Most rangelands are degraded, as per UN. What exactly are rangelands?

The United Nations Convention on Combating Desertification (UNCCD) brings about a report that says that over 50 percent of the total rangelands of the world are actually degraded. The report says that these rangelands require policy interventions. There are many communities that are dependent on these rangelands and thus need attentive support. Are rangelands important for the survival of these communities? What exactly are these ecosystems? What are the findings of the UNCCD report? 

Let's attempt to find answers to these questions, bit by bit.

First things first, what exactly are these lands?

The report by the United Nations Convention on Combating Desertification (UNCCD) gives a crisp definition of rangelands. 

Rangelands, as per this definition, are semi-natural or natural ecosystems that the wild animals or livestock depend upon for grazing. Such pieces of land include agroforestry systems and vegetation like shrubs, open forests, bushes, grasses, and more.

Rangelands are varied, and their nature is dependent on climatic factors such as temperature, rainfall, and more.

The UNCCD report reveals the proportion of rangelands on the planet currently. It says that over 80 million sq km of the terrestrial surface area of the planet is covered by rangelands. This means that approximately half of the total land on Earth is covered with rangelands.

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Importance of rangelands

The largest land cover of the planet is of great use to it. Capturing carbon from the environment is an essential aspect of putting the global warming levels down, and that's what the rangelands help in. These rangelands actually help in absorbing a lot of carbon from the environment, even from what they release, thereby acting as carbon sinks.

This is just one of the many essential advantages that these ecosystems offer to the planet. Prevention of land desertification is what these rangelands help in. In this way, it preserves biodiversity, mitigates the impacts of climate change, and sustains agricultural productivity. 

What seems as another important role that these rangelands play is that they act as great freshwater storehouses.

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The UNCCD report and its findings

The UNCCD report first talks about the percentage of rangelands spread across the planet. It suggests that over 16 percent of the global food production is generated rangelands. It as says that these rangelands provide over 70 percent of the food for the domesticated herbivores, specifically in South America and Africa. The portion of rangelands found in India is as much as over 1.21 million sq km. The world population that relies on rangelands not only for livelihoods but for food security as well goes in millions.

Talking about the changing quality of rangelands, the UNCCD report expresses that over half of the total rangelands of the world are facing a silent death. The report says that over 50 percent of the total rangelands on the planet can actually be deemed as "degraded".

The primary factors that are leading to this "silent demise" of rangelands can be unstable land management, climate change, biodiversity loss and poor livestock management. Additionally, the high-scale conversion of these rangelands into farmlands is one of the key reasons that are contributing to rangeland degradation. 

It is also important to take a look at the impact this degradation is causing, especially to communities that rely on these ecosystems. Situations would have been better if there would have been certainty over the land rights conferred to the pastoralist communities, but that is surely not the case. These communities rely greatly on rangelands for livelihood, but are facing the brunt of rangeland degradation. Such a change in the rangeland affects biodiversity and soil fertility. This further causes a decline in the incomes. A surge in the conflicts over grazing rights has been seen lately.

The numbers that are dependent on rangelands are not tiny. At a global state, approximately 500 million pastoralists are actually dependent of livestock production and similar occupations, and thus depend greatly on rangelands. This is just an estimated number, and the real statistics could go even higher. Quality of rangelands greatly affect the livelihood of the pastoralist communities. Moreover, what these communities demand is greater certainty over the rights they have on such lands.  Therefore, while it is important to preserve these rangelands to safeguard such communities, their voices go unheard as they belong to the marginalized sections of the society. 

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