The Global Gathering of Pastoralist Women

Summary

Pastoralist women and girls play key roles in caring for our global rangelands and producing food and fiber from livestock. Despite their critical contributions to tradition-keeping, innovation and entrepreneurship, food security, climate resilience, and peacemaking, the work of pastoralist women is largely unrecognized and undervalued. They often lack secure land rights, suffer disproportionate impacts from climate change, and are excluded from key policy decisions that affect them.

The Global Gathering of Pastoralist Women (Mera +16) will bring together pastoralist and ranching women from around the world to celebrate and support their initiatives, strengthen solidarity and networks across regions, identify shared priorities, and amplify pastoralist women’s voices in international discussions about rangelands and pastoralism. The Gathering aims to ensure pastoralist women’s voices and perspectives are included in all decisions that affect them, from the local to the global.

Goals and objectives

The Global Gathering will celebrate pastoralist women, their contributions to pastoralism, and their knowledge, skills and cultures. Pastoralist women will have an opportunity to share their experiences, challenges, innovations, successes and solutions, and to make global connections that endure beyond the event, increasing global solidarity, mutual support, and sense of worth. Participants will collaborate in revising/developing a shared policy agenda and prepare to carry forward.

Expected outcomes

1. Build a global network of pastoralist women , to support ongoing knowledge sharing, mutual support and advocacy, and to ensure their voices are represented in decision-making at local, regional and global scales.
2. Shape global agendas for rangeland and pastoralist policy, practice, and research that reflect pastoralist women’s priorities.
3. Amplify pastoralist women’s voices by developing a strategy to deliver this agenda in global venues such as the UNCCD COP 17 and others.
4. Share and learn knowledge, skills and connections that will advance gender equality, sustainable pastoralism, and resilient rangelands.

Registration details

For information on how to participate, please see the event web page below.

Attendees

This gathering is for all who self-identify as pastoralist women (including ranchers) and are interested in contributing to this important dialogue. The event seeks participants who are passionate about topics such as pastoralist women’s land rights, economic autonomy and development, violence prevention, traditional knowledge, education and well-being, rangeland restoration, biodiversity conservation, and climate justice, among others.