At the recent International Rangelands Congress (IRC) in Adelaide, Australia, a dedicated workshop brought together experts, pastoral leaders, Indigenous representatives, sustainability champions, and industry stakeholders to explore a global approach to managing and valuing the world’s vast rangelands.
The two-day event, hosted by the STELARR (Sustainable Investments for Large-Scale Rangeland Restoration) project—funded by the Global Environment Facility, implemented by IUCN, and executed by ILRI and partners—offered a collaborative forum to explore the Rangeland Stewardship Council’s work in shaping a global standard and establishing, alongside ICRAF, a monitoring framework that recognises and rewards collaborative, regenerative stewardship.
As Dr Andrew Ash reminded participants, “rangelands are far more than production systems—they are the foundation of culture, identity, and knowledge refined over millennia.” This perspective set the tone for conversations that placed local communities, traditional custodianship, and diverse ecological values at the heart of global efforts.
A global standard to drive stewardship and investment
The Rangeland Stewardship Council (RSC) is leading efforts to develop a global rangelands standard, aimed at streamlining sustainability requirements across diverse rangeland products and reducing the complexity producers often face with multiple certification schemes. By doing so, the standard seeks to empower pastoralists, Indigenous communities, and local producers — strengthening their agency in global markets while elevating the value of responsible rangeland stewardship.
The initiative, supported by the Sustainable Fibre Alliance (SFA) and by UNCCD’s Business4Land initiative, reflects a shared commitment to drive investment in sustainable land management and build markets that recognise and reward responsible stewardship.
At the workshop, participants shared hopes that the RSC would deliver a transparent, credible standard and monitoring system, elevate the visibility of rangelands and pastoralism in global markets, embed equity and inclusion in governance, foster cross-sector collaboration, and ultimately improve livelihoods and resilience. They stressed the importance of building the system with, not just for, stakeholders, pointing to enablers such as participatory design, local language accessibility, and stable long-term funding. At the same time, they highlighted barriers—including the wide variability of local contexts, institutional fragmentation, and political or market forces—that could influence how the standard is adopted.
Integrating collaborative management
Closely tied to these discussions was a focus on how to integrate collaborative management into both the standard and the monitoring system. Participants explored what responsibilities should lie with individual land users versus those best managed collectively, what scale makes collaboration meaningful, and what conditions are needed to support it.
Group discussions revealed strong backing for collaborative approaches but also highlighted varied interpretations shaped by local legal, institutional, and ecological contexts. Participants consistently underscored the importance of integrating local and Indigenous knowledge, providing technical support and tools, ensuring legal clarity, and creating shared incentives. They also raised challenges such as mismatches with formal governance systems, limited capacity at the community level, power imbalances, and ambiguity around who constitutes a “community.”
The workshop findings reinforced that any global framework must embed equity and participation at every level, promote capacity building, and recognise that collaboration is a process shaped by local realities—not a uniform model to be imposed. Participants proposed grounding collaborative management in locally developed rules and trusted community institutions, such as pasture user groups or village councils. To overcome barriers like insecure land tenure or drought, they emphasised the need for secure rights, technical facilitation, and inclusive engagement.
The road ahead
These insights are now guiding the RSC Strategy Task Force as it refines the Council’s Theory of Change and maps out the next phases of work, ensuring the process stays grounded, inclusive, and responsive to the needs of rangeland communities. At the same time, they will help steer the RSC Standards Development Team as they continue shaping how collaborative management principles are embedded in the global standard, so it remains practical, flexible, and meaningful across diverse contexts.
To explore the full workshop findings and learn how you or your organisation can be part of shaping this global effort, contact info@rangelandstewardship.org.
