Combat desertification COP17: Report makes $21 tn-$47 tn case for investing in rangelands, so why is investment falling short?
A report titled "Rangelands Rising: Investing in Sustainable Management and Restoration" was released on 24 August 2026 at the 17th Conference of the Parties (COP17) to the UN Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD), held in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia.
The report, produced jointly by the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI), GIZ, the Economics of Land Degradation Initiative, UNCCD, and IUCN, estimates rangelands generate $21-47 trillion in annual benefits globally, with values up to $5,000 per hectare per year in some systems.
It challenges the long-standing assumption that pastoral grazing is inherently a driver of land degradation, arguing well-managed grazing has co-evolved with, and sustains, biodiverse rangeland landscapes.
Despite this scale of value, rangelands remain a financing blind spot: the private sector supplied only about 6% of global financing for combating land degradation and drought as of 2025, and "rangelands" feature in the climate plans of just 24 countries compared with 181 for "forests."
UNCCD: Origin, Mandate, and COP Architecture
The United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) was adopted in Paris on 17 June 1994 and entered into force on 26 December 1996, making it the only legally binding international framework dedicated specifically to addressing desertification, land degradation, and the effects of drought (the third of the three Rio Conventions, alongside the UNFCCC and CBD, both from the 1992 Rio Earth Summit).
Key Details
- COP17 (2026) is hosted by Mongolia in Ulaanbaatar, from 17-28 August 2026, under the theme "Restoring Land. Restoring Hope."
- India hosted UNCCD COP14 in New Delhi in 2019, where it committed to restoring 26 million hectares of degraded land by 2030 (Land Degradation Neutrality target) and later revised this to 21 million hectares under updated national assessments.
- At COP17, India launched its first-ever "Guide to Grasslands and Other Open Natural Ecosystems (ONEs) of India," reflecting a domestic policy push to formally recognise and protect grassland/rangeland ecosystems.
The rangelands report was deliberately timed and released at COP17 to influence the convention's policy discourse — positioning rangeland restoration finance as a core UNCCD priority alongside forest and cropland degradation.
Rangelands and Pastoralism: Definitions and Global Significance
Rangelands are natural or semi-natural grasslands, shrublands, savannas, and similar ecosystems primarily used for extensive livestock grazing rather than cultivation; they are distinct from "forests" in climate and land-use accounting frameworks. Pastoralism is the livestock-based livelihood system built around rangeland grazing, often involving seasonal or nomadic movement to match forage availability.
Key Details
- Rangelands cover an estimated 54% of the Earth's land surface and support roughly 500 million pastoralists worldwide.
- The report finds restoration typically yields $4-6 in returns per dollar invested, rising to as much as $36 when public co-benefits (such as water recharge) are included; a cited Jordan case showed an 18-to-1 societal return despite only $0.80 return captured by individual herders.
- The FAO/UNCCD land degradation framework has historically treated overgrazing as a top driver of degradation; this report is part of a growing body of evidence arguing that degradation stems more from poor governance and land-tenure insecurity than from grazing itself.
By quantifying rangelands' economic value at $21-47 trillion annually and reframing pastoralism as compatible with (rather than opposed to) land health, the report seeks to redirect climate and land-restoration finance — currently concentrated in forestry — toward pastoral and rangeland systems.
Land Degradation Neutrality (LDN) and Investment Gaps
Land Degradation Neutrality, a target adopted under the UNCCD framework (formalised around 2015-2018 and linked to SDG target 15.3), aims for a state where the amount and quality of land resources remain stable or improve, balancing degradation against restoration. Financing this target remains a persistent gap, especially for non-forest ecosystems like rangelands.
Key Details
- Private-sector financing covered only about 6% of global land degradation/drought-combat funding as of 2025, per the report.
- Rangelands are explicitly named in the Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) or climate strategies of only 24 countries, versus 181 that reference forests — despite grasslands' significant soil carbon storage and drought-resilience functions.
The article's central question — "why is investment falling short?" despite a multi-trillion-dollar valuation — is a direct LDN financing-gap problem: rangelands are undercounted in national climate planning and land-restoration budgets relative to their measured ecological and economic value.
- UNCCD adopted: Paris, 17 June 1994; entered into force: 26 December 1996; third Rio Convention (with UNFCCC and CBD).
- COP17: Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, 17-28 August 2026; theme "Restoring Land. Restoring Hope."
- Rangelands: cover ~54% of Earth's land surface; support ~500 million pastoralists; annual value estimated at $21-47 trillion (up to $5,000/hectare/year).
- Report co-authors: ILRI, GIZ, Economics of Land Degradation Initiative, UNCCD, IUCN — released 24 August 2026.
- Private-sector share of global land-degradation/drought financing: ~6% (as of 2025).
- "Rangelands" appear in climate plans of only 24 countries vs. 181 for "forests."
- India hosted COP14 (2019, New Delhi); LDN target revised to ~21 million hectares of degraded land restoration by 2030; India launched its first Guide to Grasslands and Other Open Natural Ecosystems at COP17.