International Year of Rangelands and Pastoralists (IYRP) History, Process, Priority Themes and Way Forward

The road towards the declaration of an IYRP by the United Nations has been long and rocky, perhaps mirroring the relative lack of understanding by some governments of the importance of rangelands and pastoralists for a sustainable world, compared to the focus on other sectors such as forest or cropland sustainability. The idea was first discussed at the International Rangeland (IRC) and Grassland (IGC) Congress held in Hohhot, China in 2008. The creation of an International Support Group (ISG) in 2015 helped to provide a stronger rational and the integration of social dimensions. This has led to a growing partnership of national, regional, and international organizations. Numerous events were conducted at international meetings between 2015 and 2021 to solicit support for an IYRP. In 2018, UN Environment published a Gap Analysis of knowledge about rangelands and pastoralism that helped to further highlight the significant neglect of these issues in both academic and development circles. Under the leadership of the Government of Mongolia, the proposal for designation of an IYRP was officially presented in 2019 to the Committee on Agricultural Secretariat of FAO. This historical background provides instructive lessons on how global perceptions can change through strong partnerships. In anticipation of obtaining this designation a comprehensive list of monthly themes has been developed by the ISG to guide countries on outreach and educational activates to take place prior to and during the IYRP. This guidance provides a vision of multi-disciplinary and multi-stakeholder approaches towards integrating the social, economic, environmental and political aspects of sustainability in rangelands and pastoralism. At this Congress resolutions will be submitted to the IRC and IGC for delegate support of this overall effort, including recommendations for Continuing Committee members of both the IRC and IGC along with the ISG to assist individual countries in developing IYRP-related programs

Priority Themes and Issues for the International Year of Rangelands and Pastoralists

The objective of the International Year of Rangelands and Pastoralism (IYRP) is to increase world-wide awareness and recognition of the value and contributions of rangelands and pastoralists. The aim is to influence country policies, legislation, and programs; and to encourage development, research, extension and educational initiatives that will lead to sustainability of rangelands and pastoral/livestock systems. Although each country should decide on how they would celebrate the IYRP, the adoption of a global framework of 12 monthly themes will help to a) provide suggestions and ideas, b) highlight urgent and topical issues, and c) show how pastoralism and rangelands across the globe share similar issues and concerns. This paper proposes major themes, such as: including securing access to rangelands by pastoralists; services for pastoralists; climate change; biodiversity and ecosystems services; water use; sustainable consumptions of livestock products; indigenous knowledge and culture; women, youth and innovative technologies. These define the global priority issues in the social, economic, environmental, and governance nexus

Transition to low-carbon economy: Assessing cumulative impacts of individual behavioral changes

© 2018 The Authors Changing residential energy demand can play an essential role in transitioning to a green economy. Environmental psychology suggests that behavioral changes regarding energy use are affected by knowledge, awareness, motivation and social learning. Data on various behavioral drivers of change can explain energy use at the individual level, but it provides little information about implications for macro energy demand on regional or national levels. We address this challenge by presenting a theoretically-based and empirically-driven agent-based model to track aggregated impacts of behavioral changes among heterogeneous households. We focus on the representation of the multi-step changes in individual energy use behavior and on a quantitative assessment of their aggregated impacts on the regional level. We understand the behavioral complexity of household energy use as a dynamic process unfolding in stages, and explore the barriers for utilizing the full potential of a region for emissions reduction. We suggest a policy mix that facilitates mutual learning among consumers

Modeling low energy demand futures for buildings: current state and research needs

Buildings are key in supporting human activities and well-being by providing shelter and other important services to their users. Buildings are, however, also responsible for major energy use and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions during their life cycle. Improving the quality of services provided by buildings while reaching low energy demand (LED) levels is crucial for climate and sustainability targets. Building sector models have become essential tools for decision support on strategies to reduce energy demand and GHG emissions. Yet current models have significant limitations in their ability to assess the transformations required for LED. We review building sector models ranging from the subnational to the global scale to identify best practices and critical gaps in representing transformations toward LED futures. We focus on three key dimensions of intervention (socio-behavioral, infrastructural, and technological), three megatrends (digitalization, sharing economy, and circular economy), and decent living standards. This review recommends the model developments needed to better assess LED transformations in buildings and support decision-making toward sustainability targets

Demand-side solutions for climate mitigation: Bottom-up drivers of household energy behavior change in the Netherlands and Spain

© 2019 The Authors Households are responsible for 70% of CO2 emissions (directly and indirectly). While households as agents of change increasingly become a crucial element in energy transitions, bottom-up mechanisms facilitating behavioral change are not fully understood. A scientific understanding of individual energy use, requires eliciting factors that trigger or inhibit changes in energy behavior. This paper explores individual energy consumption practices and behavioral aspects that affect them. We quantitatively study the determinants of three energy actions: (1) investments in house insulation, solar panels and/or energy-efficient appliances, (2) conservation of energy by changing energy-use habits like switching off unused devices or adjusting house temperature, and (3) switching to green(er) electricity sources. To address this goal, we conduct a comprehensive survey among households (N = 1790) in two EU regions: Overijssel, the Netherlands and Navarre, Spain. We use probit regression to estimate how behavioral factors, households’ socioeconomic characteristics and structural attributes of dwellings influence energy related actions. Our analysis demonstrates that awareness and personal and social norms are as important as monetary factors. Moreover, education and structural dwelling factors significantly affect households’ actions. These results have implications for governmental policies aimed at reducing residential CO2 footprints and facilitating demand-side solutions in a transition to low-carbon economy