For millions of years, rangelands and humans have evolved together. Today, we are both judges and actors in climate change. Through the FAO, the United Nations has declared 2026 the International Year of Rangelands and Pastoralists. with the aim of focusing attention on this vast biome on which two billion people directly depend.
Rangelands are large meadows with plants and brush, dotted by a few sparse trees. They are the result of the action of climates with great seasonal differences, as well as of human use. They cover half of the earth’s surface, providing different ecosystems: savannas, meadows, marshes, deserts, and steppes, all maintained through grazing and controlled burning.
Our Iberian grasslands are a good example of this. They offer a sustainable silvopastoral management model, which, as opposed to other rangelands, has also proven itself more resilient to climate change and friendly to livestock who must withstand high temperatures. This is thanks to the tree cover intertwined with the grazing activity.
The Iberian Peninsula’s grasslands, like the other rangelands, are a biodiversity reservoir. Although these vast open spaces may seem like simple ecosystems, the plant life in these rangelands is rich in endemisms, which makes them a source of resources, many of which still have yet to be discovered. Moreover, they are home to high animal biodiversity (from insects and small fauna to large mammals and fowl), which they sustain by providing food and protection.
The fact that they act as shelter means that rangelands are great biological corridors for wild fauna during migration, and also for transhumant shepherds in their search for fresh grazing land. Because shepherds, the co-stars of this international year, are bound up with at least 25% of the land in the world, with which they feed millions of people (FAO). Their livestock (sheep, goats, cattle, camelids, and even reindeer) use the earth’s resources, all while enriching and helping it to prevent fires by eliminating flammable biomass.
In addition to driving biodiversity and food supply, these ancestral routes are bursting with tradition and knowledge of how to care for the earth and animals. They also bear the cultural and spiritual wealth over which the shepherds are guardians. Proof of this is our transhumance culture, which has shaped Spain since the Concejo de la Mesta in the 13th century, through a network of drovers’ roads. In 2017, this network was declared a Representative Manifestation of Intangible Cultural Heritage. Today, it remains living heritage, despite the reduced size of the transhumant livestock population.
Multiple initiatives are attempting to revitalise it, with collaborations between traditional know-how and scientific developments. Foundations like Trashumancia y naturaleza and Entretantos seek to preserve and promote traditional extensive livestock production in Spain, its values and knowledge, as well as its native breeds and varieties, which are more and better adapted to our climate. By working with public administrations and spreading information at all levels of society, they seek to maintain these sustainable operations. This is despite rural exodus and citizen habits, which are increasingly removed from the land and traditional uses.
Local proposals have arisen in response to the lack of new generations to take over and the need to provide knowledge and resources to pastoralism to also make it economically and socially sustainable. These proposals include shepherd schools in Aragon’s Pyrenees and the Hub del Norte. These projects maintain and modernise professions and lifestyles rooted in the land, all while improving the quality of endangered ecosystems.
The benefits of these measures are not only local. They foster climate change mitigation and adaptation: rangelands store around 30% of the earth’s carbon, mainly in the soil. They also promote rainwater filtration and purification, which recharges aquifers and stops flooding. Preventive pastoralism is also a method of forest fire adaptation and prevention that has gained traction in recent years.
Each year, around 1.5 million hectares of land become deserts. This especially affects areas where rangelands predominate. Both regulatory and economic measures that protect them and promote sustainable use, as well as research focused on acknowledging their importance, are the pathway toward a better future.
As consumers, we can also protect these landscapes that are so local to us: by supporting business with products that come from these landscapes, such as meat and dairy from grazing lands, or wool, which has been replaced on the market by synthetic fibres. We can share the oftentimes hidden value of this land, a land that thrives under the hand of the shepherd.
