An animated 3-minute video clip by the University of Minnesota’s Institute for the Environment. Justin Gillis has published an interesting piece this week in the Green Blog of the New York Times on a big study just published in Nature by Jon Foley, director of the Institute on the Environment at the University of Minnesota. … Continue reading
The following three slide presentations were presented this August (2011) by scientists working at the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI), in Nairobi, Kenya, on topics related to sustaining pastoral production systems in the Horn of Africa. In light of the drought ravaging Kenya’s north and the drylands of other countries of Africa’s Horn, the results … Continue reading
Livestock are the best tool available to arrest the impact of environmental degradation on climate change, grazing management pioneer Allan Savory told Australians this week. Mr Savory, who gave the keynote address to the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification in Bonn a fortnight ago, admits that his assessment is counter-intuitive and “extremely unpopular” when … Continue reading
The inaugural issue of a new journal – Animal Frontiers‘ – has just been launched by the American Society of Animal Science (ASAS), the European Federation of Animal Science (EAAP), and the Canadian Society of Animal Science (CSAS). Each issue will consist of invited peer-reviewed articles that present several international perspectives on the status of … Continue reading
The World Resources Institute (WRI) is blogging about a collaborative project called Virtual Kenya, which it is leading with the Nairobi-based International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI), and Upande Ltd, a Nairobi-based company bringing geographic information systems and web mapping to the African market. ‘Two weeks ago, WRI and Kenyan partners Upande Ltd., Wildlife Clubs of … Continue reading
Australia’s CSIRO is undertaking an extensive research program focused on developing practical solutions for significantly reducing methane emissions from livestock such as sheep and cattle. Incorporating research at the cellular, animal, and landscape levels, it is working on three related projects: Microbiological research to understand methane production in the rumen and to develop biological methods for reducing this … Continue reading
Plains game and Masai livestock are relatively compatible in Kitengela and other East African pastoral lands (photo credit: ILRI/Mann). The non-governmental ‘Friends of Nairobi National Park’ organization report the following story this month about a ground count of the wild mammals inhabiting the rangelands an hour’s drive from Kenya’s capital of Nairobi, rangelands that not … Continue reading
Bruce Scott, director of Partnerships and Communications at the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI), was a main speaker at the launch of ‘Virtual Kenya’ at Nairobi’s iHub this week (photo credit: ILRI/Mungai). Spatial information—including where different populations live and where natural resources are located—is essential for sound development planning and decision-making. A new website launched … Continue reading
The African Cape buffalo (photo credit: ILRI/Elsworth). Is conservation of wild mammals and their environments in Africa at a crisis point? Are wildlife populations “crashing” in Africa’s most renowned wildlife reserves? Two new reports suggest that may be the case. The following was reported in the Guardian today. ‘The Okavango delta in Botswana has suffered … Continue reading
The June 2011 special issue of Animal Feed Science and Technology is focused on ‘Greenhouse Gases in Animal Agriculture – Finding a Balance between Food and Emissions’. The special issues summarizes papers presented at the Greenhouse Gases (GHG) in Animal Agriculture Conference in Banff (Alberta, Canada) in October of 2010. The conference had over 400 … Continue reading
ILRI Clippings 