In the International Year of Rangelands and Pastoralists (IYRP), as one of listed Friends of IYRP, of member of the Global Alliance for Rangelands and Pastoralists and its Regional IYRP Support Groups and of the UN Convention to Combat Desertification’s Community of Learning and Practice (UNCCD-CLP), we conservation professionals at CIEDM are supporting and taking part in IYRP and World Desertification and Drought Day (WDDD) 2026 with the theme of "Rangelands: Recognize. Respect. Restore."
Land degradation, including rangelands, is a problem worldwide. Since drought and land degradation reinforce one another, building resilience in rangelands ecosystems is essential to break the cycle. Recognizing that land restoration and rehabilitation are the answer and respecting the local circumstances and conditions, our actions include: (1) An educational campaign for rangelands conservation and adaptation and their ecosystems restoration through online posting at UNCCD-CLP portals and providing/sharing SME (subject matter expert) comments to social media news and articles about WDDD and IYRP 2026 for raising public awareness of those two awareness campaigns and issues with the vast areas of rangelands in arid California. (2) Enhancement of California friendly landscapes at the Arcadia Ecohome Microforest, especially its Desert Oases, to increase its water efficiency and climate resiliency since desertscape is common in rangelands.
In recent years, in fact, climate change has profoundly impacted California's 18+ million acres of rangelands primarily through severe temperature increases, altered precipitation patterns, and more frequent droughts. These shifts threaten livestock forage availability, disrupt native plant communities, and significantly increase wildfire and invasive species risks across the state's pastoral ecosystems. The CIEDM educational campaign focus is therefore on sharing information not only the land degradation problems but also California experiences of strategies and technologies applied for land and ecosystem restoration.
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