CLEANED provides a rapid assessment that quantifies potential environmental impacts of planned livestock development interventions at multiple spatial scales. With a particular focus on developing countries, it requires participatory discussions with local communities to make sure that assessments are relevant to local agro-ecological landscapes and production systems. Continue reading
Category Archives: SLS
Sustainable Livestock Systems program
Thinking ‘beyond the farm’—On Germany’s longstanding commitment to agricultural research for development
Watch and listen to Stefan Schmitz, head of Food, Agriculture & Rural Development at Germany’s Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ), as he delivers a short (6-minute) filmed presentation at one of several linked collaborative events led by the CGIAR Research Program on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS) and held on the sidelines of the 23rd Session of the Conference of the Parties (COP23) to the United Nations Framework on Climate Change (UNFCCC) on 7 Nov 2017 in Bonn, Germany. Continue reading
Agriculture can rein in greenhouse gas emissions ‘immediately’, say UN and CGIAR
‘”In the next few years . . . agriculture . . . could produce early results immediately, cost-effectively and all over the world”, René Castro of the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) told the COP23 climate talks in Bonn.’ Continue reading
In pursuit of low-emissions cows—ILRI’s Jimmy Smith and John Goopy on transforming ‘idling’ cows to climate-smart animals ‘zooming down the highway’
Researchers are on the hunt for a cow that produces less methane, one of the major contributors to climate change. If and when those green genes can be easily isolated, they could be spread throughout global cattle populations. Continue reading
Index-based livestock insurance offers protection against lack of rainfall in Ethiopia’s southern Borena zone
Initially intended only as insurance against the death of livestock, the insurance scheme has evolved into a product to help pastoralists keep their animals alive, according to Masresha Taye, who coordinates the programme in Ethiopia for the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI). Continue reading
Delivering smart climate change adaptation and mitigation options for East African agriculture
On 30 May 2017, the CGIAR Research Program on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS) and the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) held a science seminar at ILRI’s campus in Nairobi on delivering climate change options for the region. Participants shared knowledge and discussed best practices—and persistent gaps—in climate change adaptation and mitigation options for East Africa’s millions of small-scale food producers. Continue reading
Why an Indian environmentalist does not advocate vegetarianism, or condemn meat eating, for her country
As an Indian (I underline Indian) environmentalist I would not advocate vegetarianism for the following reasons. Continue reading
New USAID grant to asses projects aiming to reduce poverty and the need for food aid in Kenya’s drylands
A new grant funds a project, recently launched by UC Davis researchers in northern Kenya, that will use a randomized, controlled trial to evaluate the impacts of combining programs that offer training, support and aid with affordable insurance to reduce chronic poverty.
The new project is led by Michael Carter, a professor of agricultural and resource economics and director of the Feed the Future Innovation Lab for Assets and Market Access at UCD, and Andrew Mude from the International Livestock Research Institute, or ILRI, in Kenya. The researchers hope the project will help create a pathway out of poverty and reduce the need for aid, which Kenya’s government provides each year, even without drought. Continue reading
Kenya risks losing 18 animal and bird species, and the ecosystem services they provide—Research report
A group of scientists led by Dr Joseph Ogutu say Kenya risks losing 18 animal and bird species due to negligence. They include warthogs, lesser kudu, Thomson’s gazelle, eland, oryx, topi, hartebeest, impala, Grévy’s zebra, waterbuck, wildebeest, giraffe, gerenuk, Grant’s gazelle, buffalo, elephant, ostrich and Burchell’s zebra. Continue reading
New paper reveals nexus between scientific assessment methods and social accountability
A newly published study analysed socioecological assessment technologies to establish how scientific socio-ecological assessments promote science-policy-practice and how scientific choices can simplify complex sociological relationships with implications for science-policy-practice Continue reading