Fiona Flintan
Senior Scientist | International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI)About Speaker
Fiona Flintan is a distinguished Senior Scientist specialising in rangelands and pastoralism at the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI). She has spent much of the past fifteen years living in Ethiopia and working across East Africa, including Tanzania, where she has spent the last ten years supporting pastoral communities in securing their land rights. With a background spanning agriculture, livestock, and climate change, Fiona has shaped research on sustainable pastoral systems both regionally and globally, including participatory rangeland management to reposition communities as leaders in the management and restoration of their lands. She led the CGIAR Research Initiative on Livestock and Climate, addressing the complex interactions between livestock production and climate dynamics. Fiona now leads the GEF-funded STELARR (Sustainable Investments for Large Scale Rangeland Restoration) Project, implemented by IUCN and executed by ILRI and partners, which aims to mobilise commercial finance for rangeland restoration through sustainable livestock value chains.
A global advocate for rangelands, Fiona contributes to initiatives such as the UN Decade of Ecosystem Restoration (2021–2030), the International Year of Rangelands and Pastoralists (IYRP) 2026, the creation of the first global rangelands atlas and soon to be soon-to-be-launched global rangelands data platform.