From policy to action: Advancing Pastoralism at CFS 54
The side event Rooted and mobile: pastoral systems leading the way to resilience, held during the CFS 54 meeting, underscored the role of pastoral systems and rangelands in supporting livelihoods, upholding the right to food, sustaining biodiversity and protecting planetary health.
2026 is the International Year of Rangelands and Pastoralists. Speakers during the side event Rooted and mobile: pastoral systems leading the way to resilience outlined the challenges pastoral communities face, including shrinking grazing land, restricted mobility, and limited recognition of traditional livelihoods and knowledge in national policy frameworks. They noted that the Ulaanbaatar Declaration sends a strong message: pastoralists must be recognised as rights-holders, knowledge-holders and decision-makers.
Pastoral rights and resilience
Many representatives of pastoralist and human rights organisations called for safeguarding pastoralists’ rights to access land and maintain mobility, increasingly threatened in many parts of the world by competing interests in mining, industry and agriculture.
Participants emphasised the importance of recognising pastoralism’s contribution to climate resilience, promoting agroecological practices for sustainable natural resource management and ensuring a meaningful participation of pastoralists, especially women and youth, in the development of policies affecting their livelihoods.
The session stressed the need for locally adapted policies, informed by more accurate satellite data on livestock populations to better understand pastoral systems and support sustainable grazing and mobility.
The audience was also reminded that the values of rangelands are shaped by the people and animals that live on them, and that pastoral mobility plays a critical role in building resilience across different landscapes.
Animal welfare
Investing in animal health matters not only for people’s well-being but also offers a strong return on investment. Around 20% of global animal production is lost due to animal diseases, according to the World Organisation for Animal Health (WOAH) in its 2026 State of the World Animal Health report.
The strength of local breeds was highlighted by Animal Welfare Worldwide, as their adaptation to local conditions is essential for pastoral resilience. Animal welfare priorities, besides access to veterinary services, include maintaining contact between mothers and their young, and ensuring access to water, shade, and trees to help cattle cope better with heat stress.
Access to community-based animal health workers, veterinary medicines and vaccines, water and fodder reserves, and shady resting areas, together with the protection of communal grazing land and seasonal migration corridors, are important measures to improve livestock health in pastoral systems.
The side event was organised by the Civil Society and Indigenous Peoples’ Mechanism, the World Alliance of Mobile Indigenous Peoples, the Agroecology Coalition, the FAO International Year of Rangelands and Pastoralists Secretariat, the World Federation for Animals and the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights.