rangelands and pastoralism
and call for a gap analysis of
environmental and
socioeconomic information
and the provision of technical
support for promoting
pastoralism and rangelands.

5. Analysis of online,
publicly available
information since 2000
in:
 13 global
environmental
assessments
 100 global, regional
and national databases
 71 million academic
and research peer
reviewed publications
Analysis of provision
of technical support
for pastoralism and
rangelands in:
 Projects of 13
multilateral
agencies and
international
research
organizations
 336 Stakeholder
questionnaires (18%
response)

6. 34
relevant
global
data
bases
out of
100
Highly
available,
highly
accessible

8. Rangeland ecoregions
of the world
There is an immense variation in
definitions of pastoralists and
rangelands across regions of the
world and languages. However, the
estimates of area covered by
rangelands vary from 18 per cent to
80 per cent of the world’s
surface. This map is one way of
defining and illustrating rangeland
ecosystems of the world.
Source: WWF (2001)

9. Recommendations
In order to address the knowledge gaps in the sustainability of pastoralism and
rangelands and the gaps in the current provision of technical support to
pastoralists, it is recommended that the following is done.
Tibet woman pastoralist mapping rangeland use © Yan Zha

10. 1. Conduct an intergovernmental, multi-year,
integrated global assessment
2. Enhance the availability and quality of existing
information
3. Broaden the understanding of pastoralism and the
value of rangelands
Rangelands_ Grazier in SW Queensland, Australia © Dana K

11. Maldahari pastoralist women making chapatis at a food festival, Gujurat State, India © MARAG/Neeta P
4. Conduct a detailed assessment on the provision of
technical support to pastoralists.
5. Involve pastoralists in all assessments and
information gathering.

12. The Gap Analysis is a UN Environment project that explored the gaps in environmental,
social and economic information on rangelands and pastoralism and in the current
provision of technical support to countries with rangelands and pastoralists.
The project was funded by UN Environment and the Government of Norway, and
technically supported by GRID-Arendal.

13. Slido will be used during this
session
Join us by scanning the QR Code
# GLFAfrica

15. Why an Atlas on rangelands?
• To start filling data gaps in terms of maps and key data/figures
• To raise awareness on the enormous environmental, economic and
social value of rangelands as well as their different ecosystems.
• To start exploring the different changes taking place in rangelands,
including those being monitored at global levels such as land
degradation neutrality and climate change.
• To provide a platform for local voices to describe what they are
doing to respond to these changes and the challenges that they face.
• To strengthen global collaboration on rangelands.

16. How was the Atlas produced?
• The spatial mapping of
rangelands was produced by
focusing on seven of the 14
global biomes categorised by
WWF in their mapping of
terrestrial ecoregions around
the world.
• The map of rangelands is
combined with other existing
global datasets on different
themes, to produce a
mapping of that data “for
rangelands.”
Credit: Marco Buemi

18. What is the Atlas?
• Currently 16 sets of maps
covering different themes.
• Key data; a story from the
field; explanation of
terminologies.
• We are reliant on the
accuracy of the datasets we
have accessed: the data have
not been verified on the
ground, and we will be looking
for ways to do this.
• The Atlas is work in progress:
a living document!

19. A strengthening partnership on rangelands at
global level
• This Atlas is a collaborative initiative of the International Livestock
Research Institute (ILRI), International Union for Conservation of
Nature (IUCN), Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) of the United
Nations, World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF), the United Nations
Environment Programme (UNEP), and the global Rangelands Initiative
of the International Land Coalition (ILC).
• It reflects a strengthening, global movement to protect, restore and
appropriately invest in rangelands, as we move forward to the UN
Decade of Ecosystem Restoration.
We thank all our supporters including the mappers, publishers, web
designers and communication teams.

20. The Atlas is available for downloading from the
Atlas website: http://rangelandsdata.org/atlas
With support from