AGROSAVIA joins the global alliance to promote sustainable rangelands and pastoralists’ livelihoods

• International Year of Rangelands and Pastoralists IYRP2026

 

Agustín Codazzi, Cesar. November 28, 2025. The United Nations General Assembly declared 2022 as the International Year of Rangelands and Pastoralists – IYRP2026. This initiative aims to raise awareness and address global knowledge gaps regarding the considerable benefits of healthy rangelands and sustainable pastoralism. It will also advocate strengthening the capacity of the pastoral livestock sector and increasing responsible investment in it.

The objective of IYRP2026 is to ensure that rangelands and pastoralists are prominently positioned in policy debates, from tackling climate crises to reducing poverty, managing biodiversity threats, developing sustainable food systems, and supporting progress toward the Sustainable Development Goals. In these discussions, the International Year will help amplify the voices of pastoralists and scientists regarding the value of rangelands and pastoralism.

More than 400 organizations from 102 countries worldwide have joined this initiative. In October, AGROSAVIA issued a letter of intent and commitment to join and support IYRP2026 activities, which the organizing committee accepted. AGROSAVIA’s logo now officially appears on the IYRP “Friends” page (https://iyrp.info/friends-of-iyrpboth), as well as on the South American regional page. South America | International Year of Rangelands and Pastoralists Initiative.

Clara Viviana Rúa Bustamante, Senior Researcher at the Motilonia Research Center and current member of the Pastoraméricas Network, has promoted these initiatives in Colombia through the projects she has led in the Alta Guajira region. These projects have contributed to the democratization of science through the co-construction of knowledge in Wayuu pastoral systems, and the recognition of the role of Wayuu herders through the publication of the article “Beyond Animal Husbandry: The Role of Herders Among the Wayuu of Colombia” (https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10745-023-00416-x), and her participation in the “First Drylands Summer School” in Jordan, organized by FAO in 2023. Altogether, these initiatives have led to her invitation to participate in the gender and youth committees, as well as in other IYRP2026-associated committees.

Clara Rúa states: “My commitment is to participate in committees and working groups at regional and global levels, if necessary, to carry out activities and contribute from the Corporation to achieving the global objective. We will also hold virtual events on AGROSAVIA TV’s YouTube platform and will disseminate information on corporate social media. Within the pastoral territories identified in Colombia, those associated with extensive livestock production of large and small ruminants in the Caribbean and the Colombian Orinoquía are being addressed by AGROSAVIA’s livestock and small species network through participation in and support of the Sustainable Livestock Roundtables. These territories are now recognized on the global map of pastoral societies, which can be viewed through this link: A map of pastoralists worldwide – uMap – Online map creator.”

For his part, Ph.D. Researcher and current Innovation Manager of the Livestock and Small Species Network, Hernando Flórez Díaz, will also accompany activities associated with IYRP2026. He is involved in various initiatives in the Colombian Orinoquía through the La Libertad Research Center, related to sustainable livestock under traditional pastoral systems, in which rangeland areas are also a subject of study.

On December 2, 2025, at the Sheikh Zayed Center at FAO Headquarters in Rome (Italy), from 12:30 to 14:00 CET, the Inaugural Ceremony of the International Year of Rangelands and Pastoralists (2026) – Lands in Motion, Guardians of Knowledge and the Future – will take place in a hybrid format. Home | International Year of Rangelands and Pastoralists 2026 | FAO.

More information can be found through the following link: Home | International Year of Rangelands and Pastoralists Initiative.