Investing in the future of livestock amid climate crisis

 Ochieng’ Ogodo - Science Journalist

 [NAIROBI] Global South countries will receive a new US$10 million grant to support climate-smart innovations in livestock development that target 300 million lives, it was announced Wednesday during Climate Week in New York.

The grant from the Ballmer Group adds to recent support received by the Nairobi-based International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) from the Bezos Earth Fund, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, and the Global Methane Hub.

With this sizeable investment, ILRI and its partners will be able to implement scalable interventions that offer a triple win: reducing greenhouse gas emissions, enhancing livelihoods and nutrition, and assisting in the adaptation of climate challenges including heat stress, drought, and flooding.

The Global Methane Hub, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, and the Bezos Earth Fund will also match additional grants made possible by the investment. According to Professor Appolinaire Djikeng, Director General of ILRI, this collaboration highlights the confidence placed in ILRI's expertise, its robust partner network, and its strategic direction.

"This grant will enable us to scale our proven innovations that reduce livestock production emissions and enhance adaptation to climate change," said Djikeng. "In low- and middle-income countries, ILRI research has shown that mitigation and adaptation are two sides of the same coin, addressing both the climate crisis and broader environmental challenges."

According to Ismahane Elouafi, the Executive Managing Director of CGIAR, "This support from the Ballmer Group reflects the growing recognition of livestock's critical role in enhancing resilience for smallholder farmers and pastoralists facing climate impacts. While we recognize the environmental challenges associated with livestock production, such as greenhouse gas emissions, this investment will help accelerate CGIAR’s ability to deliver science that supports greater livestock productivity while reducing its environmental footprint."

Two of the most pressing issues facing humanity are food security and climate change, which are closely related. A large portion of the 500 million small-scale farmers who work on 83 per cent of the world's farms and produce a third of the food produced worldwide reside in areas that are negatively impacted by climate change, according to the press release on the grant.

This endangers not just their lives and means of subsistence but also the food and nutrition security of millions of people worldwide who rely on them for sustenance.

Adaptive livestock breeds, better feeding techniques, better manure management, and better rangeland management are just a few examples of climate-smart solutions that can be used in well-managed livestock systems to yield several advantages. These consist of higher biodiversity, better soil health, storage of carbon, and ecosystem services. According to climate modelling, these kinds of measures might together cut animal production emissions by as much as 30 per cent.

ILRI is one of 13 research centers within CGIAR, the world's largest publicly-funded agrifood systems research network. CGIAR is a global partnership dedicated to transforming food, land, and water systems to secure a sustainable future in the face of climate challenges.