World Food Forum and Rome Water Dialogue call for urgent action on land and water 

For centuries, people’s lives have been tied to the land and the water – herders depending on the rangelands, farmers relying on the flow of rivers to nourish their fields. These landscapes have shaped cultures, livelihoods and traditions across the world. 

But today, human-made pressures – climate change, land degradation and drought – are undoing in just a few years what communities built and protected for centuries. Globally, up to 40 per cent of land is degraded, putting nearly half of humanity at risk. Droughts alone already affect over 1.8 billion people worldwide, placing water systems under unprecedented strain. Together, these pressures threaten not only ecosystems and biodiversity, but also food security, water supplies and climate stability. 

At the World Food Forum 2025 (10–17 October) in Rome, the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) joined the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) in two dialogues with one message: healthy land and sustainable water management must go hand in hand. The joint session on Indigenous Peoples and rangelands stressed land rights and the cultural value of these ecosystems.  At the FAO-led Rome Water Dialogue 2025, communities shared how restoring soils and protecting water can secure harvests and help families face climate change. 

On the sidelines of the Forum, FAO and the UNCCD renewed the partnership to strengthen cooperation on sustainable land, soil and water management. 

The Memorandum of Understanding which was signed on 15 October by FAO Director-General Dr QU Dongyu and UNCCD Executive Secretary Dr Yasmine Fouad, establishes a joint framework to avoid, reduce and reverse land and soil degradation, enhance drought resilience and promote integrated solutions linking land restoration, agrifood systems transformation and climate action. 

The partnership will be implemented through a Joint FAO–UNCCD Action Plan, which mobilizes expertise across institutional networks and aligns with both FAO and UNCCD priorities. The Action Plan focuses on three key areas: supporting policy dialogue and capacity development to combat land degradation, building drought resilience and promoting data-driven approaches and knowledge sharing. 

Custodians of the world’s rangelands 

Rangelands cover more than half of Earth’s surface and are home to a third of global biodiversity hotspots. They provide livelihoods for half a billion people and store nearly one-third of terrestrial carbon, making them critical for both climate stability and cultural heritage. Yet unsustainable practices and climate change are driving many of these ecosystems toward dangerous thresholds. 

For the people who depend on them, this reality is lived every day. Herders travel longer distances in search of pasture. Ancestral knowledge, passed down for generations, is now under threat. Women are often the first to feel these impacts - walking further for water and fuel, stretching meagre harvests to feed their children.  

Yet these same communities are also leading the way in solutions. Women are reviving soils and protecting seeds. Indigenous Peoples are safeguarding customary governance and ancestral knowledge. Local communities are striving hard to sustain their livelihood within their own families.  Youth are bringing innovation to bridge tradition and technology. Their stewardship shows that restoring rangelands is not only possible but provides vast opportunities of rewards for all.  

“Protecting Indigenous lands is not optional – it is survival, dignity and justice,” said UNCCD Executive Secretary Yasmine Fouad. “Indigenous Peoples and pastoralists are indispensable partners in our global efforts.” 

Building on momentum from the 16th session of the Conference of the Parties to the UNCCD (COP16) in Riyadh, where countries adopted the first global decision on rangelands and pastoralists and established an Indigenous Peoples Caucus, participants in Rome called for stronger land rights, recognition of customary governance and full participation of Indigenous communities in shaping policy. Restoring rangelands, they stressed, is not only about protecting livelihoods but also about absorbing carbon, buffering communities against climate shocks and safeguarding biodiversity. 

Water as culture, memory and survival 

The Rome Water Dialogue 2025, the FAO flagship forum on water and agriculture, echoed the urgency. Droughts are now one-third more frequent than in 2000 and already cost the global economy more than 300 billion US dollars each year across multiple sectors. Land degradation and drought together drain nearly 900 billion US dollars annually. If current trends continue, three in four people worldwide could face drought by 2050. 

But water is not only an economic asset. It is culture, memory and survival. When rivers dry or deltas turn saline, communities lose not just crops, but stories, songs and ways of life bound to them. Healthy land and water systems nourish families, regulate climate and safeguard biodiversity. Protecting them means defending both livelihoods and the planet’s capacity to sustain life. 

At the Dialogue, FAO, UNCCD and more than 80 partners showcased decades of solutions - from irrigation and disaster-risk reduction to regenerative farming, wetland restoration and sustainable grazing. Evidence shows that each dollar invested yields between USD 7 and USD 30 in returns across livelihoods, climate resilience, food- and ecosystems.  

“Water is life. But water is also land, food and peace,” noted UNCCD’s Yasmine Fouad. “Food systems cannot be resilient without resilient water systems. And water systems cannot be resilient without healthy land.” 

Message from Rome 

By the close of the two dialogues, the threads of land and water had been woven together into one key message: the crises cannot be solved in isolation. Restoring rangelands and securing water systems are two sides of the same coin - essential for food, climate and peace. 

As summed up by the UNCCD Executive Secretary Yasmine Fouad, “Sustainable management of water and rangelands to ensure food security: one action with double result. The global community will deliver together at UNCCD COP 17.” 

The meetings also highlighted the importance of inclusion. Women, Indigenous Peoples and youth are not only among the most affected - they are also at the forefront of solutions. From pastoralists restoring grasslands in the Sahel, to young innovators designing climate-smart tools, to women safeguarding seeds and heritage, their leadership is already reshaping the future. 

With UNCCD COP17 in Mongolia and the International Year of Rangelands and Pastoralists approaching, the message from Rome is clear: the tools and knowledge exist. What is needed now is the political will to scale them up, protecting both the natural systems that sustain life and the cultures that give them meaning.