India has urged a community-led approach to rangeland restoration, highlighting pastoralists as ecosystem custodians and promoting sustainable land management practices.

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• India advocated community-led rangeland restoration at the 17th Conference of Parties of the UN Convention to Combat Desertification in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia.
• Union Environment Minister Bhupender Yadav said pastoralists should be recognised as custodians of rangelands rather than merely beneficiaries of restoration programmes.
• Yadav stressed combining traditional knowledge with modern science to make restoration ecologically sound, economically viable and socially inclusive across diverse landscapes.
• India’s rangelands include Himalayan pastures, Central Indian savannas, the arid Thar and Kachchh regions and southern shola ecosystems.
• Satellite-based Desertification and Land Degradation Atlases are being used to map grasslands and support scientific restoration planning across vulnerable landscapes.
• Rajasthan’s Orans, or community-protected sacred groves, were highlighted as examples of traditional conservation practices supporting biodiversity, pastoral rights and important wildlife habitats.
• India has around 25,000 community-protected sacred groves covering approximately 0.6 million hectares, demonstrating the value of local stewardship for ecosystem protection.
• India’s restoration approach combines landscape management, watershed development, sustainable grazing, fodder development and livelihood support while placing community participation at the centre.