The 2025 Triennial Conference and General Assembly ofthe InterAcademy Partnership (IAP) took place 8-11 December 2025 in Cairo, Egypt, hosted by the Academy of Scientific Research and Technology (ASRT). This is a very interesting and prestigious international conference with the aim to discuss how science can help advancing sound policies, improve public health, promote science excellence and achieve other critical development goals. It was our great honour that one of the sessions of this conference was dedicated to grasslands and pastoralists, and together with excellent colleagues we could show the beauty of these unique ecosystems and pastoral communities as their stewards. We had a very diverse and interesting session and panel discussions.
You can read the abstract and the program of the session below.
Pastoralism and Grasslands: Science and Policy for Regenerative Rangeland Management
Moderator: Thomas Elmqvist, Programme Director EASAC
Rapporteur: Georg Bërveniku-Brunner, Executive Director, EASAC secretariat
Speakers
Gregorio Velasco Gil, Coordinator of the Pastoralist Knowledge Hub, FAO: International Year of Rangelands and Pastoralists 2026
Orsolya Valkó, Scientific advisor, HUN-REN Centre for Ecological Research, Institute of Ecology and Botany, Hungary: Biodiversity conservation of European grasslands: challenges and opportunities
Batgelder Gantuya, Mongolian Academy of Sciences, Mongolia: Rangelands and pastoralists in Asia
Zsolt Molnár, Scientific advisor, HUN-REN Centre for Ecological Research, Institute of Ecology and Botany, Hungary: Transdisciplinary research and knowledge systems: who’s knowledge counts
Abstract
The UN General Assembly has declared 2026 the International Year of Rangelands and Pastoralists (IYRP) to increase worldwide understanding of the value of grasslands and pastoralism for food security, economy, environment and cultural heritage. Semi-natural grasslands are among the most species-rich ecosystems on Earth, offering a unique example of how long-term, low-intensity human activities can enhance biodiversity.
Their ecological value is closely tied to traditional management practices, such as grazing and mowing, which help maintain their open structure and biodiversity. Steppes and other drylands also harbour outstanding biodiversity that is shaped by the herders and the one billion people living in these ecosystems globally. Today, grasslands are rapidly disappearing in many regions of the world, due to climate change in combination with land use changes including abandonment that leads to secondary succession toward shrubs or forests, or, through intensification (use of fertilizers, frequent mowing, or sowing monocultures) causing biodiversity loss. This session will contribute to the aims of the IYRP and through taking a global view of grasslands and focussing on how to bring multiple knowledge systems together at the table to discuss what policy options and actions are available in different regions for reversing current trends.
Many thanks for EASAC, the European Academies Science Advisory Council for supporting my participation at the conference, for the organizers, and to everyone who made this possible.
