INTERNATIONAL YEAR FOR RANGELANDS AND PASTORALISTS

News: The United Nations has declared 2026 as the International Year for Rangelands and Pastoralists

Grasslands

• Grasslands are open ecosystems dominated by grasses, with few or no trees, found across savannahs, steppes, prairies, and rangelands.
• They cover ~40% of Earth’s land surface

Significance of grasslands

• Natural climate cooling via albedo effect
• Fire resilience
• 90% of grassland carbon is stored below ground in deep root systems
• Drought buffering

Declining grasslands

• Weakened climate resilience
• Accelerated biodiversity loss
• Loss of pollination services

Way forward

• Adopt ecosystem-based climate planning
• Secure community land rights and governance
• Incentivize sustainable grazing and PES models