Published on: 2026-08-15
Source: United Nations – United Nations –
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August 15, 2026 Climate and Environment
What do Botswana, Kazakhstan, and Kenya have in common? A lesson they have all learned over the years: restoration of grazing lands is most effective when science is combined with traditional knowledge.
On Monday, world leaders will gather at the UN Convention to Combat Desertification Conference of the Parties in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia. The protection and restoration of pastures will be one of the main topics of the meeting.
Waiting for rain
In northern Kenya, a herder gazes at the cloudless sky, waiting for rain that never comes. The grass that feeds his herd is growing scarcer with each passing day.
And he is not alone. Across the expanses from the African savannas to the plains of Central Asia, millions of people face the same problem. They all depend on lands whose existence many of us don’t even consider. We are talking about natural pastures and grazing lands.
What are natural pastures and why are they important?
Natural pastures exist on every continent except Antarctica. These are meadows, shrub steppes, semi-deserts, and arid lands that people do not cultivate in the usual sense of the word. Nevertheless, they serve as the “supporting structure” for the entire global food system.
Two billion people depend on them for food, livestock breeding, and daily income
They supply almost 70 percent of the world’s total volume of livestock feed.
At the same time, up to 40 percent of these lands have already degraded or are on the verge of disappearance due to droughts, overgrazing, and decades of neglect.
When pasture dies, it is not just an abstract ecological loss. It is livestock with nothing to eat, emptying markets, and the food security of entire communities deteriorating before our eyes.
© UNDP Pastures occupy a significant part of the territory of Botswana.
Three countries – one alarming signal
Botswana
Pasture lands occupy a large part of this country in southern Africa and form the basis of its economy – from beef exports to safari tourism. However, until the recent nationwide ecosystem assessment, no one had a complete picture of their actual condition.
The results were dire: meadow areas are shrinking, aggressive weeds are advancing, and droughts occur more frequently, leaving the soil less and less time to recover.
However, there is also a hopeful conclusion: where traditional land management institutions at the community level are still strong, the pastures are in better condition. This is an important reminder that the knowledge of local residents is a real asset, not just pretty words.
Kazakhstan
The Aral Sea in Central Asia, once the fourth largest lake in the world, has dried up, leaving behind 5.4 million hectares of salt desert.
In the neighboring Kyzylorda region, more than 80 percent of the pastures have already degraded, and toxic dust storms carry salt thousands of kilometers around. This is a harsh example of how an environmental catastrophe in one place can poison the land and ruin people’s lives far beyond its borders.
© UNDP Pastures for livestock in Kenya are steadily turning into barren lands.
Kenya
Marsabit County in northern Kenya is home to the Chalbi Desert. Satellite images, dating back to 1990, show how pastures are steadily turning into barren land. If nothing changes, in just a couple of decades the desert will double in size and engulf the grazing lands that have fed generations of nomadic tribes.
What is being done to solve the problem?
In all three countries, the response measures are being built on a similar, promising scenario: precise scientific data is combined with the experience of people living on this land.
Botswana involved more than 2,000 people—civil servants, scientists, and traditional knowledge keepers—in the national ecosystem assessment. This created a reliable evidence base for future land policy.
Kazakhstan has commissioned a detailed study of the links between climate, land, and water, which now defines plans for pasture restoration and irrigation. Simultaneously, a program is underway to plant saxaul on the dried seabed: the green shield already covers 337,000 hectares, and by 2030 its area may reach 1.1 million hectares.
In Kenya, satellite data spanning 33 years was compared with the memories of elders who know how the land looked previously. Based on this, practical solutions are already being developed: flood protection dams in Kalach, experimental plots for grass restoration, and training sessions that enable local communities to monitor environmental changes themselves.
© UNDP Irrigated pastures in northern Kenya.
Responsibility for one’s land
Lands separated by thousands of kilometers are united by one simple truth: nature restoration only yields results when people see their own experience and knowledge in the proposed solutions. Dry figures alone will not save the pastures – what saves them is a sense of responsibility for one’s land and practical hands-on experience.
For the shepherd, still gazing into the cloudless sky, this union of science and tradition may become the edge between the demise and the survival of his flock.
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