International Rangelands Congress 2025: Advancing Private Sector Investment in Rangeland Restoration

The International Rangelands Congress is held every four years to promote the interchange of scientific and technical information on all aspects of rangelands: research, planning, development, management, extension, education and training. Its most recent gathering in Adelaide, Australia in early July 2025 was a welcome opportunity to get feedback from the good and the great of rangelands science and practice on the global rangeland standard and monitoring framework being developed with support from the GEF-funded project STELARR (Sustinable Investment for Large-Scale Rangeland Restoration). It also contributed to the momentum of discussions on the role of private sector investment in rangeland restoration—a hot topic for Congress attendees!

Why we need a global rangelands standard and monitoring framework

Rangelands cover 54 percent of the world’s land surface. They have been home to pastoralists and their livestock for millennia and are now under intense pressure from attempts to convert them to croplands, the prolific spread of invasive plant species, increasingly unpredictable droughts, overgrazing, and ill-advised development projects.

STELARR is working with private sector to fill gaps in rangeland restoration investment. Currently, the private sector accounts for only 6 percent of global contributions to land degradation and drought financing.

Companies, like fashion houses, rely on healthy rangelands and healthy livestock for the high quality wool, cashmere, mohair and other raw materials they need for textile products. We see these companies as a potential source of funding in a shrinking international development funding landscape. LVMH/Lora Piana’s Resilient Threads investment in Mongolia is an excellent example of how such funding can be mobilized to improve rangeland and livestock health, and the lives of herders.

To encourage more private sector investment in the world’s rangelands, we need incentives for companies, producers and other value chain actors. One such incentive in development is a global rangelands standard that will reward collaborative rangeland stewardship. The Sustainable Fibre Alliance is leading the development of this standard with support from STELARR and UNCCD’s Business4Land initiative. Responsibility for the standard will eventually be handed over to an emerging Rangelands Stewardship Council (RSC). Additionally, through STELARR, the World Center for Agroforestry is designing a global rangeland monitoring framework that will support the standard.

Heads together in Adelaide

To benefit from the wealth of rangelands expertise and experience gathered in Adelaide, STELARR supported a two-day pre-Congress consultation on the standard and the monitoring framework. Representatives from the Sustainable Fibre Alliance, namely David McElroy, Head of Standards, and the RSC, represented by Zara Morris-Trainor, led the first day’s discussions. Participants were introduced to the RSC and explored desired outcomes, enabling factors, and barriers to the RSC’s success, contributing ideas that will inform its emerging Theory of Change. This was followed by an introduction to the global rangelands standard in development and an interactive discussion on ‘collaborative rangeland management.’

The participants were appreciative of the standard and the process, as Shaun Hilton, Certification Officer of ACO (previously Australian Certificed Organic) said: “As a certifier of sustainable farm systems, there are some great standards which demonstrate sustainable farm management. However, quantified scientific data used to verify the benefit offered by the standard can be rare. This is what the RSC proposes to do, which is a mammoth undertaking. However, attending the workshop reassured me of their vision. It was great to listen and collaborate with some of the leading rangeland scientists around the world…I learnt a lot about the complexity of rangelands and the importance of diversity for sustainable rangeland management.”

The second day focused on the design of a global rangeland monitoring framework that will support the standard and contribute to a standardization of key indicators for global rangelands monitoring and reporting. Participants discussed the pros and cons of such a framework, appreciating its progress yet emphasizing the need for local context differences to be accounted for. More details here.

Next steps

The pre-Congress meeting in Adelaide was a milestone on the continuing rangeland standard and monitoring framework design journey. It was a truly global consultation that provided valuable input to those responsible for taking the standard and the framework forward with 38 participants from 26 organizations expressing strong interest and willingness to support both the standard and the monitoring framework. As Zara Morris-Trainor of the RSC expressed:
“It was so valuable to have participants from across the globe come together in Adelaide, each bringing their own perspective and place-based knowledge of rangeland systems. These local insights are essential as we shape a standard and monitoring framework that can truly support pastoralists and the stewardship of rangelands globally.”

The development of the standard is complex, and consultations will continue on what exactly it will be and how it will operate. In the meantime, a study is underway to document the Indigenous Knowledge of herders in Mongolia, to bring into the standard as its own module. Consultations continue with the private sector to strengthen the added value of the standard and how best it can incentivize their sustainable rangeland management and restoration investments. The development of the global rangelands monitoring framework will focus on revising the list of biophysical indicators, circulating the draft framework for further comments and setting up regional consultations.

We are aiming to launch the global rangelands standard, the supporting monitoring framework, and the RSC at the UNCCD COP17 in Mongolia in August 2026. If you would like to get involved with one of the RSC’s committees or working groups contact Vivian Tang, Sustainable Fibre Alliance: Vivian.tang@sustainablefibre.org

The GEF-funded STELARR project is implemented by IUCN and executed by ILRI in partnership with the Alliance of Bioversity International and CIAT, the International Center for Agricultural Research for Dry Areas, the Center for International and World Agroforestry Centre Forestry Research, and the Sustainable Fibre Alliance. Co-financing was provided by the CGIAR Science Program on Multifunctional Landscapes Science Programe. We thank all donors who contribute to the CGIAR Trust Fund.