Read by Basele Stephen Galgesa, Pastoralist Goals Foundation
Excellencies, distinguished delegates, and partners,
The Pastoralist Goals Foundation welcomes the reframing of land restoration and drought resilience as core economic priorities. Pastoralists manage over a third of the Earth’s land surface rangelands that sustain livestock, protect biodiversity, and feed billions. Yet, despite being on the frontlines of desertification, pastoral communities remain severely underfunded.
Closing the annual land financing gap requires direct investment in rangeland stewardship. For centuries, pastoralists have practiced adaptive mobility and sustainable land management, serving as the primary guardians of drylands. Treating land as a strategic asset must mean treating pastoralists as essential economic partners.
We call on the parties, multilateral development banks, and private investors to act on three priorities:
- Direct public finance, guarantees, and nature-positive financial instruments directly to pastoralist-led organizations and community land trusts, reducing transaction costs and ensuring funds reach the ground.
- Invest in Rangelands. We ask the parties to fully support the scaling up community-driven restoration, secure land tenure rights, and build climate-resilient livestock value chains.
- Ensure mechanisms that prioritize fair, positive value chains that protect pastoral livelihoods and traditional ecological knowledge against land grabbing.
Pastoralism is a proven, high-return strategy for dryland resilience. Investing in pastoralists delivers an eight-to-one return by securing food systems, stabilizing fragile regions, and restoring degraded ecosystems.
We urge this COP17 Finance Day to move from incremental grants to structural, equitable investments. Allocate capital where it matters most: to the pastoralist communities safeguarding our world’s rangelands. Thank you