All in all, it’s been a good year for a sector that has remained largely invisible. After decades of neglect, the issues facing pastoralist communities and grasslands have finally come into sharper global focus — 2026 has been declared the International Year for Rangelands and Pastoralism, with the goal of improving land governance, encouraging investment in the ecosystems that make pastoralism productive, and strengthening market linkages. For India’s nearly 60 pastoral castes and ethnic groups, this is a real morale boost.

The just-concluded United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD COP17) in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, followed up with commitments, including a $1.3 billion finance package for land restoration and drought resilience, and a $1.2 billion Rangelands Flagship Initiative for pastoralist livelihoods. As part of this, India’s environment minister recently launched a guide to the country’s grasslands and other open natural ecosystems.

This encouraging news took me back to a field trip with my team to understand what is happening on the ground to the country’s grasslands, and to the lives and livelihoods of the pastoralists who depend on them.

We were driving through Pune district, the new highway cutting through harvest-ready fields with ripened bajra swaying gently in the breeze.

We soon came upon a herd of goats and sheep, loosely corralled around makeshift tents put up by Dhangar pastoralists. They were on an increasingly uncertain, unmapped journey from Baramati, where their families are anchored, to the Konkan coast — or wherever shelter, fodder and water could be........

© hindustantimes