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To mark the 2026 International Year of Rangelands and Pastoralists<\/a> and its September theme, \u201cBenefits to society,\u201d the webinar <\/a>explored how sustainable rangeland and livestock systems deliver interconnected benefits: supporting pastoral livelihoods and food security, maintaining biodiversity and ecosystem services, strengthening climate resilience, and helping prevent zoonotic disease emergence at source. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Dr. Igshaan Samuels<\/strong>, from the Agricultural Research Council in South Africa<\/a>, presented a global perspective on rangelands, including pastoralism, as One Health landscapes. Ms. Munguntsetseg Tsend-Ayush<\/strong> and Dr. Chris Bartels<\/strong>, bothat Agronomes et V\u00e9t\u00e9rinaires sans Fronti\u00e8res (AVSF<\/a>) in Mongolia, described how the NGO is supporting herders to face and overcome the challenges of a changing environment. The study presented by Dr. Farah Isse Mumin<\/strong>, with the support of Prof. Siobhan Mor<\/strong>, both from University of Liverpool<\/a> and ILRI<\/a>, highlighted practical community-centred tools for One Health prioritisation and engagement among pastoral communities in the Horn of Africa. (See biographies below)<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n Rangelands cover more than half of the Earth’s land surface.<\/strong> Far more than grazing land, these landscapes host rich biodiversity, sustain diverse food systems<\/strong> and support hundreds of millions of livelihoods<\/strong>. They also regulate nutrient cycles, purify water and store carbon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Pastoralism is at once a livelihood, a way of managing ecosystems and a culture. Herders respond to variability by moving their animals. Pastoral communities live where livestock, wildlife and people meet, however, that does not mean they drive disease emergence: the risk depends on context. Healthy rangelands can strengthen herders’ resilience and widen their options for keeping animals healthy<\/strong>. In<\/em> a One Health context, we need to protect rangelands from land conversion, which is one of the biggest problems. Degradation doesn’t always result from poor management; it’s often the case of the conversion of rangelands into other land uses that are not sustainable. We need to secure mobility.<\/em> <\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n When rangelands deteriorate through land conversion, overgrazing, fragmentation, invasive plants or climate change, the effects cascade. Reduced forage quality and quantity can make animals more vulnerable to disease while falling productivity adds to economic pressure. Pastoral knowledge can inform the whole One Health system. Herders monitor vegetation and their animals’ condition, mortality and reproduction. <\/strong>Combined with veterinary services, these observations can help co-produce One Health knowledge.<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n The vision behind the support that AVSF gives to Mongolian herders is caring for animal health and pastures, cooperating to add value to livestock products, and capitalizing on this to sustain livelihoods. AVSF has been working on a certification scheme – Nomad Mark- with the overall objective of inspiring herders to adopt practices related to ecology, economy, and social and sustainable practices, for their own good, as well as at the collective and cooperative level.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n Cashmere offers a telling example. Over the past ten years, AVSF Mongolia has developed a certification scheme called Nomad Mark, encouraging ecologically, economically and socially sustainable practices<\/strong>, including animal welfare and health. AVSF also trains community animal health workers: herders selected from their own communities who provide a range of services under veterinary supervision. Herders get closer care, while veterinary authorities receive reports and livestock data, along with potential early warning of diseases.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Another project in the Arkhangai province is building a high-quality, sustainable dairy value chain led by young women from the Arkhangai Herders Federation<\/strong>. Although zoonotic diseases have become less common in Mongolia, the risk of transmission remains. Brucellosis, for example, has not been eradicated, even though infection rates are relatively low. With the Research Institute of Veterinary Medicine, AVSF is piloting a milk test to detect brucellosis<\/strong> in yaks, contributing to new diagnostic approaches. The project also trains herders and schoolchildren and produces educational materials to raise awareness of One Health.<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n In the Horn of Africa, pastoralists depend heavily on livestock for their livelihoods. Yet pastoralists face many challenges such as droughts and floods, consequences of climate change, but also poor access to human and animal health services<\/strong>, largely because many areas are so remote. People, livestock and wildlife often share the same water points and pastures<\/strong>, so no single sector can address these challenges alone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Because top-down approaches to community engagement are failing in many ways in the Horn of Africa, practical methods are needed. Dr. Mumin presented the Community Zoonoses Prioritisation<\/a> (CZP) tool, which combines multi-criteria decision analysis with participatory epidemiology<\/strong>. Communities identify human and animal health problems, define their own criteria to rank zoonoses, and identify local actions. The tool was implemented in Somalia with 40 gender-segregated groups, and the results were compared with national priorities set by the government and stakeholders in 2023.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Communities\u2019 priorities reflected diseases affecting their daily lives,<\/strong> such as those transmitted through milk and meat. The government’s priorities, by contrast, focused more on diseases with pandemic or epidemic potential and trade-related threats such as Rift Valley fever (RVF) and MERS. At a workshop in Mogadishu, communities and national stakeholders co-produced an integrated Zoonosis Action Plan, bringing together these complementary priorities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The second tool, community conversation on One Health hazards, uses guided discussion in which community members share what they know and believe, then agree on practical actions. Through the HEAL project, ILRI and its partners produced a manual on operationalizing One Health in pastoral settings<\/strong>, which includes this community conversation guide. The conversations led to a clear improvement in knowledge, attitudes and practices.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The manual on operationalizing One Health in pastoral settings, developed within the HEAL project, results in an improvement shift in knowledge, attitude, and practices.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n The FAO recognized<\/a> these tools as a good One Health practice at the Global Conference on One Health Actions in Agrifood Systems<\/a>, <\/strong>held in Rome from 21 to 23 September 2026. Both tools are openly available for adaptation and scaling.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Read more about the studies and tools:<\/p>\n\n\n\n Elevating community voices in One Health: a participatory study applying the Community Zoonoses Prioritisation tool in Somalia<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\nRangelands as One Health Landscapes<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Biodiversity can alter ecological processes and pathogen transmission in rangelands. There is no universal link between biodiversity and disease, however, each pathogen responds in its own way to host composition, vector ecology and landscape structure.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n\n
AVSF support in Mongolia:<\/strong> care, cooperate, and capitalize<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
As overgrazing and pasture degradation remain a risk, AVSF helps herders strengthen collective pasture governance and shared usage through pasture use agreements. It also supports herd management and a shift from quantity to quality, backed by the development of sustainable value chains<\/strong> in which herder cooperatives process and market livestock products themselves. Cutting out middlemen lets herders keep the income that would otherwise go to intermediaries.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n
Strengthening pastoral resilience through community-centred One Health approaches in the Horn of Africa<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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