Colombia tests forage crops against climate change

Posted on 26 Nov 2010 by Peter Ballantyne (ILRI) • Leave a comment

Colombia, with 24 million head of cattle, is showcasing two advances towards reducing the 13 percent of climate-changing gas emissions attributed to livestock production around the world. The key words in this endeavour: brachialactone and Lotus uliginosus. Brachialactone, a chemical compound discovered in this Andean country on the roots of the African Brachiaria humidicola, gives … Continue reading →

Africa / Asia / CCAFS / Climate Change / Latin America

Poor countries need more support to adapt to climate change

Posted on 23 Nov 2010 by Susan MacMillan • Leave a comment

Preparing land for sowing seeds in Debre Zeit, Ethiopia (photo credit: ILRI/Mann). ‘A report published Wednesday [17 November 2010] says developed nations are not fulfilling the financial promises they made at a United Nations conference last year aimed at helping poor countries deal with climate change. ‘At a U.N. climate change summit in Copenhagen last … Continue reading →

Agriculture / Asia / Climate Change / India / Knowledge and Information / Research / South Asia

Dependence on borrowed research has cost India

Posted on 21 Nov 2010 by Peter Ballantyne (ILRI) • Leave a comment

Even as the Indian Network for Climate Change Assessment — dubbed “the Indian Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)” — released its first report on the impact of climate change in four regions of the country, it admitted that significant research gaps and lack of extensive databases were hampering Indian climate science. Long-term localised data … Continue reading →

Africa / Asia / CCAFS / Climate Change / Research / South Asia

New scientific body to address ‘Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security’

Posted on 18 Nov 2010 by Susan MacMillan • Leave a comment

Sahelian sheep look for food before the mosque at Djenne, in Mali (photo credit: ILRI/Mann). A new research program on ‘Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security’ (CCAFS) was launched this week. It will link much of the best climate-related agricultural research for development work going on at the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) and 14 … Continue reading →

Climate Change / Environment / Kenya

Kenya to launch Africa’s first carbon exchange

Posted on 12 Nov 2010 by ILRI Communications • Leave a comment

Kenya is to launch a climate exchange platform to facilitate the trading of carbon credits and help tackle climate change. The market will be the first of its kind in Africa, enabling all African countries to sell their carbon credits. The exchange is expected to be open for business by the middle of next year. … Continue reading →

Africa / Asia / Climate Change / Latin America

UN climate chief confident Cancun will establish a ‘Green Fund’ to help developing nations cope with climate change

Posted on 12 Nov 2010 by Susan MacMillan • Leave a comment

Christiana Figueres, the Costa Rican Executive Secretary of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (photo credit: Adopt a Negotiator’s Photostream on flickr). Despite the fact that governments of industrialized countries are focusing on balancing their budgets in these hard fiscal times, new UN climate chief Figueres is optimistic that a deal will be struck … Continue reading →

Asia / Climate Change / Environment / Pakistan / South Asia

Keep funding pots for climate change and development issues separate: both are needed–Potsdam scientist

Posted on 12 Nov 2010 by Susan MacMillan • Leave a comment

Last month, the Ministry of Environment of Pakistan, in collaboration with One UN Joint Programme on Environment, based in Islamabad, which supports Pakistan in fulfilling its international obligations towards environmental treaties and agreements, organized an International Conference on Climate Change and Development, 21–22 October 2010, in Islamabad, Pakistan, to take stock of the unfolding effects of … Continue reading →

CCAFS / Climate Change / North America / Research

Climate scientists take their arguments to their skeptics

Posted on 10 Nov 2010 by Susan MacMillan • Leave a comment

Climate scientists gather at a meeting of the Challenge Program on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS) in Nairobi, Kenya in May 2010 (photo credit CCAFS). The Los Angeles Times reported on 8 November 2010 that climate scientists in the US are joining forces and taking their arguments to groups of global warming skeptics. … Continue reading →

Africa / Agriculture / Asia / CCAFS / CGIAR / Climate Change / Directorate / Food Security / Latin America / Research / Vietnam

Multi-donor trust fund to spur multi-partner science tackling big food production problems in poor countries

Posted on 9 Nov 2010 by Susan MacMillan • Leave a comment

From a new blog from the Fund Office of the Consultative Group on International Agriculutral Research (CGIAR), to which the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) belongs, comes this news about new funding for agricultural research for development. ‘In a powerful display of solidarity with the world’s poor, key donors and stakeholders meeting in Washington, D.C. … Continue reading →

Africa / Animal Production / Asia / Climate Change / Environment / Latin America / Livestock Systems / Pro-Poor Livestock

Simple livestock production changes could help both farmers and the environment

Posted on 2 Nov 2010 by Susan MacMillan • 1 Comment

Typical smallholder livestock household in Berhampore Village, West Bengal, India (photo credit: ILRI/MacMillan). The following excerpts are from an article by Philip Thornton published yesterday (1 November 2010) in a Global Food Security Blog. Thornton cites a new paper he and his colleague Mario Herrero have published in a prestigious scientific journal that outlines how … Continue reading →