Covering 41% of Earth's land, drylands are home to nearly 2 billion people relying on forests, rangelands, and agrosilvopastoral systems for survival. These areas provide crucial environmental services, supporting biodiversity, preventing erosion, averting land degradation, enhancing water infiltration, and boosting soil fertility. Amid global change, they serve as resilient landscapes and communities.

The study focused on the extensive rangelands in Kuwait, covering more than 75% of the total land area. These rangelands face severe degradation due to factors such as overgrazing, anthropic misuse, and mismanagement. The research aimed to assess the impact of natural restoration, specifically through resting, on vegetation cover and species richness in a fenced 1 km² area. The findings indicated that while perennial species cover remained consistent between fenced and unfenced areas, there was a notable increase in annual species cover within the fenced sections.

Rangelands in Tunisia, spanning approximately 5.5 million hectares, play a vital role in providing about 30% of livestock feed. However, widespread overexploitation, including overgrazing and wood cutting, has led to degradation and reduced productivity. To address this, a training initiative focused on rangeland survey, management, and restoration was conducted under the Livestock and Climate Initiative of OneCGIAR. The objective was to enhance the capacity of engineers and technical staff from relevant institutions.

Prescribed burning is gaining attention as a vital tool for managing rangeland ecosystems in Sub-Saharan Africa, offering benefits for ecological restoration, biodiversity conservation, and overall land management. While fire is a natural and essential process that many ecosystems depend on, suppressing it can lead to the elimination of species and disrupt the ecological balance. Different ecosystems require varied approaches to fire management, with fire-sensitive ones needing protection and fire-dependent ones necessitating the right type and frequency of fire.

Pastoralist tenure systems are highly complex. Where customary institutions are functioning well, pastoralist women access and use resources as a member of a pastoralist group. Although policy and legislation call for more equity across societies, providing individual titles to women is not necessarily the answer. Strengthening women’s rights within the collective society while also supporting women’s capacities and abilities to participate meaningfully in decision-making processes and hold leadership positions will support more sustainable gender equality outcomes.

Women's contributions to rangeland cultivation in Tunisia and the effects of climate change upon their livelihoods are both policy blind spots. To make women's contributions to rangeland cultivation visible and to provide policy inputs based on women's needs and priorities into the reforms currently being made in the pastoral code in Tunisia, we conducted fieldwork in three governorates. We conducted focus groups and interviews with 289 individuals.

This comprehensive review explores the historical and cultural significance of fire management in Sub-Sahara Africa's rangelands, emphasizing its integral role in socio-cultural practices and livelihoods. While traditional fire use aligns with herders' knowledge for optimal pasture management, recent limitations arise from government policies, erratic rainfall, and population pressures. The ecological effects of fire on rangelands showcase its potential for ecological renewal, influencing species diversity, biomass, and soil properties.

presentation about Bush encroachment that poses a pervasive challenge to Sub-Saharan Africa's rangelands, impacting ecosystem dynamics, biodiversity, and local livelihoods. This study comprehensively analyzes bush encroachment in the region, exploring its causes, impacts, and management strategies. Climate change, driven by global factors like fossil fuel combustion and deforestation, intensifies the greenhouse effect, contributing to encroachment. Land use practices, such as overgrazing and invasive species, further spur woody vegetation expansion.

Semi-arid rangelands in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) are an important source of food security and nutrition but are under increased anthropogenic pressure by a growing population. These rangelands are characterized by nutrient poor soils and distinct wet and dry season(s). Due to the soil and climate combination, conventional crop agriculture is rarely feasible without irrigation and mineral fertilizer amendments, which in turn are limited by prohibitively high fertilizer prices and lack of water.

This presentation focuses on the global actions required to achieve Land Degradation Neutrality (LDN) through sustainable rangelands and pastoralism, aligning with the International Year for Rangelands and Pastoralists (IYRP) and its sub-working group on LDN. The challenges and threats to rangelands are outlined, emphasizing the climatic and anthropogenic pressures leading to natural resource degradation, productivity losses, and land-related conflicts.