Pastoralism Can Mitigate Biodiversity Loss on Global Rangelands

Abstract

Sustainable pastoralism represents a primary strategy for supporting goals of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework. Sixty-seven percent of biodiversity hotspots and 38% of key biodiversity areas globally include rangelands, but international conventions seldom recognize this vast biodiversity repository. We summarize four synergies between pastoralism and biodiversity conservation: working lands conservation, continuation of vital disturbance regimes, connectivity through transhumance corridors, and community-led governance. Actions that leverage these synergies offer critical opportunities to mitigate biodiversity loss through the creation of a vast conservation network that includes working lands and protected areas. This will require that the contemporary conservation paradigm envision pastoralists as an asset rather than a threat to biodiversity conservation and recognize grazing and fire as ecological disturbances vital to the maintenance of biodiversity. Greater inclusion of rangelands and sustainable pastoralism within global conservation frameworks has high potential to enhance attainment of global biodiversity targets.