In sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), the increasing competition for water between various sectors is aggravated by growing demands for water, climate change and environmental degradation. One of the major consumers of water is livestock keeping, which is an important livelihood strategy for smallholder farmers in Africa. The water consumption for livestock production is currently increasing with the growing demands for livestock products. On the other hand, current low returns from livestock, limit its contribution to livelihoods, threaten environmental health and aggravate local conflicts.

Raising and selling farm animals allows more than 1 billion people to make a daily subsistence living. But as essential as they are for food, income and health, these tropical livestock systems can damage as well as enhance land and water resources, and, like all livestock systems, they generate greenhouse gases that cause global warming. Research is helping poor livestock communities adapt to climate change, find sustainable ways to intensify their production, and, where possible, adopt methods to mitigate livestock-induced climate change.

In August 2010, the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) sub-Regional Emergency Office for Eastern and Central Africa (REOA) contracted the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) to develop a proto-type “Livestock Drought Management” (LDM) decision support tool for use by a range of emergency and relief planners and practitioners throughout the region.

Although Climate-Smart Agricultural (CSA) practices are expected to boost adaptive capacity, food security and climate change mitigation in resource poor, smallholder farming systems, the barriers that can restrict its uptake are diverse. This study investigated the barriers hindering CSA practice adoption in the Santander department of Colombia as well as farmer perceptions of practice benefits and disadvantages.

Description of geographical aspects of the Subhumid Zone of West Africa and economic and sociological aspects of the Fulani ethnic group, w. emphasis on fodder resources, range management, livestock raising, livestock management, and animal diseases, w. analysis of land use & land development strategies, and directions for future research.

This paper synthesises evidence of the contributions that livestock make to the livelihoods of poor women in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia and identifies factors that enhance or constrain livestock-related opportunities for women. We apply a gender lens to three livestock-related pathways out of poverty—securing, building and safeguarding livestock assets; increasing and

As global demand for livestock products (such as meat, milk, and eggs) is expected to double by 2050, necessary

increases to future production must be reconciled with negative environmental impacts that livestock cause. This

paper describes the LivestockPlus concept and demonstrates how the sowing of improved forages can lead to the

sustainable intensification of mixed crop–forage–livestock–tree systems in the tropics by producing multiple social,

economic, and environmental benefits. Sustainable intensification not only improves the productivity of tropical