Ulaanbaatar/Rome – Restoring rangelands & desert landscapes is central to food security, livelihoods & resilient rural economies, FAO Deputy Director-General Beth Bechdol said on Monday at the 17th Conference of the Parties (COP17) to the UN Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD).
Some 60 percent of the 1.66 billion hectares of land degraded by unsustainable land use & management are agricultural land, including cropland & pastureland. Reversing just 10 percent of that degradation could feed an additional 154 million people each year, according to FAO.
The two-week event aims to mobilize policy action & investment to restore degraded land & sustainably manage land, soils & water, while meeting growing demand for food, feed & fiber.
In a keynote speech at the launch of the Rangelands Flagship Initiative, which aims to significantly increase investment to achieve Land Degradation Neutrality, Bechdol said: “Restoration cannot simply mean making degraded land green again. What grows matters. The diversity & quality of grasses, forage & other vegetation matter – for livestock, for biodiversity & for the long-term productivity & health of these ecosystems.”
She also emphasized the importance of recognizing pastoralists as partners, leaders & decision-makers in the sustainable management & restoration of rangelands.
FAO welcomes the initiative’s three pillars: a shared knowledge agenda, an investment platform to mobilize public & private financing, & a Coalition on Rangelands & Pastoralists to bring key stakeholders around a common vision.
FAO has led the International Year of Rangelands & Pastoralists 2026, which has generated significant visibility & momentum. Now it is time to ensure that this momentum endures & leads to investments & partnerships that deliver results for rangeland ecosystems & pastoral communities, Bechdol said.
More information on FAO’s activities at the COP17 is available here.
The Great Green Wall
Earlier on Monday, Bechdol participated in a high-level side event focused on restoring African landscapes, in particular by scaling up the Great Green Wall initiative across the Sahel, which FAO has supported with practical action on the ground since 2007.
The Deputy Director-General highlighted FAO’s leadership of Open DEAL – Data for Environment, Agriculture & Land, the first continental-scale biophysical baseline assessment of land use in Africa. It assessed more than 300,000 sampling points using very high-resolution satellite imagery, identifying 162 million hectares of degraded land in the Sahel Great Green Wall area that require restoration.
FAO is working with partners, including the Pan-African Agency of the Great Green Wall, to develop an integrated monitoring & reporting system using advanced technologies to track progress & results, with information accessible to all.
Ultimately, delivery depends on finance, but significant technical de-risking can be undertaken even before funding decisions are made, Bechdol noted. FAO’s role, she said, “is to help create the conditions that make capital more likely to move – & more likely to succeed once it does.”
Source: FAO News