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
Village scene in Gash-Barka, a region of Eritrea considered a breadbasket and with some 3.5 million head of livestock (photo on Flickr by Charles Fred). Scientist Chris Funk, who is part of a Climate Hazard Group at the University of California at Santa Barbara and also works with the Famine Early Warning Systems Network (FEWS NET), … Continue reading
Updated information as of 29 July 2011 by the Famine Early Warning System Network (FEWS NET) and the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) on the drought in the Horn of Africa (illustration credit: FEWS NET and OCHA). Food insecurity remains at emergency levels across parts of the Horn of Africa, famine … 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
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
ILRI scientist Polly Ericksen says that areas that will be hit hardest by climate change are areas where farmers are already struggling due to new weather patterns (image credit: ILRI/Anita Ghosh). Julio Godoy reported yesterday in Inter Press Service Africa (IPS) on the climate change meeting in Bonn, saying that climate change is putting African … Continue reading
Satellite images could soon be used in South Africa to quantify veld production, estimate livestock carrying capacity and help farmers plan fodder flow, reports Roelof Bezuidenhout. Read more … (Meat Trade News) Continue reading
A recent trial of global positioning system (GPS) tracking technology on Twynam Agriculture’s “Buttabone” property in Western NSW has shown that steers graze only a fraction of the paddock available to them. “Most graziers realise that their cattle don’t use the paddocks evenly,” said Dr Mark Trotter from the University of New England’s Precision Agriculture … Continue reading
This Publication by ILRI on Mapping a better future: how spatial analysis can benefit wetlands and reduce poverty in Uganda was released on 25 May, 2009 This publication presents results of a study carried on Ugandan abundant natural wealth. Its varied wetlands, including grass swamps, mountain bogs, seasonal floodplains, and swamp forests, provide services and … Continue reading
ILRI Clippings 