Livestock can be good for the environment. It depends on which livestock, where. Pastoralism – the system of often mobile, extensive livestock production on rangelands – can improve biodiversity, help sequester carbon and protect the environment. In the face of simplistic anti-livestock narratives, it is important to recognise the role of pastoral systems and pastoralists in addressing the linked crises of climate and biodiversity.

Huge global targets for tree planting are being set; everyone is urged to plant a tree to save the planet. But does this always make sense, particularly in rangelands where pastoralists live? Discussions in the run up to the UN’s COP15 conference on biodiversity have focused on tree planting as a way to combat desertification, improve biodiversity and address climate change through ‘carbon offset’ schemes. Many of these initiatives are deeply problematic, yet have targeted over one billion hectares of rangelands across the worldi .

Extensive livestock use can enhance biodiversity and support species conservation in multiple ways. Mobile pastoral systems can create bio-corridors through transhumance routes and disperse seeds, enhancing biodiversity across landscapes, for example. Mobile livestock also create fertile hotspots across rangelands, and livestock grazing is essential in reducing fire loads in vulnerable ecosystems.

In recent years there have been devastating wildfires across the world. Wildfire incidence is increasing with climate change, and wildfires are predicted to increase by 50% by the end of the centuryi . Such intense, uncontrolled wildfires are massively damaging to environments and to people, involving multiple deaths – including among firefighters - and widespread destruction of property.

Debates about the role of livestock in wider landscapes have come into sharp focus around the idea of ‘rewilding’, linked to plans for ‘ecosystem restoration’. Rewilding Britain defines rewilding as “the large-scale restoration of ecosystems to the point where nature is allowed to take care of itself. Rewilding seeks to reinstate natural processes and, where appropriate, missing speciesi .” The big question, though, is: what is ‘natural’ and what is defined as ‘missing’, over what timescale?

Pastoralists and other livestock keepers are too often pitted against conservationists. Parks are sometimes created to keep livestock and people out, and there are frequent stories in the media about pastoralists invading conservation areas during drought, sometimes resulting in conflict and violence. Pastoralism is of course not compatible with a style of conservation that encloses and excludes, but extensive livestock-keeping can be central to more people-centred conservation approaches. 

En los últimos años, la Chiquitanía, Chaco y la Amazonia han experimentado recurrentes eventos climáticos adversos, pero también, los territorios campesinos e indígenas están fuertemente presionados por el avance del modelo agroindustrial. Bolivia, actualmente presenta las mayores tasas de deforestación y cambio de uso de los suelos de la región, por la ampliación de la frontera agropecuaria (monocultivo oleaginosas y ganadería extensiva).

Recommandations pour les facilitateur.rice.s des champs-écoles, concepteur.rice.s et responsables de projet de développement agricole

Context and backgroundThe Macta wetland is a coveted and fragile area with a biodiversity hot-spot on the Algerian western coast and the southern shore of the Mediterranean. This rural area is affected by the increase of human activity linking, mainly, agricultural and pastoral practices.

The global food system is failing to deliver sufficient and nutritious food to all, while damaging the earth and unsustainably drawing down its resources. We argue that trees and forests are essential to solving these challenges. We outline the current contributions of trees and forests to the global food system and present recommendations to leverage these contributions as part of the efforts to reshape food systems to better support healthy diets and environmental sustainability.

In order for geospatial services to reach their full potential to benefit the people and the environment of the Amazon at multiple scales (regional, national, sub-national, community) by supporting communities in monitoring their territories and addressing the various challenges they face (such as deforestation, illegal mining, climate change, and biodiversity loss), it is important to have an inclusive vision that considers both the situation of local women and other actors in the region.

This Environment and Social Management Pan (ESMP) has been developed by the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) to clarify (i) the measures that will be taken during the implementation of project activities to eliminate or offset adverse E&S impacts, or to reduce them to acceptable levels; and (ii) actions needed to implement these measures during the implementation of the Accelerating Impact of CGIAR Climate Research for Africa (AICCRA) project activities in Kenya.