On 16 December 2020, Ann Waters-Bayer and Koen Van Troos from CELEP facilitated the (virtual) kick-off meeting of the regional support group in Eastern & Southern Africa (ESA) to campaign and prepare for the International Year of Rangelands & Pastoralists (IYRP) in 2026. The group will be coordinated by a core group with people from both pastoralist and pastoralist-support organisations in the two subregions (Eastern & Southern).
The Mongolian Government’s proposal for an IYRP has already been endorsed by the FAO Committee on Agriculture (COAG) in October 2020 and the FAO Council in early December 2020. The IYRP campaign seeks to generate further support for the proposal when it is discussed during the FAO Conference in mid-2021 and the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) in September 2021.
Worldwide, there are currently ten Regional IYRP Support Groups (RISGs) that want to increase the number of national governments and organisations that support the Mongolian Government’s proposal or even co-sponsor it. The RISGs will raise awareness in their countries and regions about the importance of pastoralism and rangelands for the economy, society, culture and environment. They will work with the IYRP International Support Group (ISG), the Mongolian Government and the other global supporters to plan and implement informational and promotional activities before, during and after the IYRP in 2026.
The RISG in ESA – like the other RISGs – is also preparing for several sessions during the Joint International Grassland and Rangeland Congress (IGC/IRC) in Nairobi, Kenya, in October 2021, when overviews of the state of pastoralism and rangelands in different regions will be presented and regional IYRP activities will be planned in more detail.
Until other channels are set up, information about pastoralism and rangelands in ESA will be shared via the CELEP Googlegroup and CELEP website. News, photos, videos, posters and other promotional materials will be posted on the ESA page of the IYRP website. Further documents related to the IYRP can be found on the archival website. People who would like to become active members of the ESA RISG and be invited to the next meeting should contact Koen (k.vantroos at vsf-belgium.org) or Ann (waters-bayer at web.de). After that meeting in late January 2021, facilitation responsibilities will be handed over to the ESA RISG core group.
Posted on 21 December 2020 in News, Pastoralism, Policy & Power