Katharine Downie, Coordinator for the Technical Consortium for Building Resilience in the Horn of Africa, ILRI, at the side event, “Measuring and Evaluating Resilience in Drylands of East Africa”. IFPRI 2020 conference on Building Resilience for Food and Nutrition Security, May 15-17, 2014, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. More information at http://www.2020resilience.ifpri.info

The semi-arid Kitengela plains south of Nairobi National Park (NNP) have been the longtime

home of the Kaputiei Maasai community. Together with NNP these plains form the

Athi-Kaputiei ecosystem. The plains host rich populations of wildlife and are vital to the

health of NNP, since 70 to 80 percent of the Park’s animals roam outside it’s boundaries

at any one time.

But the rangeland that once seemed endless is now splintering. Close to the ever

expanding Nairobi, the Kitengela plains are experiencing a population boom, rising land

Examines the interdisciplinary research being pursued by the ILCA East African Range Livestock Systems Study (EARLSS) team in Kenya, discussing the rationale for an interdisciplinary aproach to the study, factors which led to the concentration of the team's investigation on Maasai pastoralists, and background information on Kenya's Kajiado District & on the three group ranches where the study is focused. Describes the research design & methodology adopted by the EARLSS team, including the initial inventory survey, sampling procedures, dif.

Pastoralism is the dominant livelihood activity in the North Eastern Province (NEP) of Kenya. It is supplemented only by a limited amount of agriculture along the rivers. The province faces various developmental challenges including chronic poverty and food insecurity, low human capital and poor health standards, high vulnerability to climate change, poor infrastructure, insecurity and low crop and livestock productivity.

The objectives of this study were to: (a) estimate milk and beef yields obtained from cows grazing pastures in different stages of degradation; (b) estimate income losses as a result of the degradation process; (c) estimate the proportion of pasture areas found in each stage of degradation within the six administrative regions of Honduras; and (d) identify different strategies and costs to recuperate degraded pastures. Data came from two surveys executed during a workshop carried out in March 2004.

Abstract not available.

Reviews most recent applications of methodologies for resource surveys appropriate to pastoral & agro-pastoral regions in Africa, with particular reference to remote sensing methodologies, viz. satellite imagery, aerial photography, side-looking radar (SLR), spectral radiance and low-altitutde aerial survey. Discusses the integration of remote sensing techniques with ground truth within the context of rapid appraisal methods and early warning procedures within a livestock systems research approach.

We assessed land use/land cover changes from remotely sensed satellite imagery and compared this with community perceptions on availability/use of livestock feed resources and feed deficit management strategies since the 1973s in three districts representing the pastoral, agro-pastoral and mixed crop-livestock eco-environments of Ethiopia.

Reviews the characteristics of African pastoralism. Describes the major technical land institutional interventions along with the reasons why they have proved so difficult.