What is Rangelands: Pastoralists ?

Why in News ? According to the United Nations Convention on Combating Desertification (UNCCD) , about half of the world’s rangelands are degraded and need policy interventions, and communities depending on them need focused support.

Key points of the report:

• Nearly 50% of the world’s rangelands can be considered “degraded” and are facing a “silent demise”.
• Climate change, unsustainable land and livestock management practices, biodiversity loss, and the conversion of rangelands to farmlands are some of the primary factors of rangeland degradation.
• Uncertainty over land rights among pastoralist communities, who depend on rangelands for their livelihood, also leads to their degradation.
• It is severely affecting the communities dependency on rangelands as their deterioration impacts soil fertility and biodiversity, leading to a dip in incomes and rise in conflicts with authorities over grazing rights.

What are rangelands?

• The UNCCD report defines rangelands as natural or semi-natural ecosystems that are grazed by livestock or wild animals.
• Rangelands contain vegetation such as grasses, shrubs, open forests, and agroforestry systems (land which contains trees and crops or pastures).
• The exact nature of rangelands’ vegetation is influenced by rainfall, temperature, and other climate phenomena.
• Currently, rangelands cover 80 million sq km of Earth’s terrestrial surface area (over half of Earth’s land).
• Rangelands generate 16% of global food production and 70% of feed for domesticated herbivores, most significantly in Africa and South America.
• In India, rangelands occupy about 21 million sq km, from the Thar Desert to Himalayan meadows, as per the UNCCD report.

Who are pastoralists?

• Pastoralism is a livelihood system based on livestock production. This includes livestock rearing, dairy production, meat production, wool production and leather production.
• The communities and groups, both indigenous and non-indigenous, who are involved in livestock production are known as pastoralists. These communities rear sheeps, goats, cattle, horses, donkeys, camels, yaks, llamas, alpacas, and pigs.
• Globally, an estimated 500 million pastoralists are involved in livestock production and allied occupations.
• In India, pastoralists population are around 13 million people.
• India is home to 20% of the world’s livestock population. Around 77% of these animals are reared in pastoralist systems.