“The IYRP is coming as a hope, an aspiration – ek umeed, ek apeksha – that fulfils our long struggle for recognition,” says Mohammad Meer Hamja, president of the Van Gujjar Tribal Yuva Sangathan in Uttarakhand. “At the first instance, it is a celebration, a festival, an Eid, and on the other it signals that we will now be considered a part of the viksit samaj or ‘developed society’.”Hamja’s words capture the sentiment echoing across pastoralist communities throughout India as 2026 begins. The United Nation’s declaration of the International Year of Rangelands and Pastoralists represents more than symbolic recognition – it marks a potential shift in how millions of mobile livestock keepers are perceived and treated in their own country.For generations, India’s pastoralists have faced a double burden: hostility at worst, negligence at best. Long stereotyped as backward, unproductive, and uncivilised, these communities have sustained their livelihoods through careful management of livestock across the country’s drylands and highlands, providing nutritious food, critical farm inputs, and practicing sustainable land governance. Yet their contributions have remained largely invisible in public discourse and absent from policy frameworks.A Global Movement with Deep Indian RootsThe IYRP didn’t emerge overnight. It represents the culmination of a decade-long global campaign initiated by the Global Alliance for Rangelands and Pastoralists, formed in 2016. Today, the Alliance encompasses over 550 individuals, 400 organisations, and 100 governments worldwide.Indian pastoralist organisations have been instrumental in this movement. Through the South Asian Regional Support Group for the IYRP and various thematic working groups, they have highlighted Indian pastoralism and converged with global efforts. Their lobbying bore fruit in 2021 when the Indian government officially endorsed the IYRP nomination, acknowledging pastoralism’s importance for sustainable food production and ecosystem protection.But for those on the ground, government endorsement is only the beginning.Rajiv Gandhi, of the Tamil Nadu Federation of Pastoral Peoples Sangams, celebrating IYRP2026 together with his cattle. Photo: Hemlatha Rajiv Gandhi“The IYRP must be an eye-opening initiative, creating awareness on pastoralism not only through research-based evidence, but through a rights-based campaign led by the grassroots,” insists Rajiv Gandhi, President of the Tamil Nadu Federation of Pastoral Peoples Sangams. “A successful IYRP would reach the grassroots with every pastoralist aware of this recognition and capacitated to use the platform to assert their rights.”Taking the Message to the GroundThe IYRP awareness yatra with pastoralists in the Banni grassland, Gujarat, in 2021. Photo credit: Anonymous.This vision of grassroots mobilisation is already taking shape across India. Building on the first IYRP awareness yatra organised in Gujarat’s Banni region in 2021, new journeys are being launched nationwide. On January 1, 2026, a yatra took place in Kaniyakumari, Tamil Nadu, followed by another in Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh, on January 3.“We walked from one pastoralist dera to another to show that this is pastoralism – we have been walking for generations, and this is how we sustain our economies and ecologies,” explains Hira Ram Dewasi, organiser of the Bhopal yatra, and a Raika pastoralist from Rajasthan who, along with others, spends several months a year grazing his livestock in Madhya Pradesh.The Bhopal yatra on January 3, 2026. Photo: By arrangement.These walking journeys serve multiple purposes: engaging pastoralist communities directly, educating the wider public, and highlighting the ecological and cultural importance of pastoral mobility, sustainable grazing, indigenous livestock systems, and climate resilience.“The IYRP should bring out the values of pastoralist cultures and livelihoods. It should be a platform for pastoralists to be heard, to bring out their agendas to shape policy,” says Imran Khan Mutwa, general secretary of the Pastoralist Youth Alliance and programme coordinator for the Banni Breeders’ Association in Gujarat. He identified several avenues of action, including recognition for pastoralists and pastoralism as a legitimate livelihood, the protection of grazing lands and associated traditional knowledges, the participation of pastoralists in policy decision-making, and a special status for women and youth in policy. Centring Women’s VoicesPastoralism is fundamentally a collective endeavour, and women stand at its core. They anchor environmentally attuned practices like mobility and livestock breeding, possess deep knowledge of milk processing, crafts, and traditional medicines, and bear responsibility for caring for the vulnerable – both human and animal – while transferring knowledge across generations.The Asia Pastoralist Women’s Gathering, held in Gujarat in December 2025, brought these realities into sharp focus. Co-organised by the Maldhari Rural Action Group, the Pastoralist Women’s Alliance, and the South Asia Pastoral Alliance, the gathering of women from 8 Asian countries revisited the historic Mera Declaration from 2010 – a foundational document articulating pastoralist women’s policy demands that was developed at the Global Gathering of pastoralists in India.At the official IYRP launch in Rome in December 2025, Bhavana Desai, founder of the Pastoralist Women’s Alliance, articulated what’s at stake: “Pastoralist women say ‘maal chhe toh mobho chhe‘ – if we have livestock, we have dignity – but because of the shrinking of land, we lose our dignity. A successful IYRP should preserve and restore our grazing land and protect our mobility routes. We need to include our knowledge and skills in education and support women and youth in policy that strengthen, not replace, pastoralism.”The Land QuestionDesai’s emphasis on land access cuts to the heart of pastoralists’ most urgent demand. Across India, communities are losing access to seasonal pastures and traditional migration routes. Encroachment, land use changes, restrictive forest policies, and development projects have steadily shrunk the commons that pastoralism depends upon.Securing access to land and protecting mobility routes represent the greatest hope pastoralists hold for the IYRP – that global momentum can influence national action towards protecting their rights.The timing is opportune. Overlapping with the IYRP, the UN Convention to Combat Desertification’s COP17 will focus centrally on rangelands and pastoralists, driven by Mongolia’s leadership as both COP17 president and IYRP proposer. The UNCCD has already released a Global Land Outlook thematic report on rangelands and pastoralists – featuring a Rajasthani Raika pastoralist on its cover – and passed a supportive decision at COP16 in 2024. Significantly, India’s representative was among ten speakers supporting that decision, suggesting potential policy advances domestically. India’s leadership of the UNCCD COP14 in New Delhi in 2019 can serve as a critical benchmark where a historic decision acknowledging land tenure security for grassroots communities as crucial for protecting and restoring lands was adopted. Aligning with that commitment through pro-pastoral policies would be a natural next step.Seeds of ChangeSome positive developments are already visible at state level. Karnataka recently passed the Karnataka Traditional Migratory Shepherds (Welfare Measures and Protection against Atrocities) Act, 2025, offering safeguards to mobile pastoralists. Himachal Pradesh’s Forest Department has issued a notification preventing tree plantations along migration routes and resting sites. Jammu and Kashmir’s Tribal Affairs department has established mobile schools, rest stops, and transportation services for pastoralists.These initiatives, however limited, demonstrate what’s possible when governments recognise pastoralists’ needs and rights. The question now is whether such examples can spread, whether the IYRP’s global spotlight can catalyse the systemic changes needed.Beyond CharityWhat comes through clearly in speaking with pastoralists is what they’re not asking for. They don’t want charity, handouts, or welfare schemes that treat them as victims requiring rescue from their “backward” lifestyles.What they want are rights and recognition that remove obstacles from their paths, restore their past glory and allow pastoral livelihoods to thrive and flourish. They want the freedom to move, access to commons their communities have managed for generations, protection from harassment and violence, recognition of their ecological knowledge, and inclusion in policy discussions that affect their lives.As 2026 unfolds, the IYRP offers an unprecedented platform for these voices to be heard. There is hope – ek umeed – and a determination to make this year count. From the yatras walking across the country to the gatherings asserting women’s centrality to pastoralism, communities are mobilising to ensure the IYRP becomes more than a symbolic gesture. They’re working to make it a turning point in the long struggle for recognition, rights, and dignity. They’re claiming their place in the conversation, on their own terms.Natasha Maru is a researcher and policy consultant working with pastoralists in western India and globally. She currently works as the global focal point for rangelands and pastoralists at the International Land Coalition, through which she represents in the Global Alliance of the IYRP and the FAO Steering Committee for the IYRP. She has also been active with the South Asia Regional Support Group for the IYRP.This is the second article in a series exploring the challenges faced by Indian pastoralism. Read the first here.