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Stewardship of Future Drylands and Climate Change in the Global South pp 41–55Cite as

Pastoralism and Achievement of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development: A Missing Piece of the Global Puzzle

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Abstract

Integrity and productivity of ecosystem goods and services from rangelands are critical to the livelihoods of over a billion people worldwide. Pastoralists play a key role in the conservation and sustainable management of these important life-support systems. Yet, an increasing number of environmental, socio-economic, and political threats have jeopardized the integrity of rangelands and the security of this livelihood type, and hence stewardship of global natural rangeland systems. Sustainable pastoralism can synergistically link several sustainable development goals (SDG) as they are critical to achieving food security, resilient local and regional economies, cultural diversity, conservation and sustainable use of biological diversity, carbon sequestration, land and water rehabilitation. Pastoralism has a cross-cutting role for stewardship of drylands and natural rangelands while also achieving the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. We show how single-sector economic development approaches of the past have led to loss of livelihoods, increased inequality and land degradation for many pastoral communities in developing countries. How can the SDGs help induce more integrated approaches, and what are the challenges and barriers to doing so? We also highlight recent tools and approaches that can help, including the benefits of developing integrated indicators for monitoring and measuring progress towards sustainable pastoralism.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Data extracted and analyzed from FAO Stats (2016). www.fao.org/faostat.

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Acknowledgements

The authors greatly appreciate the stimulating discussions and support from the International Rangeland Congress Steering Committee and the IYRP support group. EHS gratefully acknowledges the financial support from CONACYT (projects CB 2015-251388B, 293793, PDCPN-2017/5036).

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Vice-Chair International Support Group, International Year of Rangelands and Pastoralists, Purcellville, VA, USA

    M. Niamir-Fuller

  2. División de Ciencias Ambientales, Instituto Potosino de Investigación Científica y Tecnológica, San Luis Potosi, San Luis Potosí, Mexico

    E. Huber-Sannwald

Authors
  1. M. Niamir-Fuller
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  2. E. Huber-Sannwald
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Estudios Ambientales y Territoriales, Instituto Mora, Mexico City, Mexico

    Simone Lucatello

  2. División de Ciencias Ambientales, Instituto Potosino de Investigación Científica y Tecnológica, San Luis Potosi, San Luis Potosí, Mexico

    Elisabeth Huber-Sannwald

  3. Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad Autónoma de Baja California UABC, Ensenada, Baja California, Mexico

    Ileana Espejel

  4. Cátedra CONACYT Consortium for Research, Innovation and Development of Drylands Instituto Potosino de Investigación Científica y Tecnológica, San Luis Potosi, San Luis Potosí, Mexico

    Natalia Martínez-Tagüeña

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Niamir-Fuller, M., Huber-Sannwald, E. (2020). Pastoralism and Achievement of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development: A Missing Piece of the Global Puzzle. In: Lucatello, S., Huber-Sannwald, E., Espejel, I., Martínez-Tagüeña, N. (eds) Stewardship of Future Drylands and Climate Change in the Global South. Springer Climate. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-22464-6_3

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