Pastoralists have a unique relationship of mutual dependency with their livestock and their environment; the uniqueness of this relationship distinguishes them from other livestock keepers. They depend highly on the environment where they develop their livelihood, that they make productive through highly adapted animals, but at the same time the quality of this environment depends on how well they take care of it, which in turns depends on complex social regulations and on large-scale mobility. The way they keep their animals forms part of their daily life and of a complex culture.

The workshop, “System Analysis for Rangeland Management in Yabello”, involved multiple stakeholders analyzing the complex factors that affect rangeland condition and management, and considering implications for planning and decision-making around key issues. The workshop aimed to complement activities which are already ongoing including the planning being done by community Rangeland Councils in Yabello Woreda and elsewhere in Borena Zone.

This document series compiles key indicators from the three levels of the baseline for each site. Indicators include: demography and basic site characteristics of each site, rainfall distribution, changes in farming practices and land management, income sources, food security and food

sources, asset ownership by households and involvement in organisations and more. This CCAFS baseline indicator document was developed for the CCAFS site at Borana/Yabero, in Ethiopia.

Periscope interview with Siboniso Moyo, program leader of the the ILRI Animal Science for Sustainable Productivity program and director general's representative in Ethiopia. Filmed for World Food Day 2015.

High grazing intensity and wide-spread woody encroachment may strongly alter soil carbon (C) and nitrogen (N) pools. However, the direction and quantity of these changes have rarely been quantified in East African savanna ecosystem. As shifts in soil C and N pools might further potentially influence climate change mitigation, we quantified and compared soil organic carbon (SOC) and total soil nitrogen (TSN) content in enclosures and communal grazing lands across varying woody cover i.e. woody encroachment levels.

El objetivo de esta investigación fue evaluar la respuesta productiva relacionada al nivel de inclusión de alimento concentrado en la dieta de vacas lecheras en fincas, asociadas a la empresa Productores de Monteverde S.A. La recolección de información se llevó a cabo durante el cuarto trimestre del año 2007 y el primer trimestre del 2008, en fincas ubicadas en: Puntarenas, Guanacaste y Alajuela, Costa Rica.

Soil loss is not limited to change from forest or woodland to other land uses/covers. It may occur when there is agricultural land-use/cover modification or conversion. Soil loss may influence loss of carbon from the soil, hence implication on greenhouse gas emission. Changing land use could be considered actually or potentially successful in adapting to climate change, or may be considered maladaptation if it creates environmental degradation.

The socio-ecological system dominated by pastureland in the Asteroussia Mountains (Crete, Greece) was analyzed over a long time interval (1945–2010) to identify the most relevant system’s characteristics and changes. Vegetation cover and land-uses have been quantified by analyzing aerial photographs exploring the whole study period. Soil characteristics have been assessed by carrying out an extensive field survey for the last reference year (2010) and by estimating the average soil loss for the past period using the PESERA soil erosion model validated by field measurements.

The adoption and adaptation of enclosures in the arid and semi-arid rangelands of sub-Saharan Africa is driven and sustained by a combination of factors. However, reviews indicate that these factors cannot be generalized, as they tend to be case specific. A study was therefore conducted to explore the history and reasons for enclosure establishment in Chepareria, a formerly degraded communal rangeland in north-western Kenya.