United Kingdom | Rangelands and pastoralists’ adaptations to climate change

2026 Top Agri-food Pioneers: Fiona Flintan

Over a 30-year career, Fiona Flintan has pioneered creative and innovative solutions to the often overlooked challenges facing the world’s rangelands, culminating in the designation of 2026 as the UN’s International Year of Rangelands and Pastoralists. Globally, rangelands provide more than 70% of the forage consumed by livestock, relied upon for food and income by 200 million pastoralists. To address this, Flintan led the development of the seminal Rangelands Atlas, drawing upon global datasets to show how climate change, biodiversity, land degradation and deforestation play out in rangelands. The Atlas fills a critical gap in evidence for restoring and building resilience in rangeland communities. Flintan leads ILRI’s work on rangelands and pastoralism integrating with political economy, governance, natural resource management and gender to support pastoralism as a food system, as a key contribution to the CGIAR Science Program on Multifunctional Landscapes and other projects.