Pastoralist women and girls play key roles in caring for our global rangelands and producing food and fiber from livestock. Despite their critical contributions to tradition-keeping, innovation and entrepreneurship, food security, climate resilience, and peacemaking, the work of pastoralist women is largely unrecognized and undervalued. They often lack secure land rights, suffer disproportionate impacts from climate change, and are excluded from key policy decisions that affect them.

The Global Gathering of Pastoralist Women (Mera +16) will bring together pastoralist and ranching women from around the world to celebrate and support their initiatives, strengthen solidarity and networks across regions, identify shared priorities, and amplify pastoralist women’s voices in international discussions about rangelands and pastoralism. The Gathering aims to ensure pastoralist women’s voices and perspectives are included in all decisions that affect them, from the local to the global.