GLOBAL DECLARATION OF YOUNG PASTORALISTS: MADRID CALL TO ACTION

We, young pastoralists, including indigenous pastoralists, from across Africa, the Arctic, Asia, the Middle East, Europe and the Americas gathered in Madrid from 9 to 11 April 2026, at a critical moment for our communities and rangelands.Pastoralism practices are proven, resilient food production systems that deliver far more than nourishment: they sustain soil health, enhance biodiversity, regenerate ecosystems, preserve pastoral culture and operate with minimal dependence on fossil fuels and inorganic inputs.In a time of acute global instability, they offer a grounded, adaptive alternative rooted in ecological balance to fragile globalized supply chains.This Declaration builds on the collective policy brief of the various meetings on youth pastoralists that have taken place at regional and global levels as well as the brief of the IYRP Youth Working Group.It is our shared, global voice.We are active stewards of over a third of the Earth's land surface, guardians of biodiversity, and keepers of knowledge accumulated across generations.Young pastoralists are not a marginal group waiting to be included, we are the present and future custodians of pastoral systems that sustain livelihoods, cultures, and climate resilience worldwide.Yet we continue to face land dispossession, restricted mobility, exclusion from decision-making, and the systematic undervaluation of our knowledge.Global policies on climate, land, and food increasingly affect our territories, but are still shaped without us.We affirm that pastoralism is a living, viable, and sustainable way of life, essential to global commitments on climate, biodiversity, and culture.Our mobility is our wisdom.Our commons are carefully managed, not empty.We reject policies that undermine mobility, fragment rangelands, and exclude pastoralist voices, and demand a shift toward rights-based, youth-led, and pastoralist-inclusive governance at all levels.We call on governments and international institutions to recognize that investing in young pastoralists is investing in climate solutions, food security, and sustainable rangeland management.The following demands are the conditions for that investment to be real.