Tagline: Developing and testing climate smart livestock solutions
Champion: Jean Hanson
Team: ASSP and Feed and Forage Biosciences team
Climate change scenarios predict a very different world in 2050 with reduced and more erratic rainfall in many parts of sub-Saharan Africa, posing challenges for livestock production systems and those who depend on agriculture for their livelihoods. Research on solutions for livestock systems to adapt to the effects of climate change in 10-20 years needs to start NOW. This project would take a long term multi-disciplinary systems approach to developing mitigation and adaptation strategies in climate smart livestock systems. Work would be implemented in some pilot livestock systems that are hot spots or bright spots for climate change. A coalition of partners would work with farmers to identify the positive impacts of livestock on the environment and find solutions that combine productivity gains with environmental benefits – a win-win situation.
Recognizing that systems are complex and dynamic and that the major constraints of health, feeds and breeds are inter-related and inter-dependent with policies, institutions and markets, the first step would be participatory systems analysis to identify positive environmental benefits that already exist and can be piloted in other locations or livestock-environment issues that require research. Research would combine traditional knowledge and land management with introduction of new technologies for livestock disease control, better improved breeds and feeds, reduced greenhouse gas emissions from livestock, carbon sequestration and natural resource management. Models would be used for targeting interventions and assessing ex ante impacts of selected technologies on the environment, livestock productivity and smallholder livelihoods. The final step would be to take the new improved climate smart livestock systems to scale to support increased livestock and farm productivity with positive environmental benefits.
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