A case of benign neglect

Justification for and objective of the report

More than 150 country representatives who met at the United Nations Environment Assembly (UNEA) in May 2016 recognized the dearth of information on pastoralism and rangelands. Many developing country representatives supported the resolution that, among other things, asked UN Environment to conduct a global assessment of pastoralists and rangelands. However, some other country representatives questioned whether existing and ongoing assessments would cover this need, such as those carried out by the Intergovernmental Science- Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES). As a result, UNEA resolution 2/24 “Combating desertification, land degradation and drought and promoting sustainable pastoralism and rangelands” in its operative paragraph 9 (Box 2) called for a gap analysis of available information as a first step to any further assessments. Thus, the main objective of this report is to explore and identify where there are: • gaps in environmental and socioeconomic information and assessments of pastoralism and rangelands, and • gaps in the current provision of technical support in promoting sustainable pastoralism and rangelands. This report is a direct response to this UNEA resolution. It presents the approach taken to identify the information gaps, details the findings of the gap analysis and provides a set of recommendations for filling the gaps identified. The study examined various publicly available information sources to assess the availability and accessibility of data related to pastoralists and rangelands. These sources are discussed in more detail in chapter 3. The time frame and funding available meant that some sources of information were excluded, especially offline sources such as grey literature, development project reports and many government

statistics. Only information and data that were publicly available online and freely accessible were reviewed, subject to a sampling framework. Where permission, membership or passwords were required to gain access to sources, thesewere not included but were duly noted for future reference. In the past decade, Member States and civil society have increasingly recognized the significant need for highlighting pastoralist and rangeland issues. Some are concerned with continuing poverty and neglect of pastoralists, while others are concerned with increasing insecurity, conflict, criminality and lawlessness, with pastoralists often taking the blame whether rightly or wrongly. Livestock production and consumption are under scrutiny for their impact ongreenhousegas (GHG) emissions, biodiversity loss and chemical pollution. These issues have been captured in the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, though the time left for achieving these is drawing ever closer. Increasingly vocal and organized communities of pastoralist

associations are interested in being part of this global conversation and action. Verifiable, comprehensive and publicly accessible information and data on pastoralists and rangelands are thereforemore in demand than ever before. For this reason, this gap analysis was conducted as a rapid assessment in order to deliver pertinent recommendations in a timely manner. Information and data on livestock mobility and rangeland management by pastoralists are crucial for developing sound sustainable policies and generating investments in drylands. Mobile livestock husbandry is not an archaic system frozen in time and there are signs to suggest that it is increasing in some places, while deteriorating in others (Myint and Westerberg 2014, Niamir-Fuller 2016). There is also documentation of mobile livestock husbandry changing and adapting to stress and threats (for example, Köhler-Rollefson 2016). Thus, information and data collected decades ago may not be entirely relevant for current needs. For this reason, the gap analysis also considered the relevance of the available information.

Box 2: Operative paragraph 9, UNEA resolution 2/24

Requests the United Nations Environment Programme, within its mandate and subject to available resources, in partnership with Member States and United Nations agencies and programmes and other relevant stakeholders, including civil-society organizations, to explore whether there are gaps in the current provision of technical support and environmental and socioeconomic assessments of grasslands, rangelands, soil erosion, land degradation, land

tenure security and water security in drylands, including the ongoing assessments of the Intergovernmental Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services, in order to better understand the implications for sustainable livelihoods, while taking into consideration local and indigenous knowledge and technologies

The full text of the resolution is available at: https://bit.ly/2LenbXT

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