Special High-Level Event on Rangelands and Pastoralists - Action Dome, UNCCD COP17

Minutes we know if 1 of the friendly UN agencies to indigenous peoples, especially pastoralists and so from perspective, what concrete changes are needed in policies, investments and financing. that would ensure that indigenous peoples knowledge and governance systems are not only recognized but also.

Shape actually shape land restoration.

Thank you. Excellencies, distinguished representative of indigenous peoples, colleagues, ladies and gentlemen, FAO recognizes indigenous peoples as distinct right holders and knowledge holders and that recognition leads to one simple point. Indigenous peoples should not be invited into restoration after its goals, methods and indicators have already been decided. For indigenous peoples, land is not an empty project site. It is living territory, connecting water, soil, biodiversity, food and knowledge systems. And restoration therefore is not about planting trees or reporting hectares. Restoration is about restoring the lost memory of their territories and indigenous peoples led restoration and including the FAO global program on indigenous peoples biocentric restoration begins differently. Indigenous peoples of the territory define what has been damaged, what must recover and what a healthy territory means. They lead design, implementation, monitoring and reporting and long term care and scientific tools and technical supports complement and support this process but cannot replace it. This is how indigenous peoples shape implementation of convention, not only by contributing knowledge, but by exercising their authority. Building on decision five of COP16, a distinct and adequately supported Indigenous Peoples Caucus provides an important institutional space, but its value will be measured beyond the meeting room through recognized territorial rights, customary governance system, free prior informed consent of indigenous peoples and indigenous peoples own indicators in restoration. This is why the team of this panel, Sacred Lands and Living Knowledge, is so important. Indigenous peoples leadership in restoration and resilience is not simply a contribution of the convention.

Thank you. I'm sorry, we're going to have to leave you there.

Thank you so much.

Thank you very much. Sorry for rushing everyone. But as you know, we have a lot of content to go through and there are two people in this room we definitely want to welcome here on stage to hear their remarks on our very important topics today. Many thanks to you and for your superb moderation and to all our speakers. Please, ladies and gentlemen, many thanks. Next, it's my true honor to welcome His Excellency Elbegdorj Sakhya, former president of Mongolia and member of the Elders, as well as Yasmin Fouad of UNCCD, please. Welcome, President.

Thank you very much. You know, I'm one of the members of the Elders, which was founded by Nelson Mandela. and now 11 of us, and myself regarded the youngest elder there. I'm son of the herdsman, one of the eight sons. And thank you for coming. And I hope you know, all of you know one word from the Zulu Hausa language, Ubuntu. Let's say Ubuntu, Ubuntu. That means we belong to each other. That means we are friends. That means we rise together. Let's indigenous people rise together, Ubuntu. And I know that indigenous people are our parents, parents of humanity. The most caring and most loving and most warm hearts belong to indigenous people. Come back to Mongolia. Thank you very much.

Thank you. Thank you. This is a pleasure to be here with you in the high level event for the indigenous people. In the middle of the negotiations that we are having, a very difficult times here over the next two days. Thanks to Mongardia for hosting us, for giving us that venue, for raising the pastoralist and the rangeland high, having that declaration and moving ahead. Three messages that I'd like to deliver very shortly, very clearly and very focused. We still have the mandate of decision five of COP16 and we will continue to deliver on that. We're trying to see how best can we put that in the program, both for the indigenous people and for the local communities. And I've done the same message in the morning. The second part is looking further on the sacred land and how can we do that into implementation we will need governance we will need land tenure rights we will need women empowerment and we will need much more than that we will need to still ground and root your culture your identity your knowledge and your experience with the land because for you land is not only food and water and we understand that but we want some space for us as a secretariat to continue serving you and looking how best can we do that. The third message is within that conference, we are aware and totally understand the importance of the non-state actors. And for us, the non-state actors is a collective action. This collective action includes local communities, indigenous people, and we are proud that we got that decision in COP 16 and that makes our multilateral process different. But we have also the Research Institute, we have the private sector and we want to move together into that. We don't want to leave anyone behind. I know that the multilateral system is about decisions. but also this COP is about implementation and for me implementation would go beyond what is on paper it would go really into how much can we meet in COP 18 and see even if we don't have that mandate we have done even a small month and this is what we will try to do we will try to mobilize resources at keep fighting so what we want you to do is to believe in this, believe in us, and give us some space, patience, and tolerance to walk together in this journey. Thank you all very much.

Great, thank you.

Yasmin, thank you very much for all that.

We know you have to rush to the negotiation, give her the declaration, and let her run. We are counting also on you, really. And thank you for your time, this speech. Time you are just coming those are the representatives of the region to need up.

Who has Pacific quickly Pacific quickly. Hello.

Thank you.

Thank you so much, Yasmin. Thank you, President. We are going to have the next panel here. We rush because Yasmin have to rush.

That's why we really did.

So now Charlotte will take the floor and we will have the second panel on finance. And we will have the performance after that with Babamal and we also have Ricky who join us. Thank you, Ricky, for coming.

And please sit down and enjoy the rest of the final journey.

Thank you so much, Hindu, and many thanks to all the speakers who joined us so far here on stage. We're going to swiftly move on to our panel discussion titled, "Shepherding the Future: Advancing Partnership, Direct Access to Finance and Indigenous Peoples and Pastoralist Solutions for Implementation." So I'd like to call to the stage Fleur Downard, from Australia, Charo Munoz, Terence Hayedi, Rosalie Gonzalez, and Deborah Sanchez for discussion, which will be moderated by Mini Dagehan. And we're running out of time, so I'm gonna ask you all to be extremely brief and maybe make sure this panel is no longer than 10 minutes only. So maybe answer one round of question and wrap up. Many thanks to everyone and welcome, of course.

Thank you so much. And thank you. If everybody could just settle down, this is a very important panel discussion because it will talk about financing. So we have all the very good plans. We have all our self-determined life plans, but if we do not get financing for it, we will not be able to move forward. So thank you, panelists, for staying on and taking the time. I would like to call on Rosalie, who will present a summary of indigenous people's demands and then I will ask the panelists to react to it. Please, Rosalie.

Good afternoon. I'm Rosalie Gonzalez. It's an honor to join you today. I speak on behalf of the Continental Network of Indigenous Women of the Americas, where 25 national indigenous women's organizations from North, Central, and South of the continent, and I represent PLUM, the National Indigenous Women's Rights Alliance in the United States in North America. The question before us, or that was posed before me, was how do we enable indigenous peoples to lead restoration? And our answer is clear, finance indigenous peoples. including indigenous women directly. Indigenous peoples are already protecting and restoring our lands, waters, biodiversity, and food systems. We do not lack solutions. We lack equitable access to resources and decision-making power necessary to implement those solutions at scale. Too much finance is intended to benefit indigenous peoples, yet it moves through governments, international institutions, large organizations, and multiple intermediaries before actually reaching our indigenous nations and our indigenous led organizations, if it reaches us at all, and that must change. Direct access means more than another funding window. It means recognizing Indigenous peoples as right holders and decision makers with our own governance institutions, priorities, and knowledge systems. It means Indigenous peoples helping determine what gets financed, how resources are allocated, how success is measured, and who is accountable. And it means ensuring that Indigenous women and youth have direct access to resources and decision-making power. I had two examples. Is there time? Enclosure. I want to make brief recommendations. And of course, I will stop here. Thank you.

Thank you, Rosalie. I think you were very clear on what we mean by direct access to finance. This has been a rallying cry of Indigenous people that we want direct access to finance, and that was very clear. I would like to ask the panelists to react to that and to respond to that. 1.5 minutes. I'm really very sorry that we are running out of time. So I'm starting with the Australian Minister for Climate Change, Energy and Environment.

Thank you.

It's an honour for Australia to be on this panel today.

The Minister for Environment and Water, the Honourable Mark Watt, expresses his apologies that he cannot be here today.

I would like to firstly.

Acknowledge all the indigenous peoples here today, their knowledge, unique expertise, leadership, and lived experience in protecting and restoring our land. In Australia, we open all our meetings by acknowledging First Nations people, continuing connections to land, waters, and communities, and pay our respects to elders past and present, to echo their words, If you care for country, it will care for you. Australia strongly supports the meaningful participation of Indigenous peoples through the work and decision-making processes of the UNCTEP, including through the establishment of the separate Indigenous peoples' caucus established at COP16. And the question before us is how do we enable Indigenous peoples to lead restoration? I'll quickly talk about two examples in Australia, our Indigenous protected areas and also our Indigenous Rangers program. So these are indigenous owned or managed land and sea country for environmental protection and biodiversity conservation through an agreement with the Australian government to establish an indigenous protected area. And just a few months ago, we declared the Simpson Desert Indigenous Protected Area covering more than 4.7 million hectares. And this has led to us now meeting our milestone of 25% of land protected, moving towards the Montreal global biodiversity framework of protecting 30% of land. Secondly, the Indigenous Rangers program supports First Nations people to combine traditional knowledge to protect land, sea and culture. We already employ almost 2,000 Indigenous rangers and we've recently announced 100 new ranger projects which will employ another 1,000 new rangers, including 770 women.

And just to sort of wrap up.

We also support synergies through the three Rio conventions, recognising Indigenous peoples need to work on harnessing synergies to protect climate, environment and land and biodiversity outcomes. And we're strongly supporting these processes and forums throughout not just UNCCD, CBD and also UNFCCC. Thank you.

Thank you so much. And I think the next event is fine. So the next speaker is Gonzalo Munoz. If you could quickly react on the issue of how we make these restoration efforts.

Thank you, thank you to organizers.

Definitely the.

Indigenous people and pastoralists should not be only framed as communities affected by land degradation and drought.

They are, as we know, right.

Holders, knowledge holders and implementation partners, that no matter beneficiaries of land restoration, they're its architect. And we were talking about restoring, restoring, the etymology of the word means bringing it back to life, even remaining standing.

If we apply that to a building, for example.

If you think about normally one approaching the idea of restoring a building, the first thing you do is you try to.

Find who was the architect, who was the engineer, and who has been living there, right?

So the logic of creating now finance and mechanism for indigenous communities, and you told me this very well, Minnie, starts by letting them define their priorities. validating the knowledge, validating the history and creating bottom up approaches through probably blended finance that would allow them to also secure their own governance and their rights and their knowledge into any tool that comes into life.

Thank you.

Thank you, Gonzalo. Of course, I don't need to introduce the next speaker. Everybody knows Terence. So Terence, please.

So two years ago when we met in Riyadh for the high level religious leaders panel, the message from the Small Grants Programme was yes, we can. We have 34 years of experience delivering. It's you with men and persons with disabilities. So we look forward to sharing those experiences with all of the partners. The second point I want to make is there's a slight, there's something missing in today's title of land and people. Animals. So one of the things I learned this week was that land people, those animals are a triangle and you can't have one without the other. Here in Mongolia, during the zoo, some of the pastoralists survived because they followed the animals. And it's only 8,000 years ago that people-- 5,000 year culture where the land, people, and the animals are all part of the same thing. The dreaming of the kangaroo, people are part of the land. And the last point I would like to say is that based on the Ulaanbaatar Declaration, as UNDP, we have launched a new partnership with the Adaptation Fund, working with pastoralists in Africa to go beyond individual grants, but to look at landscape connectivity, look at transhumance, look at migration routes. And this is, I think, the challenge before us, not just for barrier access, but also on governance and landscape connectivity. Thank you very much.

Thank you, Derek. Over to you, Deborah. Very quickly.

Yes, this is not. Yes, I think the voice is very clear. We need a seat in the table we've been saying from yesterday. And one of the real things that we can do for implementation is facilitate the pathway, facilitate accreditation, facilitate the pathway for indigenous led funding mechanisms as our own infrastructure. structures of financing to get access to the finance that are within any of the conventions and one of I am here talking from the clarified side from the community land rights and conservation financing initiative is a global funding mechanism led by indigenous peoples afrodescendants and local community but there is many many brothers and sisters building constructing learning how to develop their own funding mechanism at the regional level all the way from Indonesia with man I pass in in all Asia rep in Congo mesoamerican territorial fund in mesoamerica a a has a funding mechanism pod many infrastructure are already happening are already learning we are already delivering and not a small small funding we have in our case already the river $20 million to indigenous peoples and local community in 29 countries so scale is feasible and we can can win by ourselves.

Thank you. Thank you so much. I think it is unfortunate that we have to cut it short, but from the examples of Australia and others, there are ongoing initiatives that let indigenous people lead through their governance, through their traditional knowledge system. So if you want to know more, please approach the panelists. They are very willing to share their experiences. So let's are closing up while we are taking the photograph for everybody. And thank you so much for staying on and thank you so much.

Thanks, Minnie, for your moderation. Many thanks to all our speakers. making very valuable and very insightful points indeed related to sacred lands shepherding the future. So we began this morning session with singing, it's only fitting that we should end with music. To close our session, I am delighted to welcome two musicians who have used their extraordinary voices not just as artists, but also as advocates for communities, for culture and for the land. So please join me in welcoming UNCCD Goodwill Ambassador, Baba Maang, joined by Adama Dicko. Thank you.

So on.

Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay.

Okay.

Okay.

Okay.

Okay. Okay. Imbiye leji mali, mimi hogi bagama.

Hi, hello.

Hi, hi. Thank you. in the. Yeah, I did. And you. And you. And you. And you. And you?

And.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, well, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Thank you.

Ladies and gentlemen, I think that deserves an even bigger round of applause, please, for a wonderful musician. And many thanks to all of you for joining us this afternoon. Our next session will start very shortly. Thank you.

Play the trailer of the movie, The Kapil Sharma Show.

So, Australia.

OK. OK. You are a good kid. But tonight?

Nick.

OK. How you can fix the refund? Okay. Thank you.

Thank you. Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Okay.

Thank you. Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you. Thank.

Look, look, look, look, look, look, look, look, look. English, I just can't understand that. Nothing, Turkish is not working. Look, look, look. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay.

Okay. Okay.

Okay.

Excellent. Ladies and gentlemen, may I please kindly invite you to take your seat as we shall start very promptly. Thank you. Your Excellencies, distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen, good afternoon. And dear pastoralists and rangelands joining us here this afternoon too. My name is Charlotte Can and it's my honor to MC today's event. We are here to celebrate the International Year of Rangelands and Pastoralists to forge a new paradigm for rangeland stewardship and sustainable pastoralism that we hope will carry forward for decades to come. Over the next hour and a half, we will listen to the voices of pastoralists from around the world, and we'll also hear from leaders across governments and international organizations on how they see the future of rangelands, vast ecosystems covering more than half the world and supporting some two billion people. And to get us started and to get us inspired, it's my great pleasure to introduce all of you to the Mongolian artist, Davaa Adelai, with a performance titled Folklore for Land. Please join me in welcoming him.

Oh, Oh, Oh, Oh, Oh, Oh, Oh, Oh, Oh, Oh, the way you do.

Oh, I'm going to. Oh, I'm going to. Oh, I'm going to.

you

Do you know? hara guda, bara aneko, nodusam, namuraki, bara ayode, noru

to

Ladies and gentlemen, the wonderful Davaa Adalai. Another round of applause please for this wonderful Mongolian artist. Next, we are delighted to welcome Jonathan Davis. He's a senior rangelands expert and has done a lot of work behind the success of the International Year of Rangelands and Pastoralists. So please join me in welcoming him.

Thank you. Thank you very much, ladies and gentlemen. That's a tough act to follow. pleasure to be here. Four years ago, the United Nations General Assembly voted in favor of Mongolia's call to make 2026 the International Year for Rangelands and Pastoralists. It's a spectacular moment for pastoralists, for rangelands, for the world, and a really powerful moment in time to celebrate a shared cultural and natural heritage is an opportunity to overturn decades of neglect of the world's 500 million pastoralists and stunning landscapes that they are stewards of that cover around half of the world. Something like the International Year, it can't happen by accident. It's the result of the efforts of a huge number of people and organisations going back at least two decades. It feels now really like a powerful river of activities, of really powerful momentum, a real torrent, a real celebration of pastoralism at the moment. And like any river, it has many sources and it's the confluence of these many tributaries that gives it its power. My branch of this river began in 2003 in Durban, the World Parks Congress, where indigenous peoples successfully introduced this new paradigm for conservation that put human rights of indigenous peoples really at the forefront of conservation. It was a turning point in 2003 for a lot of pastoralists on the global stage. They were identifying as mobile indigenous peoples and they're beginning to assert their rights more forcefully and their role as guardians of nature and as stewards of these incredible landscapes. After about 2006, there were a series of global gatherings of pastoralist representatives organized where pastoralists from different countries and different cultures could share experiences, learn from each other, and develop recommendations to national and international audiences. It was at one of these events in Segovia in Spain, where I was camping with about 350 pastoralist representatives. And it was the night that the United Nations declaration on the rights of indigenous peoples was passed. There was a huge celebration around that. And it was during those celebrations that I first heard pastoralist leaders calling for an international year on pastoralism. That conversation then grew and grew. China 2008, the rangelands and grasslands Congress took place. And that's where we found that there was a group of organizations pushing for a year on pastoralism, another group of organizations pushing for a year on rangelands and grasslands. So it was kind of the confluence of these two groups, these two streams led to the river that would eventually become the international, the IYRP, but with a small but very important change from pastoralism, the practice, to pastoralists, the people. After that, a long process of building this global movement, securing the support of governments, including of course, the government of Mongolia, who's championing of this was so powerful, which culminated in the resolution that led to this year being created as the International Year of Range Land Pastoralists. So many actors, so many organizations involved, notable events, important milestones. I think maybe the great value so far of the International Year is this extraordinary alliance that has been built to create it and to secure it. This is a purely voluntary network of more than 1000 individuals, more than 400 organizations pooling resources, joining forces, actors who might not traditionally have even considered themselves traditional allies, but they identified a common goal and then they work towards it. That goal is to achieve societal recognition of rangelands and pastoralists that is commensurate with their contribution to humanity. The Alliance formed regional networks, thematic working groups, members from non-governmental organizations, pastoralist civil society groups, international organizations, research organizations, governments, and they grappled with research and experiences, they navigated areas of disagreement, finding common ground, common language, simplifying messages to understand different perspectives and what we can learn from that. I think that kind of interdisciplinary, international, intersectoral dialogue is a network's created. That's going to be one of the great legacies of the International Year. As I said, the year is the result of decades of effort, but it's really important. We don't see the International Year as the end of anything at all. It's the beginning of something powerful. I think the beginning of repositioning rangelands and pastoralists at the heart of sustainable development and redressing the historical marginalization of pastoralists and strengthening pastoralists livelihoods by recognizing them as the custodians of many of our most cherished landscapes. So there you go. That was my attempt to describe a 20 year journey in five minutes. I think it's fitting that I hand over now to the Silk Roads Caravan who've continued that journey during 2026. Many thanks.

And many thanks to you, Jonathan Davis. So indeed, we're going to carry on traveling. Earlier this year, a truly epic journey of over 8,000 kilometers took place across seven Eurasian countries in support of the International Year of Rangelands and Pastoralists, organized by UNCCD together with countries and partners. The Silk Road Caravan sought to symbolically link Riyadh COP16 to Ulaanbaatar COP17. More than 50 participants from all over the world and different continents took part in this journey. So let's watch a video to see it in motion. What a wonderful journey, the Silk Road caravan. Next, it's my absolute pleasure to welcome a wonderful artist from Mali and UNICEF Good afternoon.

excellencies distinguished guests ladies and gentlemen um it is my absolute pleasure to be the international year of rangland and pastoralist has given the world an important opportunity to look again at that have been overlooked for far too long but perhaps the most important for us today is not simply what happens during the international year it is what Because of this, this is also why the Silk Road Caravan has been such an important part of this year for me. The caravan is UNCCD's fifth campaign in support of the International Year of Rangelands and Pastoralists. I had the privilege of traveling with the caravan and what stays

with me is not the distance

that we traveled, it is the people we met. Across very different landscapes, we met pastoralists and communities whose lives are closely connected to the land. But it was never simply about traveling from one place to another. It was a journey of listening, connection, and recognition. Just as the historic self-proclaimed knowledge and ideas between societies, This caravan has helped experiences and solution move between landscape while bringing greater visibility to rangelands and above all, to people who steward them. I want to recognize all the countries that form part of this wonderful journey. Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Russia, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, China, Mongolia, and the community institutions and partners whose generosity and commitment made the caravan possible. Most importantly, I want to thank the pastoralists and community members who welcomed us, spoke with us, and allowed us to learn from their experiences. We brought some of those experiences with us to COP 17. I'm already in the future. The caravan may have reached Ulaanbaatar, but the larger journey is only beginning. And perhaps this is the message I would leave with you today. If the International Year succeeds in turning recognition into sustained action, and in keeping pastoralists, their knowledge and their leadership at the center, then 2026 will not simply have been a year we celebrated. It will have helped launch the decades of action that this landscape and the people who steward them deserve. This was a dream come true. Going on the Silk Road journey, we have read so many things about it. is like a dream to us. We have read it in books, we have heard songs about it, we have read poetry about it, but going in this modern time on another kind of Silk Road journey with this caravan of wonderful participants coming from all over the world, By myself, I'm a Fulani woman from Mali, and I come from a pastoralist community. And having all of these friends with us, sharing the similarities that we all have and the differences that we learn from each other was very, very enriching. Thank you so much.

Many thanks, and it was wonderful to welcome you here on stage. So now let's hear from the participants from the Silk Road Caravan themselves. Please join me in welcoming to the stage Bhavana Raviradeesai of Maldhari Rural Action. What's a round of applause, please, for our guests? Thank you. Jacob Leika Togo, who's coordinator of the GA4RP Youth Working Group of Kenya, Gulubipak Matova of the Rural Development Fund of Kyrgyzstan, and Burma Dashbal of Green Gold Mongolia. Welcome to all of you. So thank you so much for joining us here this afternoon with your wonderful outfits and your wonderful stories, no doubt. So I'd like to start With you please. Thank you so much. If possible, Buma, and what was your biggest takeaway from all this, from this journey? What do you remember most? What stuck with you?

I actually, you know, I didn't really like personally went, but my colleagues were there, just shared what they learned. So, yeah. So it's really like so big honor to speak for me on behalf of my colleagues today. So the Green Gold has been sent like five of my colleagues to the different caravan. So those guys are just please give the big applause for them. So this is the given opportunity for us to know each other and work together. So it was really a great opportunity for us as NGO to send in our people there. and we also hosted the Caravan participants in a Global Pastoral Gathering, one of the field trips. That was really like also like big grateful, appreciated momentum that we had discussed together about the Global Pastoral Gathering and then taking input from different countries. That was really like, I couldn't really forget that momentum. That was really nice. And then we have just organized the The main global declaration, main global gathering here in Mongolia, including all the pastoralists around 56 countries, including 250 pastoralists around the world. And finally, we got a global declaration on ranchland and pastoralists and handover to the UNCCD. So that is the big achievement. So I have to also say global allies for pastoralists and pastoralists to make it happen in Mongolia.

Yeah. Thank you very much. Thank you. Now, Jacob, same, what's your biggest takeaway from this journey? And maybe what do you think should happen next?

Yeah, thank you so much. And good afternoon, everyone. I think when I participated at the Swift Cloud Caravan, much I resonated with it because I can say, regardless of where we come from, in all the regions of pastoralist regions, one thing stood out with me that we share more similarities than differences. Too much I could resonate with in my own life that is being practiced in Russia. And I think I went also through the Mongolia participation through the gathering and I resonated so much. It's just that The regions where we co-exist from are different, but not the knowledge that is bestowed with us. The other thing is on the indigenous knowledge that has been bestowed within these communities. The indigenous knowledge is quite similar from all other forms of production in terms of animal husbandry, in terms of how they co-exist with nature. this thing, I felt like I was at home when I was in Russia, when I'm here in Mongolia. And the last thing is my greatest takeaway is that it reminds me that mobility is not a problem actually to solve, but as assets that we should bestow and keep for the pastoralists. Maybe to give what we should see next. we should move from celebrating pastoralism into investing it and recognizing it actually as a form and it is actually an independent form of agricultural production and we should now start to invest into it and to it more power to feed the world. The other thing is to recognize through the UNCCD what they have done across the Eurasia of all those kilometers, it shows us that we need to restore and strengthen cross-border and cross-regional movement of pastoralist communities other than just viewing them as a problem when they ask you to move from one place to another. Maybe the animals may not need passports to cross, but when they get done with what they need, they go back. They don't stay there for long. And the last thing is that let's continue the discussion. Let's continue and build the partnerships that is needed to move this forward. More importantly, learning platforms. that will continue the work that UNCCD through the Silk Road Caravan is having all through now to the next generation. Thank you.

Thank you very much. Bhavana now.

Thank you very much. I think Silk Road Carva was not only journey of the cross the country, but it was a journey learning. It was a journey for the connections like we met. So it was a journey of connections and it was a journey of self realizations that we are not alone. We have other sister and brother in different part of the region who face the same challenges and also have the same solution which we have. So this is a journey of the self realizations also. And also it's a journey to learn about how the Kyrgyzstan pastoralists use the traditional knowledge and modern science for the artificial glacier. So we always support our traditional knowledge, but we always think about when modern technical required, we also take this. So this is the journey of the knowledge also. What is the next? I think as we are sitting in action though, now we need actions. We need awareness, we need discussions, but we need actions to recognize women, pastoralist women as a leader, not a beneficiary. We need to finance in the youth because youth are the future of the generation. So direct finance to the youth for the next. Thank you very much.

Thank you very much, Bhavana, for your call to action. We are now moving to you, Gurvita.

Thank you. Good afternoon. I would like to share with you what was my biggest takeaway from Caravan. I see All my friends, Caravans family, hi. Thank you. For me, the biggest takeaway from the Silk Road Caravan is that mobility is not simply a tradition. It's a living vigilance when the caravan Travel through Kyrgyzstan, we didn't only talk about mobility. We saw was civil. We met pastoralist woman, young people and elders. We saw how access the water can open remote pastures. and reduce pressure on pastures close to villages. We saw how traditional knowledge, local livelihoods and community cooperation are connected to resilience of rangeland. But perhaps most importantly, the caravan reminded us that pastoralists are not simply beneficiaries of rangeland policies, they are land managers. knowledge holders and stewards of these landscapes. The caravan also showed us the power of connecting different levels, which was mentioned by you, and other my colleagues, of connecting different levels from conversation in communities to national policy dialogue in Kyrgyzstan. then across the Silk Road and today to COP17. And we think, what should happen next? For me, the answer is clear. The caravan shouldn't end here. First, we need to turn what we heard. Thank you. Thank you. First, you need to turn what we heard into policy and practice, protect seasonal level mobility and access to pastures and water, support the infrastructure that makes mobility possible and ensure that pastoralists have a meaningful voice in rangeland planning and monitoring. Second, I would like to propose one very practical step, every year, On the World Day to Combat Desertification and Drought, each participating country could convene a national policy dialogue on rangeland and pastoralism. Pastoralists, governments, researchers, civil society, women and youth could come together and ask what was changed, what commitments have been implemented, and what needs to happen next. the outcomes of this national dialogue caravan collecting experience solutions across countries and caring Community voices into the unccd process and this brings to me the Caravan itself for our ancestors Caravan was much more than a journey from one place to another it was a as an institution of endurance, mutual understanding, mutual learning, exchange, resilience and wisdom. I believe the Silk Road Caravan can take off this role again today, but in a new form. Let's become, let it become a mobile knowledge bank. living laboratory and shared repository of pastoral knowledge and experience traveling from community to community and country to country from continent and continent sharing solutions and caring local voices to national and dial and global decision making in Kyrgyzstan after the caravan left communities partners and our elders spiritual cultural practitioners continued asking us what happened next will the Caravan continue to for me this is perhaps the strongest sign of its success so let us to make the Silk Road Caravan a one time So let us not make Silk Road Caravan a one-time journey. Let us make it a living platform connecting communities, countries, and generations, carrying knowledge forward and turning dialogue into action. And after traveling together along the Silk Road, perhaps we have learned one more thing, mobility matters. And in a way, was a nomad too. sharing knowledge, ideas and friendship from one place to another.

Thank you. Thank you very much, Khudweipa. Let's transform this wonderful Silk Road caravan into a mobile platform of knowledge sharing. That's one of the greatest takeaways from this conversation. Many thanks to all of you for joining us here on stage today and sharing your wonderful journey with us on behalf of many of us here in the room. Slightly envious. Thank you. So we now turn to our next segment, which is about partner initiatives working on the ground. And I'm delighted to welcome Gritel Aguilar, who's Director General at IUCN, Guria Djudi, who's Secretary Committee on Forestry at FAO, Marcy Vigoda, Director at the International Land Coalition, and Jara Kamari, his global leader for food and agriculture at WWF International. Welcome to all of you. And thank you for joining us. Yes, let's have a round of applause, please, to welcome our guests here. And I am going to start with you, Grotel, please. for your statement please.

Can you hear me?

So thank you very much. In terms of statement, I have to say that pastoralists know what their land is and they are not beneficiaries. They are owners, partners, stewards at the centres of our rangeland resilience. So local experience is here, is clear, that it's needed, that it must be at the centre of decision making and also the right policies at the right time, of course combined with investment. Thank you.

Thank you very much, Gertel. Next, we're going to hear from Huria, please.

Thank you very much for inviting me in this important discussion. And I work for the COFOR working group on dryland forests and agro-silvo-pastoral systems, which is a kind of a platform with 80 countries globally from drylands. And what we are learning there, and I would like to show some pictures now here because we organized the workshop before. or just before COP asking exactly the same questions. What do we need for a paradigm shift that we move to, you know, kind of the recognition, but also, you know, investment and development of pastoralism. And I would like to develop maybe few, just few ideas on that. So the first one is that it is really important in the context of the International Year of Ranchlands and Pastoralism that we look at the drylands as, you know, places where There is variability is a part of the system. Variability is a part of the giant system. Managing this variability, how do you manage variability? You manage variability with mobility. And I have been working on pastoralism time myself from a an indigenous pastoral community and. which sedentarized at the end. And it's really important to recognize mobility as the best way to manage the islands. In many places, we cannot manage the systems by sedentarization because that creates issues. But mobility, it's the genuine way of managing it where we can connect different landscapes, different systems. Thank you. Different knowledge and different experience. And we have people moving, you know, sometimes thousand, three thousand kilometers in the Sahel. So even when we talk about landscape approach, this is not enough because those landscapes are really big. So mobility is really key.

Thank you very much, Huriya. Marcy, what is your perspective on partner initiatives working on the ground, please?

Thank you, Charlotte and colleagues. It's really wonderful to be here. I think that a long overdue change is underway in how we value pastoralism and pastoralists and how we understand rangelands and in what we are prepared to do about it. And I want to start with the narrative because the narrative, I believe, is the underlying issue. I don't think that the tremendous value of pastoralism and rangelands is widely understood outside the space. And I will admit that a year and a half ago, I also didn't understand that. Pastoralists stewarding 45% of the Earth's surface, rangelands sequestering almost as much carbon as forests. Rangelands are economic powerhouses and pastoralists are their stewards. But instead, for decades, pastoralist mobility has been seen as something to restrict, to manage, to phase out. And I want to be blunt, we've heard it here today, that framing is wrong, it has cost us. Mobility is not a problem, it is a solution. And that is a shift that the International Land Coalition is supporting. Our membership of over 322 organizations working on people-centered land governance, including many pastoralist organizations and many members here in this room, when we ask them what they need most, The answer is consistent across regions, across contexts, secure rights to land and mobility. Thank you. And with this as background, the International Land Coalition launched Mobility Matters, a global campaign supporting grassroots-led, multi-stakeholder platforms in 13 countries to shift the narrative, to strengthen the evidence base, to influence national policies and to amplify pastoralist voices. Quick examples of what we're doing. In Cameroon and Burkina Faso, we are linking land rights to livestock laws and food systems, demonstrating that mobile pastoralism outperforms settled systems in dryland contexts, sustaining millions of livelihoods. In Kenya and Tanzania, gender-inclusive participatory rangeland management has strengthened governance of nearly a quarter million hectares, coordinating mobility and local action at scale. And then here in Mongolia, our members, Jarsil and the National Federation of Pasture User Groups have helped establish over 2000 community rangeland management organizations and the rotational grazing and multi-year resting agreements they manage have significantly cut heavily degraded rangeland in this country, a direct contribution to Mongolia's NDC 3.0 commitments. Last week at Mongolia House, we presented the first ever pastoral tenure data set collected with the government's land agency pastoralists and the Mongolia National Land Coalition. And the data, which represents the perspectives of more than a thousand herders, government officials and land experts in every aimag or province across the country, maps the true extent of pastoralist tenure security. As a result of this, the Mongolian government has announced concrete commitments to develop a codified standard on free, prior and informed consent for pastoralists. secondary regulations on the law on herders and building legal literacy among herders and officials. The pattern across every one of these examples is the same. Secure land rights and mobility do not just protect pastoralist livelihoods. They deliver measurable outcomes for climate, biodiversity and our food and food systems. So the evidence is there, the direction is clear. What is needed now is the narrative shift, pastoralism and mobility understood as sustainable systems that support people, planet and prosperity, and both the political will and the resourcing to match it. Thank you.

Thank you very much, Morsi. John, I'm turning to you next because at WWF International, you were organizing, being part of the Global Grasslands and Savannas Initiative, the Mid-COP workshop. So what is the one recommendation from the Mid-COP discussions, landscape of life that most needs to move from paper to practice according to you?

Thank you so much, Charles. Delighted to be here. Good afternoon, everybody. Yeah, over the last weekend, WWF and the Sustainable Fiber Alliance, we hosted approximately 200 guests from 73 organizations to discuss the value of grasslands, rangelands, and savannas. And we came up after the two-day discussion with five action points. that to take pastoralists, pastoralism and the value of these incredible natural systems forward. So the five actions, I'm just going to read them quickly and then come up with the one action point that brings it all together. So the participants and we transform that into an action agenda. are calling for the following. The first item in the list is to secure rights and ensure local pastoralists are included in decision making processes regarding grasslands, savannas and rangelands. The second action item is that managing grasslands needs to be considered as a system that connects social, ecological and productive aspects. The third action point is that the participants called for making sustainable rangeland management economically worthwhile. Fourth is about indicators that we need to use systemic indicators to inform management decisions in these natural systems. And the fifth is about what connects us all today is about fixing policy fragmentation. and creating synergistic conditions for rangelands, grasslands, and savannas to be managed systemically. So I'm mentioning these five things, and I will come up with the one thing that connects all of the five is the transformation of food and agricultural systems. Today, food and agricultural systems are responsible for about 70% of the biodiversity loss on land. right? It's responsible for deforestation and conversion. So unless we make, we transform food and agricultural systems from being part of the problem to becoming part of the solution, these issues for rangelands, savannas and grasslands will not disappear. At WWF, we use the approach of nature positive agriculture. And that means that Agriculture today needs to transform so that it will protect natural systems from conversion and deforestation for food and feed production. It means that the lands and waters that produce food today need to be sustainably managed. And it also means that soil health and water systems health need to be restored for the sake of people and nature, and especially those who depend on them, such as pastoralists. Thank you.

Thank you, Richard. Very important and good recommendation indeed. So we're gonna have a second round of questions, but I will ask you all to be very brief, please, because as always, it's COP17, we have a lot to cover during this session. So back to Gretel, maybe very quickly, according to you, what is the missing ingredient in today's global movement for rangelands?

Thank you. Thank you very much. For me, the missing ingredient is sustainable investment. And when I mean sustainable investment is sustainable investment at scale. We in IUCN, we have seen that when we have little projects that last two, three years, that's not sustainable. People need long term support in projects and programs that really stay with them until things are better. Short investments, quick investments, those normally do not have great success. So for me, sustainable investment and also sustainable investment at scale is not just to go to a little place of the world or just to work with one community. It needs to be at the level of an ecosystem. It needs to be at the level of entire community. I know that drop by drop matters, but we have to coordinate those drops, otherwise it won't work. And I think that we are wasting a lot of time, efforts and money in not putting together those drops for the drops to become a strong rain.

Thank you very much, Greta. Thank you so much. Hurriyah, now, can you maybe explain to us why dryland degradation continues to exist and what are the biggest barriers, the biggest blockers to action to change it?

Thank you very much. I think one aspect we are really seeing is the fragmentation of action, the fragmentation of finance, the fragmentation of programs. So I would say that the issue we need to solve is really how to look at those landscape as connected systems. Like when pastoralists use the systems, they are not seeing five sectors, forestry, livestock, biodiversity. They see them, they use them in a way which is really connecting. And I think there is one aspect also I would like to bring is the climate change or the droughts. We are seeing like an increase in you know, the impact of climate change. And this is really something which is bringing drylands, you know, to a different level of, you know, a system which is really kind needing to adapt. And here we, as I mentioned, we had these workshops where we were working with IDRA, UNCCD and also our Mongolian partners from the National Forest Agency. And what we are doing here is we are trying to connect the dots, connecting the dots of drought and agro-silvo-pastoral system and trees and and their role to support pastoralist indigenous peoples and local communities in terms of managing the drought. And I think maybe to conclude is, I think we know what is working in many places, but what we need to learn is how we do it together. And I think this is one really important aspect of connecting, connection.

Thank you very much, Julia. Mansi now. Thank you. Yes, working together better. Thank you for that. Marci, when pastoralists have rights, secure rights, when they have a voice, when they are able to be mobile, what changes on the ground and what evidence gives you confidence that we are heading in the right direction, if we are?

Thank you. I think I actually already spoke to some of that in terms of what we've seen in Kenya and Tanzania, here in Mongolia, in Burkina and other countries. As I said, we've launched this campaign with three objectives, changing the narrative, changing policies to be more supportive of precisely what we're talking about, and then driving financing, which others have spoken to, to rangelands and directly to pastoralist organizations, not as beneficiaries, but as rights holders. Yep, thank you. Yesterday we heard from six of our national land coalitions, some of them are here, with the specific campaigns that they have. And if you go on the Mobility Matters 2026 website, if I can plug the campaign, you will see the countries, you will see the laws or the regulations. that they're actually trying to change. And we're not doing that in isolation. We're doing that through multi-stakeholder partnerships. So as Huria says, the importance of collaboration, and that includes government. Ultimately, whatever global frameworks we have, whatever supportive regional organizations we have, impact happens at the national level, and that's what we need to focus on and that's what we need to measure. Thank you.

Thank you very much, Marci. Thank you. Ciao, to conclude very briefly, what would success look like if governments, businesses, and all communities took the recommendation you made seriously?

All right, thanks. Thanks a lot. Every time I think about what success looks like, I always like to think of success on four fronts. One is that that whatever we do, we need to respect planetary boundaries and food and agricultural systems is the first one that needs to be changed into nature positive so that it keeps its actions within planetary boundaries, which is not happening today. The second one is that we need to be obsessed about places. We need to deliver action on the ground. And we need to be able to do that effectively and efficiently. We need to think about landscapes as multifunctional, not as one thing or another. We cannot treat biodiversity, climate, water supply as distinct things. We need to bring to assume a whole of landscapes approach. The third aspect is about we need local involvement, we need the involvement of pastoralists, local communities, indigenous peoples in decision making and to make sure that they are the beneficiaries of change or successful change. And fourth and lastly, it's about prosperity. We need to make sure that everything we do that generates wealth, that this wealth be equally distributed or fairly distributed across the agents in a particular landscape. So everything we do at WWF in terms of success, we always call on these four Ps, planet, places, people and prosperity. Thank you.

Thank you. And many thanks to all our speakers. Thank you. We're going to wrap up this session, but not without once again, thanking you so much for your very valuable insights and perspectives on partner initiatives working on the ground. Many thanks to all of you once again. Thank you. Next, we would like to invite you all for a moment of reflection. And to do so, I'd like to invite to the stage Adnan Hilali, who is a pastoralist from Semaama, that's in Tunisia, and a coordinator of Green IYRP. He will read a poem to us. Welcome.

Thank you.

Hello.

I'm very happy to be here to thank the family of UNCCD. They organized this famous and historic Silk Road caravan. And in this moment, I prepared my poetry collection, "The Wind Keeps Our Footprints." I will read in Arabic, my language, and I will read for you in English. the wind lost its compass, crossed the borders, stole the smiles, woke up the deserts, flew over the mountains, and forgot to return home. So a caravan of shepherds, poets, warriors, and guardians of the land, the offspring of the wind, They went together on a road that had no map. These haikus are their hidden traces, drops of laughter in the desert, stars between the herds, and songs hidden in the grass. The caravan did not follow the silk road, but the wind followed our footsteps. The wind keeps our traces. One day, the wind lost its compass. It crossed borders, stole smiles, awakened steps, greeted mountains and forgot to return home. So, it invented a caravan. Shepherds, poets, dreamers, guardian of the earth and children of the wind walked together on a road that existed on no map. These haikus are their invisible footprints. Drops of laughter in the desert, stars among the herds, songs Hidden in the grass, the Silk Road caravan did not follow the path of the wind. The wind followed our footsteps. And in this moment?

Many thanks to you Adnan for this wonderful and very welcome moment of reflection.

To present this trophy for Zania by the name of the shepherd of Tunisia.

That's wonderful. Thank you. Zania, do we have a photographer please so we can remember this moment? Adnane Hilali, ladies and gentlemen, let's give him another big round of applause please. And for our next dialogue on how we can transform the International Year of Rangelands and Pastoralists into decades of action, please join me in welcoming to the stage Gregorio Velasco of the Secretariat of the International Year of Rangelands and Pastoralists. Thank you. At FAO, I should add, thank you and welcome. Please take a seat. Fiona Flint of International Livestock Research Institute, ILRI, sorry. And Carlos Enrique Micho Lopez of the Global Alliance for Rangelands and Pastoralists. Welcome to all of you. Fiona, let me start with you. What were particular highlights or challenges that you have encountered in engaging the various stakeholders involved?

Yeah, here at COP, I think we as a group and myself, we really try to focus on three things. One is still invasive species. We've really realized that this is not something that is really high on the agenda here at the UNCCD COP and also in other discussions. Invasive species really are the most fundamental challenge that most rangelands are facing. And the COP here has really been an opportunity to mobilize some really key actors. And this is something that's not going to change overnight, but it's definitely something that we really anticipate building that momentum and focusing on, and perhaps we'll have more to show at the next COP. Second is data. the need for data to support investments, to support monitoring, national rangeland monitoring systems, and also globally. And one of the things that we as ZILRI are doing with partners is to firstly do an updated global rangelands map and a more detailed mapping. and then also develop a global range lens data platform that will be a legacy for us going forward. Thirdly, investment. There's been a lot of talk about that here at the COP and we've realized that there's really a need to ensure that that financing at coming in from global level is really going to benefit the communities, pastoralists, other range and cheeses on the ground and build their capacity to enable them to play equal partners in those investment decisions.

Thank you very much. Gregorio, some questions here for you. What were the particular challenges you encountered to really engage everyone?

Well, thank you very much for inviting me to be here with all the friends around the room. And I guess that the international year was a really beautiful commitment from all the parties to be together. As Jonathan Davis mentioned before, I was not from the very, very beginning, but from 2016, trying to lead with other colleagues from other institution and individuals to really push forward international year or all the subject related to international year, because it's not about international year, it's about many things and topics that we are discussing during the COP during those days related to rangeland pastoralists. And I think it was a really beautiful way and a beautiful trip that we kept together. And for the discussion and to keep the river flowing, as Jonathan mentioned before, in my perception, we have two main topics of discussion during the COP, which are, one of them is the convergence of the three Rio Conventions. And I think it's the time maybe to really make Rio this convergence of the three Rio conventions through the demonstration of how one particular livelihood and ecosystem could contribute to the three conventions, particularly on the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework, the land degradation neutrality, or the national determined contribution. And I think pastoralists could be one of the beautiful livelihood to really see how it's contributing to the three of them. the way to do it, I'm not really sure, but it will be beautiful to see how the pastoralism and ranching are contributing to the wealth being of the communities and the society as a global level. And the second subject that I think it was highly discussed, it was investment in the rangeland. I will adjust responsible investment on the rangeland because not all the investment things I think it could be really welcome into the range land but and I think this is about the the the flagship the range land flagship initiative that it will launch that it could Channel we hope to Channel through this new initiative the the investment that we are expecting to have to sustain and to promote the pastoral system and range land globally so any of them I have another that I will give the room to my friend **** here nearby, but I don't miss the opportunity to call for the two countries and the representative from countries to keep the momentum on the International Year by requesting United Nations system to have at least 10 year of action to sustain rangeland and pastoral system around the world. I think the other day at the committee of the whole, Some country was proposing International Day of Ranger and pastoralists one day in a year taking care of the rain and pastoralists to me is not enough. We need to take care of the Ranger pastoralists 365 years a day. So I will call for country representative here to request the United Nations system to have a 10 year faction for support of pastoralists and sustainable rain management. So I finish here. Thank you very much.

Thank you very much. Carlos Enrique, same here. What particular challenges did you encounter or maybe opportunities, maybe some very positive things that happened whilst you were doing it?

Thank you very much. Thank you for the invitation. Well, I first want to start by, I'm not going to describe again the history that was brilliantly described by Jonathan. But first I want to start by recognizing all the people who made this movement possible. The people that are no longer on earth, first like to mention some names, people, there are many people that are no longer on us, Jesus Gargol, Jim O'Rourke, Jorge Flores Ochoa, who first described socialism in the Andes only 40 years ago, my dearly friend, Black. People who has also worked hard and are not here with us physically, but they are still here on earth. Ann Waters, Mary Ann Fuller, Barbara Hutchinson, they couldn't be here, but they have really worked hard to make this Global Alliance possible, that make this year possible. And also to recognize all the people in the Global Alliance who working on a voluntary way, because we're all volunteers. And the Global Secretariat, the working groups, the regional, the risks, and also the global coordination groups that were people really dedicated to make all this possible. So I wanted to start with that because we need to honor the people who made this possible and who made it with a lot of heart and with all of effort. And the, well, we'll mention that there. Then I want to say to mention the second point, from my role as a co-chair because I've been only the co-chair here for the past three years. I am one of the last ones joining the Global Alliance, but I am a veterinarian from practicing on this for more than 20 years. And it's like a very short personal anecdote. When I was finishing the school and I told my friends at the veterinary school that I was going to be dedicated to alpacas and llamas, they said, okay, you want to be poor. That was the first reaction of them. And I say, no, I'm going to be rich in a different way. And now that I am sitting here among all of you and among all the pastoralist people, I think that I accomplished that. I feel that I am now the richest of all of them in a different way. Because wealthy and money, it's not always the way to become rich. I feel that I am rich in a very different way than all they are. to answer the question, what now?

I feel that this is like a graduation.

For us, for the Global Alliance, because we made this with lots of love. So this is like when you present your thesis, you know, like for a PhD or a master's degree or for the undergraduate. So it's like, now what's next? Now should I work? Should I do? I'm not going to continue studying. No, the intellectual year was something that really moved us all, you know, to get into this point. And so many things we have achieved so far. And as we say in my country, nobody can take away what we have done. So nobody will stop this movement. Now we have, we have mentioned the coalition of countries. We have the range lab, the range lab flagship initiative. We have the seller project sections going to the ground. We have several points that are happening, but I think that what is most important is the movement. that is behind all of this, the recognition of the pastoralists, the way that we're getting all together. So the Global Alliance will get, of course, into our organization, of our democratic ways, our institutionalizing, our governance systems, but we will still be here beyond 2026. We apply for a decade of action for the International Day of Pastoralists. And of course, to support the governments and the coalition of friends and states. Thank you.

Thank you very much. Carlos Enrique. Well, the movement you have alluded to is the perfect segue for my next round of questions related to the momentum. How do we keep the momentum going? Fiona.

I don't think that's in question. I think everyone is committed. We will be doing more of the same. There may be a little bit of restructuring. I think we can work better to ensure that partialists and the range inducers have a voice in that movement. Perhaps we haven't got it entirely right yet and I I think but as a group of multi stakeholders with representatives of pastoralists, we have that strength. We just. Maybe we need a month off, just catch up with some sleep. But I think after that, it will be, we will continue moving forward.

Thank you very much. Gregorio.

Hello. Yeah, I think I answered partially the question before with a different initiative that I identified. But I would like to think beyond and I think during this that time, there were really a movement of, as mentioned by Enrique, on institution, on research, on international organization, local organization. But I think now maybe popping the way until now, until the International Year, the Coop and all the really big event that we are organizing during the year to recognize the pastoral communities around the world. Maybe now to keep the momentum, we need to keep to let the communities really lead now because we will live it. We will be somehow leading some from the Global Alliance and from the different institutions, FAO, ILRI, others. But I would like to see now keeping the momentum from the pastoral communities we paved the way really to have the recognition and to really claim for the rights and to really be really on the center of the decision making and to really be considered as they should be so and I think the communities now pastoral communities need to be organized need to be well structured and really make a step forward to really position themselves because we paved the way here and we will continue to support pastoral communities but I would like to see how they lead somehow and they keep the momentum from there because we already have a lot of already done and I would like really to see all those people really standing by and be standing on the front row of the thing. Thank you very much.

Thank you very much for going an important message to the community of pastoralists. They need to take stock right now to keep the momentum going. Thank you very much for that. Carlos Enrique.

Thank you. Well, actually, the richness of this interdisciplinary group that was built within the Global Alliance is something very important. We need to keep this movement up and to try to include more the voices of pastoralists, but the real voices, like they speaking by themselves. And something that will be very important is that these speeches, the turn into actions. So at the national level, so we're here discussing policies at the global level, but this need to be translated into some actions at the national level and into projects that will go to people in the communities and to pastoralists to recognize that what they are doing is something sustainable and that it's humanity itself, the history as well.

Thank you very much. To wrap up this conversation, I'd like to ask you for one more thing, maybe one word to describe your emotions, your feelings after this incredible journey and after working on this wonderful initiative. You mentioned humanity, for instance, Carlos Enrique. What's the word that springs to your mind?

Yeah, because we should start by recognizing that all practices that were underrepresented In policies in decision makers are now the way for sustainability and now the world recognizes that traditional knowledge is very important, but traditional knowledge is has something more that is the local actions. That is the local knowledge that is the way of adaptation. So we, we can. be very similar with the pastoralist cultures, but the answers and the actions should be found at a local level. So the voices must be considered at a local level. And this is the very important part.

So local is the key word here.

The one, two words, changing the narrative that I think we are getting there. It's amazing the way that we are moving forward on the changing of the narrative. We're looking past for a system before we were guilty for everything, for climate change, from degradation, for every single problem, pastoralists were there. now really we are getting there to change the narrative and to achieve and to stay clearly and because of the also boosting evidence through the project on the field through this research to action the field and really bringing data bringing evidence on biodiversity on on on on on on many other different aspect of the pastoral system and we are really getting there and changing the narrative which is I think the most important thing to me thank you.

So changing the narrative Fiona um.

If I had to pick one word, it would be motivated and motivated to work with for pastoralists to secure their land tenure, to improve management practices in the face of all the different challenges, including such as invasive species, and help pastoralists to secure some of that investment that is flowing through and have it under their control so that they can plan and engage in that investment on a level playing field.

So what's the keyword then? Empowerment.

Maybe. Motivated.

Motivated. So motivation, that's a fantastic one. Many thanks to all of you, our speakers, for sharing your views on how we can keep the momentum of this wonderful International Year of Rangelands. And thesaurists, many thanks to all of you. And now for closing remarks, it's our honor to invite to the stage, His Excellency Sandagochi Asand, Minister of Environment and Climate Change of Mongolia. Your Excellency, please.

Thank you very much. Thank you very much. Thank you very much.

Thank you very.

Leaders, international organizations, distinguished executive secretary of the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification, representative from the pastoralists and range land users, distinguished representatives of academia, civil society, and private sectors. I would like to express my sincere appreciation to all of you for participating in this special high-level event on the rangeland and pastoralists and for sharing your valuable insights and experience. Today's event is particularly significant not only because of its being the host during the COP17, in the framework of the United Nations International Year of Rangeland and Pastoralists, but also because it's helping to bring rangeland to the heart of the global development agenda. The Riyadh Action Agenda adopted by the COP16 laid the important foundation for the innovative sustainable rangeland management and the participation of the local community to the global policy level. Today's discussion dialogue has been a concrete continuation of this process. Mongolia is likewise committed to the advice and the implementation of the Riyadh Action Agenda and bring rangelands to the center of the global agenda and degraded land restoration and food security. and the climate adaptation. Today's high-level event has made one thing very clear to us, which is rangelands are not merely a land resource. They underpin food security, water resource, and biodiversity, local development, and the livelihood of the millions of the people. Mongolia, we have some proverb saying such a part of the livestock and your mouth will be the nourished. This is the traditional saying reflecting the inseparable relationship between the rangeland livestock and the food security. Mongolia's nomadic civilization has developed around this principle for centuries. For centuries, Mongolia's nomadic pastoralism has been based on respecting rangeland carrying capacity, seasonal migration, and the rhythm of nature. This traditional demonstration that sustainable rangeland management is not merely a livestock issue. It's fundamental to the national food security and the people's livelihood. Yet the challenge posed by the climate change, land degradation, drought, desert and the water scarcity are becoming increasingly severe. Under the circumstance of the safeguarding, the future of the rangeland is not the responsibility of any one country alone. It's our shared responsibility. Three clear conclusion emerges from today from this discussion. Firstly, sustainable rangeland management must be closely integrated into the development policy and climate change adaptation measures and the nature conservation objectives. Secondly, pastoralism risks are not the producers, they are the custodian of the rangeland ecosystems, holders of the traditional knowledge and the essential partners in sustainable development. Thirdly, we need to take concrete steps to move from the commitments of action and from the dialogue to the investment. As the presidency of the COP17 Mongolia has advised on the step actions agenda, which is fully aligned without the conclusion of today's discussion, we are confident that the purpose of the Rangeland Flagship Initiative under the agenda can serve as an international platform that brings together rangeland conservation and restoration of the degraded land and the pastoralist participation, knowledge exchange and investment. The future of the range land cannot be separated in the future pastoralism without healthy range land. There can't be no sustainable pastoralism and without the participation of the pastoralists, there can be no healthy range lands. Therefore, I would like to view this today as not as the conclusion of discussion, but as the beginning of the new chapter of the cooperation. I call upon all of you to work together and translate ideas, initiatives and partners that have to be emerged here today into the concrete action I believe that all participate in this event share the fundamental understanding if we restore our land and we are safe safeguard and livelihood and if we can support our pastures we can safeguard our future I'm confident this today's discussion will be shared tomorrow's policy and the participants cannot forget today's divisibility thank you and it is highly I declared this special High level meeting is closed, thank you.

And the artists who joined us here this afternoon. One more, one more please. We're missing a few people. Are we missing anyone? There you go. Many thanks to all of you. Congratulations on all your work.