By Abdullahi Lukman
The Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) has called on governments to strengthen the protection of rangelands and integrate their conservation into national climate and biodiversity strategies as the 17th session of the UN Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD COP17) concludes in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia.
WCS said the two-week conference, held under the theme “Restoring Land, Restoring Hope,” successfully brought rangeland health, ecological integrity and sustainable pastoralism to the forefront of the global environmental agenda.
The organisation commended Mongolia for its leadership in hosting the conference, noting that healthy rangelands are essential for biodiversity conservation, climate resilience, freshwater security and the livelihoods of pastoral communities.
During COP17, WCS experts participated in more than 40 side events, technical panels and policy workshops involving governments, herder communities, scientists, civil society groups, financial institutions and other stakeholders.
The organisation highlighted the need to protect wildlife corridors and migratory routes as road and railway networks expand. It also pointed to the contributions of women from Gobi herder communities, who shared their experiences in protecting wildlife, water resources and landscapes.
WCS warned that rangelands are among the world’s most threatened ecosystems, facing growing pressure from climate change, drought, agricultural expansion, habitat degradation, infrastructure development, wildlife killings and livestock-wildlife disease transmission.
The conservation group said protecting biodiversity and maintaining ecological connectivity were essential to achieving the UNCCD’s goal of Land Degradation Neutrality. It stressed that intact landscapes allow wildlife and pastoral communities to move freely, helping maintain healthy pastures and improve resilience to extreme events such as prolonged droughts and dzuds.
In Mongolia, WCS is leading a landscape-scale conservation initiative in the Khangai Mountains with government and local communities, in partnership with the Food and Agriculture Organization and with support from the Global Environment Facility.
As countries move from negotiations to implementation, WCS urged governments to translate COP17 commitments into concrete action and maintain ecological integrity at the centre of climate, biodiversity and land-restoration policies.
The organisation also noted that COP17 is the first of three major meetings under the Rio Conventions, with the Convention on Biological Diversity meeting scheduled for October in Yerevan, Armenia, followed by the UN climate conference in Antalya, Türkiye, in November.
WCS said unresolved issues at COP17 should not delay action on drought, overgrazing, habitat loss and biodiversity decline, urging governments and conservation partners to turn the momentum from Ulaanbaatar into measurable improvements in landscape recovery and rangeland resilience.
