[IYRPsupportgroup] IYRP Update : 25 September 2020 11:45 am EST

[Maryam Niamir-Fuller]

Dear Friends and Colleagues of IYRP

We have arrived at the edge! Next week the FAO COAG will meet virtually to
discuss the proposal for designating an International Year of Rangelands
and Pastoralists.

You have helped so much in raising the profile of this initiative. Support
for the IYRP is now world-wide, multi-sectoral, and multi-scale, showing
how important rangelands and pastoralists are globally:

• 12 countries representing almost all Regions (Australia, Afghanistan,
Burkina Faso, Ethiopia, Finland, Hungary, Italy, Iran, Jordan, Kyrgyzstan,
Spain and of course Mongolia).

• 128 international and civil society organizations from around the world;
more than three-quarters specifically indicate potential resource
contributions for the Year.

Some Governments are concerned that the proclamation of International Years
has become too numerous and a waste of resources. However, we believe that
the IYRP is no ordinary event. The issues of sustainability of the
livestock sector and its impacts on our health, environment and local
economies, has become more and more contentious in recent years. There is a
risk that viable nature-based pastoral and rangeland/grassland systems will
be damaged beyond repair if they are not supported, and through policy
separated from the intensive, highly polluting, confined livestock
operations. We hope that our concerted activities before, during and after
an IYRP will build the momentum to make that systemic change.

The IYRP Online Booth is up and running : https://iyrp.info.  It is a
fantastic collection of voices, facts and figures. Please visit it, and
continue to share it with your networks. We are constantly updating it, so
please do continue to send us materials, logos and letters.

Dr. Maryam Niamir-Fuller
Vice Chair of International Support Group for the IYRP
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