Nature-based Restoration and Multipurpose Use of Rangelands: Promising solutions to benefit our planet and people

SIDE EVENT
Thursday 2 June
15:45-17:00 CEST
Stockholmsmässan, Room 2

Organizers: Government of Mongolia, WWF, IUCN, ILRI, FAO, IYRP International Support Group

Archived video: Watch

About: Rangelands including grasslands, savannahs and tundra, occupy 54% of all land on earth. They ensure food security for millions of people and provide valuable ecosystem services, including climate regulation, conserving biodiversity and water supply.

The most urgent threat to rangelands and grasslands is conversion to other uses. By 2000, these ecosystems decreased by more than half compared to historical levels, primarily due to the increase in cropland and settlements. Nature-based restoration of grasslands and rangelands will require an urgent and combined effort of controlling conversion, restoring natural ecosystems, and rehabilitating degraded lands.

Another threat is the unintended impacts of large-scale renewable energy schemes on pastoralists. Globally important renewable energy production and pastoralism can better co-exist and be mutually beneficial if participatory planning and fair benefit sharing are negotiated from the outset.

The event which is relevant to Relevant to Leadership Dialogue 1. aims to strengthen nature-based solutions to accelerate ecosystem restoration in rangelands through a human rights-based approach, and to ensure fair and sustainable benefit sharing for pastoralists and other users of rangelands.

The 75-minute side event will be an interactive panel discussion between representatives of governments, pastoralists, scientists and civil society.

Moderator(s): Joao Campari (WWF International)

Panelists:

  • H.E. Janabazar Tuvdendorj (Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Mongolia to the Kingdom of Sweden)
  • Enkhbat Altangerel (Ministry of Environment and Tourism of Mongolia)
  • Fernando Magadelo Mas (Ministry for Ecological Transition of Spain)
  • Bruno Oberle (IUCN)
  • Anders Oskal (World Reindeer Herders)
  • Maamankhu Sodhom (World Alliance of Mobile Indigenous Peoples Regional Representative for Central Asia)
  • Hussein Wario (Centre for Research & Development in Drylands)
  • Harouna Abarchi (Pastoralist Association Nodde Nooto)
  • Fiona Flintan (International Livestock Research Institute)
  • Pradeep Kurukulasuriya (UNDP)
  • Maria Helena Semedo (FAO)

Contact person: Chimguundari Navaan-Yunden (chimguundarin_at_gmail.com)

Event outcomes (Key transformative actions):

  • Stockholm+50 to call on countries to urgently stop conversion of rangelands, including grasslands and savannahs, and to restore 50% by 2030 through sustainable, participatory nature-based solutions.
  • Stockholm+50 to call on countries and the private sector to ensure that the deployment of large-scale renewable energy schemes in rangelands, including grasslands and savannahs, are mutually beneficial for pastoralists and ecosystems without unintended negative social and environmental impacts.
  • To strengthen a global coalition/platform for the sustainable stewardship and nature-based restoration of rangelands, including grasslands and savannahs (recently presented at UNCCD COP 15), securing sustainable livelihoods for all pastoralists and benefiting the planet.

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