This session focuses on the question: How can livestock systems contribute to sustainable and resilient food systems that steward sustainable livelihoods, deliver healthy diets and promote rangeland health? The session brings together researchers, government officials, and practitioners to reframe rangelands as productive agri-food systems deserving investment, not just humanitarian response. Panelists explore the critical links between livestock value chains, nutrition, mobility, and rangeland health.
Key messages
- Pastoralism is a functioning food system: It is the systems around it that are failing. The real challenge is that policies, financing mechanisms and development programs are designed without pastoralists at the center of decision-making.
- Rangelands should be recognized not only as ecological systems, but also as economic systems that support livelihoods and resilience.
- Investments should shift from short-term relief toward sustainable interventions such as mobile education, nutrition support and resilience-building initiatives.
