CGIAR CAC Program

As climate change and land degradation intensify across drylands, sustainable rangeland restoration is emerging as a critical pathway to safeguarding food systems, pastoral livelihoods, biodiversity, and long-term resilience.

Food systems are often depicted by fields of wheat, orchards, ranches, and irrigated cropland stretching to the horizon; rangelands are rarely featured.

Yet these vast landscapes, which cover more than half of the Earth's terrestrial surface, support livestock systems that feed millions of people, sustain rural economies, conserve biodiversity, and store significant amounts of carbon in the soil, helping mitigate climate change.

The convergence of this year's World Day to Combat Desertification and Drought theme, "Food. Feed. Fiber." and the June focus of the International Year of Rangelands and Pastoralists (IYRP) 2026 on Sustainable Rangeland Use and Restoration is particularly timely.

➡️ Read more:

Sustainable Rangeland Restoration for Food, Feed, and Fiber | ICARDA On World Day to Combat Desertification and Drought and during IYRP 2026, discover how sustainable rangeland restoration strengthens food systems and climate resilience.