Overall, our global population has a very limited knowledge of rangeland ecosystems and the communities who most depend on them, despite the fact that rangelands comprise over half of the world's land area and supply vital ecosystem services such as food, fiber, and recreation. Therefore, how can we increase public understanding about rangeland systems to heighten awareness and improve rangeland policies and stewardship? The International Year of Rangelands and Pastoralists (IYRP) will occur in 2026 as appr oved by the United Nations General Assembly in 2022. Many events are planned to celebrate the IYRP, with a major emphasis on expanding global awareness. The FIFA World Cup is also happening in 2026, which after the Summer Olympics is one of the greatest world sporting events. This sporting event is held once every four years. The most recent FIFA World Cup was hosted by Qatar and was watched by over five billion people (61% of the global human population). For the first time in history, the 2026 FIFA World Cup will be hosted by multiple nations: the United States, Mexico, and Canada. Can the IYRP leverage attention for the 2026 FIFA World Cup to boost public appreciation for global rangelands and pastoralism? If so, how might this be achieved? Social media offers several tools and opportunities that could be useful to this end. In the lead-up to the games, for example, creative posts of rangeland residents playing soccer on unique, beautiful, and remote landscapes combined with targeted messaging could attract a large audience. This poster will explore various social media options, tentative frameworks or approaches, and the general feasibility for achieving impact. Partnerships with groups such as the IYRP Pastoralist Youth Working Group -distributed across 11 regions worldwide-could help provide raw material in the form of videos, photos, text, and artwork.
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