This is a refutation of Allan Savory claims that his "planned grazing" method was necessary to reverse desertification and climate change as presented in the video "How to green the world's deserts and reverse climate change" that was presented in session 7 at the 2013 TED (Technology, Entertainment, Design) Conference on 27 February 2013 in Long Beach, California.

Allan Savory stated that his “planned grazing” method was necessary to reverse two of the world’s most challenging and interlinked global change processes—desertification and climate change—in the video “How to green the world’s deserts and reverse climate change” that was presented in session 7 at the 2013 TED (Technology, Entertainment, Design) Conference on 27 February 2013 in Long Beach, California.ⁱ As members of the scientific community, it is our obligation to evaluate the claims made in this video relative to the existing scientific information on this topic.

We find all of Mr Savory’s major claims to be unfounded and we express deep concern that they have the potential to undermine proven, practical approaches to rangeland management and restoration that are supported by a global community of practitioners and scientists. The two major assumptions underlying Mr Savory’s presentation are alone sufficient grounds for extreme skepticism. First is that humans have misunderstood the basic grassland–grazer relationships for centuries and that only he knows the true nature of this relationship. Second is that use of intensive, concentrated livestock grazing, specific to the method that Mr Savory developed, is the only viable solution to reverse desertification and climate change. In addition to challenging these two highly problematic assumptions, we present a spe-cific critique of three invalid arguments that Mr Savory used to claim that his grazing method can reverse desertification, climate change, and alleviate human suffering and death (19:00 in video).