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Abstract. Increasing world human population, declining reserves of cheaply extracted fossil

fuels, fresh water scarcity, and climatic instability will put tremendous pressure on world

rangelands as the 21st century progresses. It is expected the world human population will

increase by 40 percent by 2050 but fossil fuel and fresh water reserves will be drastically

reduced. Avoiding food shortages and famine could be a major world challenge within the next

10 years. Under these conditions, major changes in basic world policies relating to economic

growth and natural resource use seem essential. Human population stabilization; clean,

renewable energy development; enhanced water yields and quality; increased livestock

production; and changed land use policies that minimize agricultural land losses to development

and fragmentation will all be needed to avoid declining living conditions at the global level. The

health and productivity of rangelands will need to receive much more emphasis as they are the

primary sources of vital ecosystem services and products essential to human life. Changes in tax

policies by developed, affluent countries, such as the United States, Australia, and Canada, are

needed that emphasize saving and conservation as opposed to excessive material consumption

and land development. Extreme debt levels and chronic trade deficits by the United States and

European Union countries must be moderated to avoid a devastating collision of debt, natural

resource depletion, and environmental degradation. Over the next 10 years, range livestock

producers will benefit from a major increase in demand and prices for meat. Rapidly increasing

demand for meat in China is driving this trend. However, ranchers are also likely to encounter

greater climatic, financial, biological, and political risks. Higher interest rates, higher production

costs, and higher annual variability in forage resources are major challenges that will confront

ranchers in the years ahead. Under these conditions, a low risk approach to range livestock

production is recommended that involves conservative stocking, use of highly adapted livestock,

and application of range livestock behavioral knowledge to efficiently use forage resources.