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Land Day side event: Scaling up agroecology for restoration and conservation in mosaic landscapes

Agroecology offers a transformative approach to balancing food security, agricultural production, and biodiversity benefits while improving environmental resilience and diversifying incomes for local farmers. However, challenges such as competition from agricultural subsidies, concerns over sustained production, and the complexity of financing remain barriers to scaling up its practices.

Organized by the Forest and Grasslands Team and moderated by ������ϲʿ�������ֳ�ֱ�� Deputy Director General Stewart Maginnis, this side event brought together key researchers, policy experts, governments, and financial institutions to share insights and success stories from countries, including Colombia, Kenya, Ethiopia, and Madagascar. Discussions showcased how agroecology can be integrated into small-scale farming systems to benefit surrounding ecosystems. In Madagascar, for example, sustainable practices are reducing pressure on primary forests and enhancing farmers' incomes with non-timber forest products (NTFPs) and tourism opportunities.

The event emphasized the need for agricultural subsidy reforms, simplified loan processes, strengthening of local banks and cooperatives, and leveraging of stacked revenues from agroecology initiatives to attract private sector investment and thereby enable agroecology to scale up effectively. It also highlighted the importance of gender-responsive approaches, which ensure women—key custodians of traditional and agricultural practices—gain equitable access to land, resources, and benefits. Gender budgeting was identified as essential in order to avoid placing additional burdens on women during transition towards agroecology models.

Official action agenda event on Agri-food System Day: A high-level dialogue on funding grasslands, savannahs, and rangelands

Scaling up restoration globally requires innovative financial mechanisms, policy solutions, and capacity-building efforts, as emphasized during this high-level dialogue on funding grasslands, savannahs, and rangelands, titled "Restoring the Forgotten Landscapes." Discussions highlighted the importance of approaches like payments for ecosystem services (PES), multilateral partnerships, and private-sector engagement to support sustainable rangeland management. ������ϲʿ�������ֳ�ֱ�� Director General Dr. Grethel Aguilar provided high-level remarks which stressed the importance of funding for restoration and conservation of these critical landscapes.

At this roundtable discussion, examples such as PES-linked value chains in Paraguay and GEF-supported grassland restoration in Uruguay showcased how financial innovation can promote long-term ecosystem health. Policy updates, including modernizing rangeland laws in Botswana and Ghana and addressing barriers for sustainably produced meat exports, are vital to advancing conservation. Empowering grazing communities as partners and challenging the misconception of rangelands as wastelands are also critical components of sustainable land use.

Capacity-building efforts were identified as essential to effective rangeland management. Initiatives in Botswana and by demonstrate the importance of monitoring systems and sustainable practices. Integrating traditional management approaches and aligning with local social and cultural norms ensures that community knowledge remains central to rangeland solutions. Closing data gaps, particularly around soil carbon, and improving monitoring platforms like those used in the initiative are crucial for measuring restoration progress, attracting investment, and ensuring long-term success. Together, these efforts are key to driving transformative change in rangeland restoration globally.

Official action agenda event on People’s Day: Restoration of global rangelands for nature, people, human wellbeing and development

Restoration efforts showcased at the high-level session “Restoration of global rangelands for nature, people, human wellbeing and development” highlighted innovative approaches across diverse regions, emphasizing their ecological and economic significance. The event was moderated by Chetan Kumar, Global Head of the ������ϲʿ�������ֳ�ֱ�� Forest and Grasslands Team. Examples from Mongolia, Ethiopia, Kazakhstan, and Madagascar demonstrated how restoration initiatives can address critical social and environmental challenges, enhance ecosystem services, and support sustainable livelihoods for local communities.

Mongolia’s “One Billion Trees” national movement integrates pasture use with ecosystem services and wildlife conservation, while Ethiopia's revisions to the UNCCD framework integrate rangeland conservation into national climate goals. Madagascar’s sustainable rangeland management efforts under were spotlighted, while Kazakhstan’s digitization of land resources coupled with legislative reforms demonstrated how policy and data can drive restoration success.

A technical case study from India revealed the critical yet undervalued role of grasslands, which cover 10% of the country’s landmass. Once labelled "wastelands" due to colonial-era misconceptions, these ecosystems contribute $157 billion annually to India’s pastoral economy and sustain millions of livelihoods. However, they face significant threats, including poorly planned plantations, invasive species, and renewable energy projects. Restoration initiatives focusing on native species and nature-based solutions have demonstrated measurable benefits, such as a 50% increase in soil organic carbon, contributing to climate change mitigation and .

Women’s leadership emerged as a clear and powerful driver of restoration worldwide. Programs like the Women’s Association of Deir Al Ahmar (WADA) empower rural women to remain on their lands, preserve traditional food cultures, and foster social development. In Tanzania, women pastoralists are pioneering community-based grazing management, demonstrating the value of gender-responsive approaches to restoration. Recognizing and integrating women’s expertise and leadership are vital for achieving sustainable outcomes in grassland restoration.

For more information on ������ϲʿ�������ֳ�ֱ��’s work on grasslands, contact Sairandhri Lapalikar, Programme Officer, at [email protected]. For general inquiries regarding communications and event engagement by the ������ϲʿ�������ֳ�ֱ�� Forest and Grasslands Team, contact Katherine Poe, Programme Associate, at [email protected].