The Mongolian government proposed to make of 2026 the International Year of Rangelands and Pastoralists (IYRP) at international level. The proposal is mobilising 18 States and more than 264 supporting organisations in the world and 30 in Europe, including Euromontana.
A new step in the designation process has been made! During the 42nd session of the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation Conference, held from 14th to 18th June 2021, the FAO endorsed the proposal of an International Year of Rangelands and Pastoralists in 2026. The FAO Conference highlighted the contribution of pastoralism in achieving the Sustainable Development Goals and the importance to support pastoralists and healthy rangelands.
The proposal must now also be endorsed by the United Nations’ General Assembly in September 2021. Euromontana calls on the European Union to maintain its support to the initiative and on Member States to vote as a bloc in favour of the IYRP in September 2021.
On the 14th June 2021, the European Committee of the Regions (CoR) organised the online conference “Pastoralism: a crucial way to tackle sustainability challenges in EU and beyond” with the support of Euromontana, the Yolda initiative and the IYRP support group for Europe. Speaker at the event, Juanan Gutierrez – President of Euromontana – welcomed the proposal of the IYRP as a first step towards working jointly on resilience, climate change, ecosystem services, sustainable livestock production, innovation with all pastoral stakeholders, including youth and women.
You can find more information on the IYRP in the material from the CoR’s event, in particular the press release and speakers’ presentations.
