Woman milks a cow in northern Mongolia. Credit by Katiekk, Shutterstock
By Solange Bandiaky-Badji
WASHINGTON DC, Aug 6 2026 (IPS)
This is supposed to be the year the world finally sees and recognizes pastoralists. The United Nations has designated 2026 as the International Year of Rangelands and Pastoralists, bringing long-overdue attention to communities who have sustained some of the world’s most fragile and important landscapes for generations.
Yet right now, the world is on fire… quite literally. All eyes are on the wildfires in France, Spain, and Canada. California is coming up on wildfire season. And scientists are predicting the strongest El Niño in history.
As climate-fueled disasters become more frequent and severe, now is an important moment to learn from pastoralists, whose traditional knowledge, adaptive land management practices, and deep understanding of living with climate variability have helped sustain people and landscapes through centuries of environmental change.
In August, governments will gather in Mongolia for COP17 of the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD COP17), where rangelands, land degradation and climate resilience will be central to the global agenda.
This will be the first UNCCD COP since the e.stablishment of the Caucus of Indigenous Peoples and the Caucus of Local Communities—hard-won victories at COP16—with “Land and People Day and tenure rights included formally on the COP17 agenda.
Dr. Solange Bandiaky-Badji is Coordinator and President of the Rights and Resources Initiative (RRI)
Yet the scale of what is at stake is enormous. Rangelands cover more of the Earth’s surface than any other land use type, and up to 500 million people directly rely on pastoralism for their livelihoods. These lands are central to food security, biodiversity, climate resilience, and the survival of communities across Africa, Asia, Latin America and beyond. Yet pastoralists remain among the least protected and understood land stewards in the world.
This year of recognition must become more than a symbolic milestone. Unless governments and institutions use this moment to move from visibility to rights, pastoralists will continue to be praised in speeches while being pushed further to the margins in law, policy and investment.
Resilience Is Not Invulnerability
Pastoralists are incredibly resilient. Across drylands, savannahs, mountains and rangelands, they have adapted to shifting seasons, scarce water, and fragile ecosystems through sophisticated systems of mobility, customary governance, and ecological knowledge. Their way of life is one of the world’s most climate-adapted livelihood systems. But resilience should not be confused with invulnerability.
At a New York Climate Week event last year focused on Indigenous pastoralist knowledge and nature-based solutions, pastoralist leaders described the reality their communities face every day. One speaker from the Sahel spoke of droughts, severe flooding and wildfires that continue to destroy livelihoods and cost lives. She recalled stories from her grandmother about struggling to find even a grain to eat in order to survive and warned that extreme weather is threatening their lives.
While Climate change is intensifying the pressures on lands and livelihoods that were already under strain, it is only part of the story. Pastoralists are also being squeezed by policies and development models that misunderstand and overlook how their systems work and focus on a narrative that pastoralists are a threat to ecosystems. Their livelihoods depend on mobility, but many legal frameworks are built around fixed land ownership and permanent settlement. Their governance systems are collective and customary, but many governments recognize only formal administrative structures. Their territories include grazing corridors, water points and seasonal routes, but these are rarely treated as essential infrastructure. Even where policies exist focusing on pastoralism, they often do so from restrictive approaches that only center pastoralists as part of a chain of production or tourism exploitation.
The Gap Between Recognition and Rights
A recent analysis by the Rights and Resources Initiative across Kenya, Niger, Tanzania, Mongolia, Nepal, Bolivia and Peru found a persistent gap between recognition on paper and protection in practice. While governments may acknowledge pastoralist land access in some form, mobility—the foundation of pastoralist livelihoods—is rarely protected in law. Among the countries studied, Niger stands out as the lone exception explicitly recognizing mobility as a fundamental right. The legal gap among the rest of the countries has real consequences.
Across regions, rangelands are being fragmented by agricultural expansion, infrastructure projects, extractive industries, conservation restrictions, carbon initiatives and green energy projects. These pressures are often presented as development or climate solutions. But when they are imposed without pastoralists’ full participation and consent, they deepen inequality, fuel conflict and weaken the very systems that have protected rangelands for generations.
Invisible in Data, Invisible in Policy
That exclusion is also statistical. Pastoralists are too often missing from the data systems that shape national priorities, development financing and climate policy. When governments do not accurately count pastoralist communities, map their mobility routes, measure their economic contributions, or document the pressures they face, their needs and contributions remain invisible. When communities are invisible in the data, they are often invisible in budgets, laws and global commitments.
This is especially alarming given the scale of pastoralists’ contributions. In Africa, pastoralists produce much of the continent’s milk and a significant share of its meat. They sustain local markets, support rural economies, manage vast rangelands and carry knowledge that is essential to climate resilience and biodiversity protection. Yet their contributions are rarely matched by legal protection, public investment or meaningful political representation.
Women face even greater barriers. Pastoralist women are central to livestock economies, food systems, households and community resilience. But they are often excluded from land ownership, mobility rights, leadership and formal decision-making. Any serious effort to strengthen pastoralist systems must address women’s rights directly, not as an afterthought.
Tenure Redefined
At COP17, land tenure returns to the agenda as a standing policy item, carried forward from previous sessions alongside rangelands and pastoralists. That is progress. But tenure conceived as titles, boundaries and fixed parcels cannot secure people whose security depends on movement. The United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Peasants (UNDROP) already names transhumant, nomadic and semi-nomadic communities as rights holders and requires states to protect their land rights, an obligation that cannot be met by extending sedentary tenure models to mobile peoples. Pastoralist tenure must be redefined: adaptive, embedding mobility, recognizing shared use, seasonal occupation and overlapping claims and anchored in customary governance. For pastoralists, secure tenure is flexible tenure.
The Solutions Are Clear
The good news is that pastoralists are not waiting for the world to act on their behalf. They are organizing. There is a growing movement across Africa, Asia and Latin America. They may be communities separated by continents and colonial borders, but they are connected by shared histories, livelihoods and struggles.
First, governments must recognize pastoral mobility as a legal right. Movement is not a weakness of pastoralist systems; it is what allows communities to manage climate variability, protect ecosystems and sustain livestock in changing conditions.
Second, states must protect the physical infrastructure of pastoralism, including grazing corridors, water points, dry season reserves and seasonal migration routes. These are as essential to pastoral economies as roads and ports are to national economies.
Third, customary governance systems must be legally recognized and supported. Pastoralist communities have long managed land, water and conflict through local institutions that are adapted to their realities. Replacing these systems with rigid, top-down frameworks weaken both rights and resilience.
Fourth, pastoralist women must have equal rights to land, mobility, resources and leadership. Climate resilience cannot be built while half the community is excluded from decisions that affect them and shape our collective future.
Finally, climate finance, conservation funding and development investments must reach pastoralist communities directly and respect their rights. Projects that restrict access to land without consent or compensation undermine both livelihoods and global environmental goals.
COP17 in Mongolia is an opportunity to turn this year of recognition into a year of action. Governments should arrive prepared not only to discuss rangelands, but to listen to the people who know them best. Pastoralists must be at the table as rightsholders, experts and partners.
The world cannot meet its goals on climate resilience, food security, biodiversity or land restoration while ignoring the communities already holding these systems together.
This is the year of pastoralists. Now it must become the year the world finally recognizes their rights.
Dr. Solange Bandiaky-Badji, is President and Coordinator, Rights and Resources Initiative
IPS UN Bureau
Follow @IPSNewsUNBureau
Mali Actu - maliactu.net - Mali Actualités, Les Actus et Informations sur le Mali
Mali Actu
Italie : 27 villes en alerte rouge, la canicule tue et menace les plus vulnérables
L'Italie face à une canicule meurtrière : 27 villes en alerte rouge, des températures record et des incendies menacent la population. Découvrez les impacts et mesures d'urgence.
Italie : 27 villes en alerte rouge, la canicule tue et menace les plus vulnérables
Mali Actu :
Italie : 27 villes en alerte rouge, la canicule tue et menace les plus vulnérables
Mali Actu - maliactu.net - Mali Actualités, Les Actus et Informations sur le Mali
Mali Actu
Mali : alerte aux orages violents, des millions de Maliens sous menace climatique
Le Mali se prépare à une journée climatique extrême : orages violents au sud, températures caniculaires jusqu'à 45°C au nord. Les autorités lancent une alerte.
Mali : alerte aux orages violents, des millions de Maliens sous menace climatique
Mali Actu :
Mali : alerte aux orages violents, des millions de Maliens sous menace climatique
Nyáron a cukkini az egyik legsokoldalúbb alapanyag, amelyből könnyű és ízletes fogásokat készíthetünk. A ropogós cukkinihasábok a hagyományos rántott zöldségek egészségesebb alternatívái, hiszen bő olaj helyett sütőben sülnek aranybarnára. Fokhagymás-joghurtos mártogatóssal kínálva kiváló vacsora, könnyű ebéd vagy akár vendégváró finomság is lehet.
Print Pálya Sós ételKonyha Magyar Servings 4 fő HozzávalókThe post Ropogós cukkinihasábok sütőben appeared first on Kárpátalja.ma.
Le gouvernement congolais a appelé mercredi 5 août la population de Kinshasa à ne pas céder à la panique, après l'interception d'une embarcation transportant des passagers en provenance de la Tshopo, à la suite d'un décès suspect pouvant être lié à la maladie à virus Ebola. Un laboratoire mobile a été déployé pour dépister l'ensemble des voyageurs, tandis que le bateau est maintenu à environ 65 kilomètres de la capitale, par mesure de précaution.
Majdnem 800 fős magyar közösség a Kis-Küküllő alsó szakaszán. Templomot renovál, magyar napokat szervez, táncoktatást és rezesbandát támogat. Tervez és remél, közben az ellenszéllell is számolnia kell. Bodoczi Annamária régóta aktív a civil szférában, ösztöndíjprogramot működtetett egyházi vonalon a nagyenyedi Bethlen Gábor Kollégiumban továbbtanulók számára. A helyi civil szervezet alapítójaként taglalta Bethlenszentmiklós esélyeit, perspektíváit a […]
Articolul Küzdelmes szórványlét apare prima dată în Kolozsvári Rádió Románia.
Besztercén felújítják a történelmi városközpontot, beleértve a szász örökség műemlékeit, amelyek a város középkori arculatát adják. A sikátorokat felújítják, az épületek homlokzatát takaró öreg fákat kivágják, helyükbe másokat ültetnek. Az idén ősszel kezdődő munkálatok során a városháza mobilitási zöld folyosót is tervez. Mit jelent ez? – kérdeztük Máthé Attila városi tanácsostól. Forrai Szerénke interjúja
Articolul Felújítják Beszterce történelmi központját apare prima dată în Kolozsvári Rádió Románia.
Nagyváradon és Nagyszebenben a közvilágításon spórolnak. A Sebes-Körös-parti városban augusztusban rendszerint este 9 órakor kapcsolják fel és reggel 6 órakor kapcsolják ki, most viszont egy órával később kapcsolják fel, ami számításaik szerint naponta mintegy több mint 3 MWh-ás megtakarítást jelent. Takarékosságot kértek a vállalatoktól is, ugyanakkor a helyi erőmű kedden bekapcsolta az egyik turbináját, hogy […]
Articolul Több város önkormányzata spórol az árammal apare prima dată în Kolozsvári Rádió Románia.
Le gouvernement togolais poursuit le renforcement de la discipline au sein de l’administration publique. Réuni en Conseil des ministres ce mardi 4 août sous la présidence de Faure Essozimna Gnassingbé, Président du Conseil, l’exécutif a dressé un bilan des mesures disciplinaires prises à l’encontre des agents de l’État.
Présentée par le ministre de la Fonction publique, du Travail et du Dialogue social, cette communication révèle qu’entre 2025 et 2026, 132 fonctionnaires ont fait l’objet de sanctions disciplinaires. Parmi eux, 78 ont été licenciés pour des manquements jugés contraires aux obligations statutaires.
Selon le gouvernement, les sanctions prononcées concernent notamment des absences irrégulières, des abandons de poste, des violations des règles d’éthique et de déontologie, ainsi que des fraudes liées à des actes ou documents administratifs.
Les autorités expliquent que ces mesures résultent des contrôles réguliers effectués par les services compétents, chargés de vérifier les situations administratives des agents, d’assurer le suivi de leurs carrières et de détecter les irrégularités pouvant nuire au bon fonctionnement de l’administration. Les procédures disciplinaires sont engagées conformément aux textes législatifs et réglementaires en vigueur.
Cette démarche s’inscrit dans le cadre des réformes engagées depuis plusieurs années pour moderniser l’administration publique. Le gouvernement met notamment l’accent sur la numérisation de la gestion des ressources humaines, la sécurisation des dossiers administratifs et le renforcement des mécanismes de contrôle, avec pour objectif d’améliorer l’efficacité du service public.
Pour l’exécutif, les dispositifs disciplinaires répondent à une double exigence : garantir le respect des obligations professionnelles des agents publics et assurer la continuité du service public. Les sanctions les plus sévères, à l’image du licenciement, sont réservées aux manquements considérés comme incompatibles avec les exigences du statut de la fonction publique.
À l’issue de cette communication, le Conseil des ministres a réaffirmé que cette politique participe à la moralisation de l’administration et au renforcement de la bonne gouvernance. Le Président du Conseil a, à cet effet, invité les membres du gouvernement à poursuivre leur collaboration avec les services compétents afin de consolider les dispositifs de contrôle et de prévention des irrégularités au sein de l’administration publique.Vous pouvez également titrer cet article de l’une des façons suivantes :
Togoactualité
The post Fonction publique : 132 agents sanctionnés en deux ans, dont 78 licenciés appeared first on Togo Actualite - Premier site d'information du Togo.
Július 27-én orkánerejű szélvihar és jégeső vonult végig Kárpátalján, amely több településen is jelentős károkat okozott. A vihar megrongálta az épületek tetőszerkezetét, fákat döntött ki, valamint elpusztította a családok megélhetését segítő kertek termését.
A Kárpátaljai Magyar Nagycsaládosok Egyesületének (KMNE) közreműködésével a Rákóczi Szövetség közössége egymillió forintos támogatást nyújtott egy karácsfalvai nagycsalád számára.
A támogatást augusztus 5-én adták át. A család otthonának tetejét a vihar teljesen megbontotta, emellett a megélhetésüket biztosító termés is megsemmisült.
The post Egymillió forintos támogatást kapott egy viharkárosult család Karácsfalván appeared first on Kárpátalja.ma.