Rangelands under pressure: how CGIAR science is strengthening pastoral resilience

Across the world’s rangelands, climate change is already reshaping how pastoral systems function. Droughts are becoming more frequent and severe, leading to reduced pasture, declining water availability, and increased livestock losses. 

These landscapes, which support billions of people, remain underrepresented in climate action. CGIAR is helping to address this by enabling earlier responses to climate risks, restoring degraded rangelands, and generating evidence that positions rangelands as climate-critical systems. 

CGIAR Multifunctional Landscapes Science Program plays a key role by producing research that informs how rangelands are managed under changing conditions. Long-term modelling, for example, shows that climate change is expected to significantly alter vegetation, productivity, and ecosystem function by 2050, evidence that is already shaping decision-making today. 

From data to decisions: improving how pastoralists respond to drought 

In Ethiopia, work led by the Alliance of Bioversity International and CIAT is changing how climate information is used on the ground. Through a livestock water and pasture monitoring and early warning system, pastoralists and local institutions now have access to near real-time data on water availability and pasture conditions. 

The Waterpoints Monitoring Platform uses remote sensing to track water availability across rangelands, helping guide decisions on livestock movement and drought preparedness. This shifts the response from reactive to anticipatory. 

Instead of moving livestock after conditions deteriorate, pastoralists can act earlier, reducing losses and improving herd survival during drought periods. 

Capacity-building efforts linked to this work have also trained local actors to interpret and use climate data, strengthening decision-making beyond individual communities. The result is not just better data, but better-timed decisions in high-risk environments. 

Restoring productivity in degraded rangelands 

Climate resilience also depends on whether rangelands can continue to produce feed and sustain livestock. Research carried out under CGIAR Multifunctional Landscapes shows that rangeland degradation affects biodiversity, productivity, and soil functionality, reducing the capacity of these systems to support livestock and withstand climate stress. 

Work led by the International Center for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas  (ICARDA) demonstrates that restoration can improve rangeland condition through targeted management practices. Evidence shows that integrated restoration approaches, including reseeding, soil and water conservation, and managed grazing, can increase vegetation cover and improve biomass availability in dryland systems. 
 
ICARDA, is also applying nature-based solutions in highly degraded environments. Research shows that the use of drought-tolerant native shrubs can support the restoration of rangeland ecosystems under severe climate stress. 

In practice, these interventions contribute to improved land condition and increased availability of vegetation, which are critical for livestock-dependent systems in dryland regions.

Coordinating land use to restore rangeland function under climate stress 

Climate resilience in rangelands is not only determined by rainfall patterns or restoration interventions, but by how land use is coordinated in response to increasing variability. 

The International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) has led efforts to strengthen this coordination through Participatory Rangeland Management (PRM), an approach that enables pastoral communities to shift from reactive grazing to planned, climate-responsive management of rangeland resources. 

In many pastoral systems, climate shocks such as prolonged droughts concentrate livestock around limited water and pasture, accelerating degradation and reducing the ability of rangelands to recover. PRM directly addresses this risk by supporting communities to map grazing areas and mobility routes, establish agreed rules for resource use, and plan seasonal grazing based on changing resource availability. 

This shift in land use has clear climate implications. By redistributing grazing pressure and protecting key resource areas, PRM helps maintain vegetation cover and soil function, both critical for retaining moisture, reducing erosion, and enabling recovery after drought events. 

Evidence from ILRI’s impact assessment across Kenya and Tanzania shows that these changes translate into measurable resilience outcomes. More than 80% of direct beneficiaries reported improved capacity to cope with drought and climate-related shocks, while 96% of communities in Kenya and 93% in Tanzania reported improved rangeland condition. 

ILRI’s PRM work also strengthens the institutional capacity needed for climate adaptation. By embedding grazing plans, land-use rules, and coordination mechanisms within local governance systems, communities are better able to anticipate, respond to, and recover from climate variability over time. 

Together, ILRI’s work shows that climate resilience in rangelands is not only about restoring ecosystems, but about enabling communities to manage variability through coordinated, adaptive use of land, a critical pathway for sustaining pastoral livelihoods under increasing climate pressure.

Mobility and livestock systems in a changing climate

Mobility plays a critical role in this system. Research carried out under CGIAR Multifunctional Landscapes highlights that livestock mobility can support rangeland recovery and reduce land degradation, particularly in dryland systems where resources are unevenly distributed. By enabling livestock to move in response to changing pasture and water availability, coordinated grazing systems reduce pressure on specific areas and support recovery across the landscape. In this way, mobility is not simply a coping strategy, but a core mechanism through which pastoral systems adapt to climate variability.

At the same time, CGIAR research is shaping global discussions on livestock and climate by highlighting the need for a just transition. Climate strategies must balance emissions reduction with livelihoods, particularly in low- and middle-income countries where livestock systems underpin food security and income. 
Together, these insights reinforce that climate action in pastoral systems must support not undermine the systems that enable communities to adapt.

From research to investment

These shifts in how rangelands are managed and understood are increasingly influencing where and how investment is directed. ILRI’s research shows a strong economic case for investing in rangeland restoration, linking climate benefits with improved livelihoods and more resilient production systems.

CGIAR Multifunctional Landscapes global analyses further identify significant opportunities to scale restoration through livestock systems across Africa, Latin America, and Central Asia, highlighting rangelands as critical entry points for climate and development investment.

This evidence is helping shift how rangelands are positioned, from underinvested landscapes to priority systems for climate finance and sustainable development.

A different kind of climate story

Taken together, CGIAR’s work shows that building resilience in rangelands is not about a single solution, but about how systems function together.

• Early warning systems are enabling better decisions.
• Restoration is improving the ecological base of production.
• Coordinated governance is changing how land is used.
• Mobility and livestock systems are enabling adaptation under climate stress.

The International Year of Rangelands and Pastoralists provides an opportunity to make this visible.

Because the story of rangelands is not only one of vulnerability. It is a story of systems that already work under variability, and how science can strengthen them to meet a changing climate.

Author: Regina Edward-Uwadiale