In a new book chapter, Delia Grace, a veterinary epidemiologist and food safety expert at the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI), in Nairobi, Kenya, and the Natural Resources Institute, of the University of Greenwich, in the UK, says animal diseases are a threat not only to the livestock sector of southern Africa, but also to its economy (via reduced benefits from the region’s wildlife resources), and also to human health in the region. Continue reading
Category Archives: Story Type
ILRI launches new drought index insurance for resilience in the Sahel and Horn of Africa project
In July, ILRI launched a new Drought Index-insurance for Resilience in the Sahel and Horn of Africa (DIRISHA) project, focusing on pastoral systems in the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) region. Continue reading
Millions of new social groups are delivering better agricultural and land management
A new paper in the scientific journal Global Sustainability presents some interesting findings on the rise over the past 20 years in social movements around sustainability management. Jules Pretty, professor of environment and society at the Unversity of Essex, UK, is the lead author; ILRI’s Africa RISING project coordinator Peter Thorne is a co-author. Continue reading
Laughter, the universal language
I’m a gender researcher working on a project to control peste des petits ruminants (PPR). I have wondered what our international agricultural research would be like if we researchers and the farmers/herders we work with and for could all understand each other perfectly. Continue reading
Building gender sensitivity into the next generation of livestock scientists
About 20 research and graduate fellows attended a virtual training entitled ‘Integrating gender into livestock research’ which took place 16–17 Jul 2020. This two-day course was facilitated by Zoë Campbell and Renee Bullock of ILRI and hosted by Wellington Ekaya, ILRI’s head of capacity development. Continue reading
New project to improve agricultural productivity in Zimbabwe
A new European Union-funded ‘Livestock Production Systems in Zimbabwe’ (LIPS-Zim) project is working to increase agricultural productivity in the country’s agro-ecological Zones IV and V. It is promoting the adoption of climate-relevant innovations in livestock production systems and improving surveillance and control of livestock diseases. Launched on 1 January 2020, the LIPS-Zim project is implemented … Continue reading
A new ‘How-to-Do Note’ provides guidance on designing and implementing ‘gender and pastoralism’ projects
A new ‘How To Do Note on Gender and Pastoralism’ has been developed by the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) in collaboration with two CGIAR research programs – Policies, Institutions, and Markets (PIM) and Livestock . The note provides guidance on key issues to consider and tools and processes to use in project design and implementation. Continue reading
A One-Health approach is needed to protect both people and the planet—ILRI and UNEP leaders
Op-ed by ILRI’s Jimmy Smith and UNEP’s Inger Andersen arguing that human health, animal health and environmental health are inextricably linked, originally published in the Mail & Guardian (South Africa). Continue reading
Joint UN-CGIAR assessment explains how animal-to-human pandemics like COVID-19 occur and how to prevent them in future
A scientific assessment from the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) and ILRI finds that unless countries take dramatic steps to curb zoonotic contagions, global outbreaks like COVID-19 will become more common. The assessment, Preventing the next pandemic: Zoonotic diseases and how to break the chain of transmission, published on 6 July, describes how 60 per cent of the 1,400 microbes known to infect humans originated in animals. Continue reading
Unite human, animal and environmental health to prevent the next pandemic, says ILRI/UN report
The ‘Preventing the next pandemic: zoonotic diseases and how to break the chain of transmission,’ report is a joint effort by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and ILRI. Continue reading