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This was the 7 th International Rangelands Congress, and the third which I have attended, the others being, Delhi in 1989 and Montpellier in 1994. There were over 500 delegates from 27 countries, mainly Australia, the USA and South Africa. There were very few delegates representing the UK (mainly from the Macaulay Institute) and DfID in particular, despite the fact that the LPP funds a number of projects in, or relevant to, the rangelands. The meeting followed the usual format with a ½-day plenary session followed by 2 full days of concurrent symposia. Overall, there were 20 symposia broken down under 3 main themes: Rangeland Biology, Rangeland Management and the Socio-Economics and Politics of Rangelands. One thing which struck me was how the Congress had moved from one which mainly addressed issues of livestock production and “weed” control, to one tackling issues of multiple stakeholders managing rangeland to meet a range of objectives. For example, there were sessions on wildlife, biodiversity, water, common property issues and rangelands as systems for multiple land use and livelihood support. I will highlight the new aspects coming from each theme and indicate new areas which would benefit from increased funding. (author introduction)