ILRI program outline: Sustainable
Livestock Systems
Polly Ericksen
ILRI Institute Planning Meeting
4-7 October 2016

Program Vision
The program will contribute to a future in
which livestock are productive in the face
of uncertain trajectories, helping all poor
people to manage risk and shocks, and
contributing positive environmental
benefits.

Program Strategy and Objectives
• Characterize and understand the environmental
risks and benefits, as well as the broader
constraints to increasing livestock productivity,
that livestock keepers need to address.
• Use this knowledge to develop strategies to
overcome these constraints.
• Catalyze an enabling environment that will
ensure the dissemination of these strategies
through partners leading to their uptake by
target beneficiaries.

SLS Research Themes
1. Managing interactions between
environmental change and livestock
systems
2. Proving that intensification can be
sustainable
3. Developing and scaling out solutions for
resilient livestock systems

Interactions EC and LS
1. Mitigation
• Low Emissions Development for Livestock
– Accurate emissions data!
– Design incentives
– Inform international climate finance initiatives
• Foster widespread farmer adoption of CSA practices
• Capacity building for governments and other
development partners

Interactions EC and LS
2. Adaptation
• Piloting and evaluating interventions to
help farmers adapt
• Design and test incentives
• Help governments prioritize and develop
investment priorities

Proving SI works
• Clearer understanding of what SI is in different
contexts
• What is the necessary conducive environment
(markets, policy, etc)
• Capacity development for SI
• Stakeholder uptake of technology, processes,
etc.

Resilient Livestock Systems
• National & sub-national governments adopt
groovy evidence-based policies & programs
• Private sector actors invest in solutions that
build resilient livestock systems
• Donor and development actors pursue
investments and programs that build resilient
livestock systems
• Households adopt innovative livestock-based
practices and technologies

SLS Impact Pathway
Activities Outputs Outcomes Impact
Research to
foster
resilient
livestock
producers
and systems
Research to
prove SI
works
Research on
interactions
between EC
and LS
Widespread
adoption of low
emissions
development
strategies
Viable
adaptation
options for
livestock
systems
Evidence and
interventions for
resilient livestock
systems
Viable
trajectories for
SI lead to
stakeholder
uptake
Strategies to
overcome the
constraints
adopted
Enabling
environment
catalyzed for
greater
uptake
Risks, benefits
and constraints
understood
Productive
livestock in
the face of
future
change
Partners for
messaging &
engagement
Partners
for impact
Research
partners
Enhanced
positive
environment
al benefits
Poor profit
in face of
risks and
shocks

CRPs and SLS
Environment Flagship of Livestock CRP
- Assess the environmental sustainability, efficiency and
adaptability of livestock production technologies
- Optimize natural resource use and enhance the
provision of ecosystem services
- Develop and support improved institutions and other
governance mechanisms for environmental solutions

SLS in the CRPs
• CCAFS
• LED Flagship
• ?? Adaptation??
• WLE
• Let’s take the conversation forward
• GLDC: watch this space
• PIM: Flagship on NRM governance

Cross program linkages
• Close collaboration with Policy and Livelihoods
• Tradeoff analysis
• Foresight and scenarios
• Taking R4D to scale
• Interventions for risk management
• Feed and Forages
• Intensification
• ? Rangeland management

Cross programme linkages
• Animal Health
• ? Change in disease vectors
• Contribution to reduced GHG
• Genetics and Breeding
• Climate change adaptation ?
• Contribution to reduced GHG
• Impact at scale
• tbd

CapDev and CKM
• Environmental management of livestock requires
lots of new capacities
• Attracting finance
• Monitoring impacts and benefits
• Cross ministry coordination
• Advocating for the environmental benefits of
livestock requires creative messaging.
• Scaling of SI
• Building development partner knowledge and capacity
• Processes for strengthening end-user capacity

Regional focus
• Eastern Africa
• All agendas
• West Africa
• Sustainable Intensification
• SouthEast Asia
• Climate change
• Southern Africa
• Sustainable intensification

Support Needs
• Efficiently run Farm and Engineering
Unit
• With an appreciation for experimental
science
• Responsive and sympathetic POD
• Accessible and accurate financial
system
• Business development

Resource mobilization
opportunities
• Mitigating the impact of GHG emissions from
livestock
• Building resilience of pastoral and agro-pastoral
households in Africa through sustainable
intensification
• Identifying and piloting strategies for adaptation to
climate change in livestock systems
• Leveraging the contributions of livestock to SI in
mixed farming systems (WA and elsewhere).

Exciting Science!!
• Lance Robinson: Participatory rangeland
management: Evidence of what works
best in which contexts
• Endalkachew Woldemeskel: Public-
Private Partnership (PPP) for
intensification of crop -livestock
systems: experiences from ILRI-N2Africa

This presentation is licensed for use under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Licence.
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