Tanzania calls for urgent action to restore degraded rangelands on UNCCD day

DAR ES SALAAM: TANZANIA has joined the rest of the world in marking the 2026 United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification and Drought (UNCCD) Day, with renewed calls for urgent action to restore degraded rangelands and strengthen resilience against climate change.

The global observance today focuses attention on land degradation and drought, two growing threats to ecosystems, food systems, and rural livelihoods across dryland regions.

This year’s theme, “Rangelands: Recognize. Respect. Restore,” underscores the need to value grazing lands, protect pastoral communities, and reverse land degradation affecting fragile ecosystems worldwide.

Dr. Ellen Okoedion, Tanzania’s representative of African Civil Society Organizations to the UNCCD and Chairperson of the Journalists’ Environmental Association of Tanzania (JET), said rangelands remain central to both the environment and the economy.

She said Tanzania’s livestock sector with about 30.5 million cattle, 18.8 million goats, and 5.3 million sheep — depends heavily on healthy grazing ecosystems that are now under increasing pressure

“These landscapes support food production, incomes, and biodiversity. They are not idle land,” she said.

Dr. Okoedion warned that climate change, recurring droughts, land encroachment, invasive species, and competing land uses are accelerating the decline of rangeland health.

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She added that the impact goes beyond the environment, affecting food security, livelihoods, water access, and social stability in pastoral and agro-pastoral communities.

This year’s commemoration also coincides with the United Nations’ declaration of 2026 as the International Year of Rangelands and Pastoralists, aimed at raising global attention on sustainable land management.

The world is also preparing for the UNCCD COP17 conference, scheduled for August 2026 in Mongolia, where countries are expected to negotiate stronger commitments on land restoration and drought resilience.

Civil society groups have called on governments, development partners, the private sector, and the media to step up investment in restoring degraded landscapes.