ULAANBAATAR, Mongolia — Government leaders, UN officials and pastoralist representatives from dozens of countries gathered at the Action Dome of the UNCCD COP17 conference on Wednesday for a Special High-Level Event on Rangelands and Pastoralists, wrapping up the session with a call to convert commitments into concrete investment and policy action.

The event, held under the framework of the United Nations International Year of Rangelands and Pastoralists (IYRP) 2026, brought together government ministers, UN agency representatives, indigenous peoples' organisations and pastoralist civil society groups to mark the culmination of a campaign that began four years ago when the UN General Assembly adopted Mongolia's proposal to designate 2026 the International Year for Rangelands and Pastoralists.

"We Don't Want To Leave Anyone Behind"

UNCCD Executive Secretary Yasmine Fouad opened her remarks by thanking Mongolia for hosting the event "in the middle of the negotiations that we are having, a very difficult time here over the next two days," referring to the broader COP17 talks running in parallel.

She laid out three core messages to the room. First, she said the UNCCD secretariat remains committed to the mandate handed down under Decision 5 of COP16, which established institutional space for indigenous peoples and local communities within the convention's work. Second, she said turning that mandate into implementation would require action on governance, land tenure rights and women's empowerment. "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," she said.

Her third message centred on the role of non-state actors — including local communities, indigenous peoples, research institutions and the private sector — in what she called a "collective action" that distinguishes the UNCCD's multilateral process. Fouad said implementation would ultimately be measured by what is achieved by COP18, adding: 

"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."

A Four-Year Journey From New York To Ulaanbaatar

Jonathan Davis, a senior rangelands expert who has worked on the global pastoralist movement for two decades, traced the roots of the International Year back to a 2003 World Parks Congress in Durban, through a series of pastoralist gatherings in the 2000s, to the UN resolution — championed by the Government of Mongolia — that formally created the International Year of Rangelands and Pastoralists. He described the effort as a voluntary alliance of more than 1,000 individuals and 400 organisations, and said the year should be seen "as the beginning of something powerful" rather than a conclusion.

The event also marked the completion of the Silk Road Caravan, a more than 8,000-kilometre journey across Saudi Arabia, Türkiye, Russia, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, China and Mongolia, organised by the UNCCD to symbolically link COP16 in Riyadh with COP17 in Ulaanbaatar. More than 50 participants took part, and speakers from Mali, Kenya, Kyrgyzstan, India and Mongolia's own Green Gold NGO shared reflections from the journey, including a global gathering of roughly 250 pastoralists from 56 countries held in Mongolia that produced a global declaration on rangelands and pastoralists, later handed over to the UNCCD.

Representatives of the Continental Network of Indigenous Women of the Americas and other indigenous organisations also called for a shift toward direct financing of indigenous-led restoration work. "Too much finance is intended to benefit indigenous peoples, yet it moves through governments, international institutions, large organisations, and multiple intermediaries before actually reaching our indigenous nations," said Rosalie Gonzalez of PLUM, the National Indigenous Women's Rights Alliance, who called for indigenous peoples to be recognised as "right holders and decision makers" in how restoration funding is designed and measured.

Minister: "There Can Be No Healthy Rangelands" Without Pastoralists

Closing the event, Mongolia's Minister of Environment and Climate Change, Ts.Sandag-Ochir, told delegates that the day's discussions built directly on the Riyadh Action Agenda adopted at COP16, which he said laid the foundation for sustainable rangeland management and local community participation at the global policy level.

"Rangelands are not merely a land resource. They underpin food security, water resource, and biodiversity, local development, and the livelihood of millions of people," Sandag-Ochir said, citing a Mongolian proverb linking the health of livestock to the nourishment of people, which he said reflects centuries of nomadic pastoralism built around seasonal migration and respect for the land's carrying capacity.

He drew three conclusions from the day's discussions: that sustainable rangeland management must be integrated into national development and climate adaptation policy; that pastoralists should be treated not as producers but as "custodians of rangeland ecosystems" and holders of traditional knowledge; and that the international community must move "from the commitments of action and from the dialogue to the investment."

Sandag-Ochir said Mongolia, as COP17 president, would support the proposed Rangeland Flagship Initiative as an international platform bringing together conservation, restoration of degraded land, pastoralist participation, knowledge exchange and investment. 

"There can be no sustainable pastoralism without healthy rangelands, and without the participation of the pastoralists, there can be no healthy rangelands," he said, calling on participants to treat the event "not as the conclusion of discussion, but as the beginning of a new chapter of cooperation."

He formally declared the special high-level meeting closed after thanking participants for their contributions.