Synthesizing evidence to promote pastoral and grazing livestock systems as a solution
Join us for the fourth webinar organised by the Global Agenda for Sustainable Livestock (GASL), together with its broader network of partners, to support the International Year of Rangelands and Pastoralists and the International Year of the Woman Farmer in 2026.
Date: 18 February 2026
Time: 10:30 - 11:30
Language: English
Organiser: FAO and GASL
Location: Online
Synthesizing evidence to promote pastoral and grazing livestock systems as a solution to sustainable development
Pastoralism plays a crucial global role by sustaining vast human populations, delivering essential ecological services, preserving rangelands, and significantly bolstering the subsistence economy in some of the world's most impoverished regions. However, in recent decades, the expansion of agriculture, industrial development, climate change, and the shift towards sedentary livestock farming have overshadowed traditional pastoral practices.
This webinar synthesizes cutting-edge evidence on pastoralism as an ecological, economic, and social solution to current development challenges. It brings together researchers, policymakers, development practitioners, and pastoralist representatives to synthesize the evidence, examine policy gaps, and develop future research priorities.
Register here: https://fao.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_Jft-GCQcTMetzmEfNeVz7Q#/registration
Program
Moderator: Tahira Mohamed, ILRI
10:00-10:05 | Opening remarks and scene setting - Moderator & Hsin Huang, GASL chair
10:05-10:15 | High-level presentation - Sarah Ossiya, AU-IBAR
10:15-10:55 | Thematic presentations. Targeting evidence that needs to be uptake by policy makers.
Are livestock products part of healthy diets? - Stella Nordhagen, GAIN
Climate change and the ecological dynamics of pastoralism: debunking climate change and myth around climate variability in pastoral context - Pablo Manzano, Basque Centre for Climate Change
Pastoralism and institutions: state, infrastructure, development policies and the vulnerability narrative as the engine for pastoral development - Samuel Derbyshire, ILRI
Mobility, collective governance and the relational resilience: rethinking governance policies in pastoral systems through a relational lens. Australian funded research on resilience in Ethiopia and Kenya - Rahma Hassan, Centre for Research and Development in Drylands and Tufts University
10:55-11:20 | Interactive discussions & Q&A
Bridging evidence and policy – Moderated discussion with panellists - Policy makers
Zoewinde Bouda , FAO GEF Great Green Wall
Henk Jan Ormel, Dutch Competent Authority for Animal Procedures (TBC)
Lauren Lecuyer, Bern University
11:20-11:25 | Reflection by the webinar harvester (5mins) - Tahira Mohammed
11:25-11:30 | Closing - Camillo De Camillis, GASL Coordinator