Caribbean leaders mark World Day to Combat Desertification with call to protect rangelands and soils

Caribbean stakeholders marked World Day to Combat Desertification and Drought 2026 with a renewed appeal to treat land degradation as a present-day crisis rather than a distant threat. Under the global theme focused on rangelands — recognise, respect, and restore — speakers warned that shifting rainfall, weaker soils, erosion, and lower farm yields are already undermining food and water security across the region.

Although rangelands do not define every Caribbean island, officials said the theme speaks directly to the wider region. From the Rupununi and Sipaliwini savannas of Guyana and Suriname to the Yalbac and coastal savannas of Belize, these ecosystems support livelihoods, biodiversity, and the water and carbon cycles communities depend on. Globally, rangelands cover more than half of the Earth's land surface, feed hundreds of millions of people, and store large carbon reserves, yet they face growing pressure from climate change, deforestation, unsustainable land use, and prolonged drought.

The address framed the day as a call for leaders, policymakers, farmers, and citizens to see land as a living partner rather than a resource to be exhausted. Recognising rangelands means valuing their economic, cultural, ecological, and spiritual importance. Respecting them means placing farmers, land managers, and indigenous communities at the centre of policy. Restoring them means sustained action through sustainable land and soil management that leaves future generations with ecosystems able to feed and protect them.

Work is already under way through the Caribbean SIDS Soil Care Programme, funded by the Global Environmental Facility and supported by the Food and Agriculture Organization. The initiative promotes sustainable land management, land degradation neutrality, and landscape restoration across 14 Caribbean countries.

Looking ahead to COP 17 in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, in August 2026, Caribbean policymakers and national focal points were urged to carry farmers' and soils' stories to the world stage and push for land degradation in small island developing states to sit at the heart of the global climate resilience agenda.