Category Archives: Resilience

When ‘Do no harm’ is harder than ‘doing good’
Animal Feeding / Cattle / Dairying / Drought / Drylands / East Africa / Fodder / Food Security / Gender / Goats / ILRI / Intensification / LIVESTOCKFISH / Pastoralism / PIL / Pro-Poor Livestock / Project / Rangelands / Resilience / Sheep / Small Ruminants / Spotlight / Tanzania / Women

When ‘Do no harm’ is harder than ‘doing good’

Posted on by • 1 Comment

Agricultural researchers working to enhance traditional pasture conservation by Tanzania’s pastoral Maasai communities are systematically addressing gendered norms and roles to ensure that they don’t end up hurting more than helping these communities. Continue reading →

Livestock-wildlife trade-offs for pastoral livelihoods in the conservancies of the Masai Mara
Biodiversity / Climate Change / East Africa / Environment / ILRI / Kenya / Pastoralism / Policy / Pro-Poor Livestock / Rangelands / Resilience / Science paper / SLS / Spotlight / Wildlife

Livestock-wildlife trade-offs for pastoral livelihoods in the conservancies of the Masai Mara

Posted on by • 2 Comments

A new research paper, Trade-offs for climate-resilient pastoral livelihoods in wildlife conservancies in the Mara ecosystem, Kenya, was recently published in Pastoralism: Research, Policy and Practice, May 2017. The paper is co-authored by Claire Bedelian, of the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI), Overseas Development Institute (ODI), and University College London (UCL), and Joseph Ogutu, of ILRI and the University of Hohenheim. Continue reading →

From livestock smallholders to ‘smartholders’: Nurturing development with animal-source foods
Agri-Health / Animal Products / Consumption / Crop-Livestock / Directorate / Event / Food Security / Human Health / ILRI / Livelihoods / Livestock Systems / Nutrition / Policy / Presentation / Pro-Poor Livestock / Research / Resilience / Spotlight

From livestock smallholders to ‘smartholders’: Nurturing development with animal-source foods

Posted on by • Leave a comment

Scientists from across the globe gathered at the University of Florida’s Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences on 29–30 Mar 2017 to discuss ways to improve nutrition through animal-source foods in some of the most impoverished regions in the world. Chronically affecting 24 per cent of the world’s children, roughly 159 million in 2014, malnutrition is responsible for almost half of all child deaths worldwide. Jimmy Smith, director general of ILRI, was one of the keynote speakers at the opening of the Global Nutrition Symposium, the theme of which was ‘Nurturing development: Improving human nutrition with animal-source foods’. Continue reading →

Research to help secure rangelands for users presented at World Bank Land and Poverty Conference
Drylands / Event / Livestock Systems / Pastoralism / Rangelands / Resilience / SLS

Research to help secure rangelands for users presented at World Bank Land and Poverty Conference

Posted on by • Leave a comment

Together with its partners, the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) has now taken its research agenda on adaptation and resilience a notch higher, at the on-going Annual World Bank Conference on Land and Poverty themed ‘Responsible Land Governance—Towards an Evidence-Based Approach’. ILRI is one of the major partners that have supported this premier global forum on land governance. Continue reading →

CGIAR livestock support is enhancing community resilience in the face of on-going drought in the Horn of Africa
CGIAR / Climate Change / Drought / Drylands / East Africa / Ethiopia / Event / Food Security / ILRI / Insurance / Kenya / LIVESTOCKCRP / Pastoralism / PIL / Policy / Pro-Poor Livestock / Project / Rangelands / Resilience / SLS / Somalia / South Sudan / Spotlight / Sudan / Trade / Vulnerability

CGIAR livestock support is enhancing community resilience in the face of on-going drought in the Horn of Africa

Posted on by • 2 Comments

Widespread drought conditions in the Horn of Africa have intensified since the failure of the Oct–Dec 2016 rains. Areas of greatest concern cover much of Somalia, northeast and coastal Kenya, southeast Ethiopia and the Afar region, and South Sudan, which faces a serious food crisis due to protracted insecurity. One focus of the East African-headquartered International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) is to help developing-country livestock communities enhance their resilience in the face of recurring droughts. ILRI belongs to CGIAR—a global research partnership of 15 centres and their partners working yo reduce poverty, enhance food and nutrition security and improve natural resources and ecosystem services. Continue reading →

Record payouts being made by Kenya Government and insurers to protect herders facing historic drought
Camels / Cattle / CCAFS / Climate Change / Drought / Drylands / East Africa / Event Report / Goats / ILRI / Insurance / Kenya / Launch / Pastoralism / Policy / Pro-Poor Livestock / Rangelands / Resilience / Scaling / Sheep / SLS / Small Ruminants / Spotlight / Vulnerability / Water

Record payouts being made by Kenya Government and insurers to protect herders facing historic drought

Posted on by • 1 Comment

More than Ksh214 million is on tap for 12,000 pastoral households in six counties of northern Kenya through innovative policies that use satellite imagery to trigger payments for feed, veterinary supplies and water. Continue reading →

On selling insurance (not lottery tickets) to Africa’s struggling (stargazing) livestock herders–New York Times
Article / CCAFS / Climate Change / Drought / Drylands / East Africa / Ethiopia / ILRI / Insurance / Kenya / Livelihoods / LIVESTOCKFISH / Opinion Piece / Pastoralism / Pro-Poor Livestock / Rangelands / Resilience / SLS / Spotlight / Vulnerability

On selling insurance (not lottery tickets) to Africa’s struggling (stargazing) livestock herders–New York Times

Posted on by • Leave a comment

Insurance that pays out when forage coverage drops—known as index-based livestock insurance—is an elegant idea. Andrew Mude, an economist and principal scientist at ILRI, last month was awarded the Norman Borlaug Award for Field Research and Application. The award, a major prize in agricultural research, is given by the World Food Prize Foundation and financed by the Rockefeller Foundation. Tina Rosenberg covers the story in the New York Times. Continue reading →

A first look at ILRI’s new research programs: Sustainable Livestock Systems
Climate Change / Drought / Drylands / Environment / ILRI / Intensification / NRM / Participation / Pastoralism / Rangelands / Resilience / SLS / Vulnerability

A first look at ILRI’s new research programs: Sustainable Livestock Systems

Posted on by • Leave a comment

BETTER SCIENCE, BETTER LIVES The International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI), headquartered in Africa and working in poor countries worldwide to provide better lives through livestock, held its Institute Planning Meeting from 4 to 7 Oct 2016. This is the sixth of a series of blog articles reporting on plans for ILRI research programs, including ILRI’s work in … Continue reading →

Kenyan accepts 2016 Norman Borlaug Award for Field Research and Application at World Food Prize Event in Iowa
Africa / Animal Production / Award / CCAFS / CGIAR / Climate Change / Drought / Drylands / Ethiopia / Food Security / ILRI / Insurance / Kenya / Livelihoods / Pastoralism / Policy / Pro-Poor Livestock / Rangelands / Resilience / SLS / Spotlight

Kenyan accepts 2016 Norman Borlaug Award for Field Research and Application at World Food Prize Event in Iowa

Posted on by • Leave a comment

Andrew Mude, an economist and principal scientist at ILRI, is being presented with the 2016 Norman Borlaug Award for Field Research and Application today, 12 Oct 2016, for his work leading an innovative livestock insurance program that employs satellite data to help protect livestock herding communities in the Horn of Africa from the devastating effects of drought. Continue reading →

Kenya’s wildlife populations are in ‘widespread’ and ‘catastrophic’ decline—New study
Article / Biodiversity / Cattle / Drylands / East Africa / Environment / Goats / ILRI / Kenya / Pastoralism / Policy / Rangelands / Resilience / Sheep / SLS / Small Ruminants / Spotlight / Wildlife

Kenya’s wildlife populations are in ‘widespread’ and ‘catastrophic’ decline—New study

Posted on by • Leave a comment

Here’s a wake up call for all those who care about Kenya’s rich heritage of wild animals, rangelands and pastoral peoples. A new study reporting on the period from 1977 to 2016 says wildlife on the rangelands of Kenya, which still support some of the richest herds of mammals on earth, is in precipitous decline while populations of goats and sheep are increasingly sharply. Continue reading →