Category Archives: Regions

Drought / Drylands / DRYLANDSCRP / East Africa / Ethiopia / Event / Food Security / ILRI / Kenya / Pastoralism / Somalia / Vulnerability

East Africa can–and should–help livestock herders cope better with drought

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Dasanech nomadic homes near Omorate, in southern Ethiopia (photo on Flickr by Carsten ten Brink). Cathy Majtenyi of Voice of America reported on meetings in Nairobi this week to look at options for mitigating drought-induced food shortages. They say pastoralism is the best land-use practice in the region’s drylands and are looking at ways to help … Continue reading →

Drought / East Africa / Ethiopia / Event / Food Security / ILRI / Kenya / Pastoralism / Somalia / Vulnerability

‘It’s not drought, but vulnerability to drought, that’s eroding food security in the Horn’–USAID’s Jeff Hill

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Jeff Hill, Director of Policy at the Bureau of Food Security, at the United State Agency for International Development (USAID), speaks at a news briefing on ‘Research Options for Mitigating Drought-induced Food Crises,’ 1 Sep 2011 (photo credit: ILRI/Samuel Mungai). Mark Tran reports in the Guardian‘s Poverty Matters Blog on yesterday’s meeting of experts on … Continue reading →

Drought / East Africa / Ethiopia / Event / Food Security / ILRI / Kenya / Pastoralism / Somalia / Vulnerability

‘The food crisis in the Horn is essentially a livestock crisis’–Lloyd Le Page, CEO of the CGIAR

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Voice of America’s Cathy Majtenyi interviews CGIAR CEO Lloyd Le Page at the CGIAR News Briefing on ‘Research Options for Mitigating Drought-induced Food Crises,’ 1 Sep 2011 (photo credit: ILRI/Susan MacMillan). Katy Migiro summarizes on Alertnet four ways to prevent famine in the Horn of Africa raised by experts meeting at the opening in Kenya … Continue reading →

Drought / East Africa / Food Security / ILRI / Kenya / Pastoralism / Vulnerability

News conference today on Horn’s food crises: Participate via a live video link and chat channel

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The CGIAR Consortium is holding a live interactive panel today on challenges and solutions to the Food Crisis in the Horn of Africa. The Daily Kos also reports that Chris Funk, who leads a Famine Early Warning System Network (FEWS Net), says that FEWS Net gave early warning of the drought-related hunger facing the Horn … Continue reading →

Drought / Drylands / DRYLANDSCRP / East Africa / ILRI / Kenya / Pastoralism / Vulnerability

Mobile herding remains a productive and sustainable use of drylands

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A Dinka cattle camp at sunset in Abyei, Sudan; the Sudanese Dinka people migrate north with 5,000 of their cattle from Warrap State to Abyei when floods hit their grazing area (photo on Flickr by UN/Tim McKulka). Migratory herding is one of the most productive uses of drylands, says the Kenyan newspaper the Daily Nation. The … Continue reading →

A4NH / Africa / Agri-Health / Animal Diseases / Asia / Capacity Strengthening / Emerging Diseases / Human Health / Livestock / South Asia / Southeast Asia / West Africa / Zoonotic Diseases

Strengthening laboratory capacity in response to emerging pandemic threats: FAO, OIE and WHO working together

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Early detection of zoonotic pathogens emerging in wild and domestic animal populations before they become a threat to human health is a priority for the public health and animal health sectors. An effective and credible laboratory service is an essential component of such early detection systems. As part of the USAID Emerging Pandemic Threats (EPT) … Continue reading →

CCAFS / Climate Change / Drought / East Africa / Film and video / Food Security / Insurance / Vulnerability

Reverse decline in agricultural development in drought-ravaged Horn of Africa–Jim Hansen

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Climate and food security expert Jim Hansen, based at the International Research Institute for Climate and Society, at Colombia University, recently laid out some of the causes of food insecurity in drought-afflicted East Africa. Among the main reasons he cites is a decline, since the 1990s, in agricultural research and development in this region, a … Continue reading →

Drought / Drylands / DRYLANDSCRP / East Africa / Food Security / ILRI / Kenya / Pastoralism / Report / Vulnerability

Free livestock movements and viable livestock markets help pastoralists cope with droughts in Horn

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Watering camels in a makeshift trough on the road from Wajir to Garissa, in northeast Kenya; herders are taking advantage of the rains to water their livestock after a long period of drought (photo on Flickr by Ann Weru/IRIN). The New Agriculturist this month reports on a recent study by the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) … Continue reading →

Drought / East Africa / Eritrea / Ethiopia / Food Security / Kenya / Pastoralism / Vulnerability

Where people are starving, and where they are not, reflects more on African leaders than on the climate–Mark Malloch-Brown

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The landscape of Tigray, Ethiopia, which was the centre of famine in that country 25 years ago but is now managing to remain food secure due to years of agricultural and other investments (photo on Flickr by hhesterr). Mark Malloch-Brown is in good, and candid, form in an opinion piece in Reuters published yesterday. ‘. … Continue reading →

Africa / Biodiversity / East Africa / Ethiopia / ILRI / Indigenous Breeds / Livestock / Report / Research / Sheep / Small Ruminants

Characterization and conservation of indigenous sheep genetic resources

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A research report by Solomon Gizaw, H. Komen, O. Hanotte, J.A.M. van Arendonk, Steve Kemp, Aynalem Haile, O. Mwai and Tadelle Dessie on Characterization and conservation of indigenous sheep genetic resources: A practical framework for developing countries was released on 12 April 2011. Livestock characterization projects in developing regions are characterized by a mere physical description of traditionally … Continue reading →