News on LEAD - LEAD E-Newsletter 04 Volume 1 no.4

Meetings, Seminars and Workshops

The Development of a GHG Model
Costa Rica -- November 2002

LEAD Representatives met with partners in Costa Rica from October 26 - November 2, 2002 to coordinate and discuss the development of a model used to calculate and monitor contributions to Greenhouse Gases (GHGs) emissions from single farms or livestock production systems.

The model in development will be simple and interactive and will quickly calculate the overall balance and individual GHGs contributions within a mixed farm that has agriculture, livestock and forestry components. The GHG-Farm Model will combine current carbon and nitrogen models to estimate emission and sinks of individual gases as well as the overall farm GHG balance. It will also allow for personal data input so that it may provide reliable yearly estimates of GHGs.

The model is being built on existing baseline data and studies for the three countries participating in the GEF project (Colombia, Costa Rica and Nicaragua). It will eventually be available for free distribution on CD-Rom and on the Web.

For the development of this model, LEAD is working with partners from Colorado State University (CSU), the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Non-CO2 Gases and Sequestration Branch and the Tropical Agricultural Research and Higher Education Centre (CATIE). The project is being funded by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (Non-CO2 Gases and Sequestration Branch) and LEAD.

A New Russian Language Platform
Switzerland -- October 2002

The LEAD Initiative has begun development of a new, Russian language platform for the Virtual Research and Development Centre after meeting with the Swiss Development Agency in Switzerland on October 3 - 4, 2002.

A Russian platform for the Virtual Centre is being developed to create a network of institutions interested in livestock and environment issues in Mongolia and CIS countries (Community of Independent States: Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyz Republic, Moldova, Russian Federation, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Ukraine and Uzbekistan). The first steps that will be taken are the organization of a multidisciplinary team of experts to guide the project and the establishment of "hotspots", or areas of concern.

The Virtual Research and Development Centre is based at FAO in Rome, Italy. It already operates in conjunction with English, French, Spanish and Chinese platforms, and provides access to information on livestock and environment interactions to the global community.

The development of the Russian language platform is being financed by the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC).

To access the new Russian language platform, visit http://lead.virtualcentre.org/ru/frame.htm

Area-Wide Integration Project Meetings
Thailand and the Philippines -- August 2002

LEAD's second phase of its Area-Wide Integration Project proceeded with meetings in Thailand and a workshop in the Philippines from August 7 - 17, 2002.

In Thailand, meetings took place with the Thailand Department of Livestock (DLD), and then with the Thai Development Research Institute (TDRI) to discuss the next phase of the livestock industrialization study and potential areas to conduct surveys.

In the Philippines, a workshop was held with members of the livestock industrialisation study so that agreements could be made on issues such as the basic methodology of the study, testable hypotheses and models used to test them. The workshop concluded with the establishment of these points.

The Area-Wide Integration Project focuses on integrating crops and livestock activities. In Area-Wide Integration, livestock are distinctly land-based rather than being an element of urban industrial production. The project has sites in Thailand, China, Mexico and Vietnam.

This project is being implemented jointly by the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) and the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI).

Silvopastoral Project Launch Workshop
Turrialba, Costa Rica -- July 2002

A Project Launch Workshop for the "Integrated Silvo-Pastoral Approaches to Ecosystem to Ecosystem Management Project" in Nicaragua, Costa Rica and Colombia was held on July 21-27, 2002 in Turrialba, Costa Rica.

The project funded by the Global Environment Facility (GEF) and the Livestock, Environment and Development (LEAD) Initiative works towards the improvement of eco-systems in Colombia, Costa Rica and Nicaragua as affected by livestock production. It works with approximately 300 farmers in 6 watersheds in a variety of climatic conditions and production systems. Many of these are smallholder ranchers on degraded pastures who hope to transform their land using “silvo-pastoral technology,” or the planting of multipurpose trees and herbaceous plants.

The project develops benefit sharing mechanisms by testing payments for biodiversity and carbon sequestration services as incentives to produce global environmental benefits, and prepares prepare policy guidelines for sustainable intensification of livestock production, which enhances biodiversity and mitigates global warming. The payments come from an Eco-services Fund, established under the project, with GEF and FAO/LEAD contributions.

An official project launch took place on Friday, July 26, in the presence of the Costa Rica Minister of the Environment, a representative of the Costa Rica Minister of Agriculture and the Director of the Centro Agronómico Tropical de Investigación y Enseñanza (CATIE). The Minister of the Environment expressed strong support to the project and a commitment to develop mechanisms that will allow the Costa Rican Government to ensure payments following the completion of the project.

Signed Agreement between the World Bank and CATIE
Turrialba, Costa Rica -- June 2002

A legal agreement was signed to finalize the Integrated Silvo-Pastoral Approaches to Ecosystem Management Project" in Turrialba, Costa Rica.

Mark Cackler, Acting Director of the World Bank, and Muhammad Ibrahim, Representative of the Centro Agronómico Tropical de Investigación y Enseñanza (CATIE), signed the agreement on June 20, 2002.

Preparations for a Livestock and Wildlife Integration Project
Tanzania -- June 2002

A field trip to Tanzania was carried out this June to visit the area in preparation of the LEAD project "Innovations in Livestock and Wildlife Integration Adjacent to Protected Areas in Africa" to be presented to the Global Environment Fund (GEF).

Pastoralists in the North Tanzania/South Kenya region have less access to grazing since the establishment of National Parks in the area and, more recently, due to increased cropping in the adjacent areas. Wildlife populations have increased and animals have migrated out into pastoral areas already under pressure. One of the threats to biodiversity in the ecosystem is the breakdown of the adaptive and flexible strategies to optimise the use of natural resources used by the Massai people.

The objective of the project is “integrated wildlife-livestock management established as an ecologically and socio-economically sustainable land use”. The project works towards the reduction of conflict between wildlife and livestock and the improvement the livelihoods of subsistence livestock farmers through benefits gained from wildlife and from livestock production.

A similar study will be carried out in Chad. A coordination study between the two sites is being developed to build on the country experiences to develop generic guidelines and principles for the integrative management of livestock and wildlife with wider applicability. The study would focus on 2 main themes: options for benefit-sharing from wildlife-related business ventures, and the production of decision-support tools to understand and inform the decision-making process at local up to national and regional levels.

The implementing partners for the project include the African Wildlife Foundation (AWF), International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) and Centre de Coopération Internationale en Recherche Agronomique pour le Développement (CIRAD).

LEAD Steering Committee Meeting
Nairobi, Kenya -- May 2002

The Steering Committee meeting of the Livestock, Environment and Development (LEAD) Initiative resulted in additional funding for the following two years.

LEAD Chairperson Cees de Haan conducted the meeting held in Nairobi, Kenya from May 25-31, which focused on the proposed program for the second phase (2003-2005) of the initiative. The LEAD Secretariat presented the document for the second phase that had been prepared since the last Steering Committee meeting in Brussels in October 2001. The document suggested consolidation of the Initiative’s program in four focus areas: (1) contribution of livestock to rangeland degradation, (2) contribution of livestock to rainforest conversion, (3) contribution of livestock to environmental pollution, and (4) relationships between livestock-environment interactions and trade.

In the second phase of the initiative, efforts will be concentrated on the areas in which there are well-advanced projects already in progress: dry land and watershed management, integrated silvopastoral approaches to ecosystem management and management of waste of intensive livestock production. An external evaluation process will be due in autumn 2002 for the initiative, and will be financed by France and Denmark.

A small donor meeting has also been scheduled for autumn 2002.

Livestock and Watershed Management Workshop
Hyderabad, India -- March 2002

Representatives of LEAD attended a planning workshop in Hyderabad, India for a joint collaborative research and development program on the role of livestock in watershed management in selected Indian sites on March 18 - 21, 2002.

Dr. Henning Steinfeld and Dr. Mauricio Rosales from the LEAD Initiative attended the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation /LEAD Initiative planning workshop. The proposal, which focuses on livelihood support and environmental sustainability, intends to provide decision-makers with the necessary information and planning tools to optimally position livestock in watershed development and related projects.

The workshop established an agreement on the structure of a proposal and the preparation of a letter of agreement for the implementation of the project. It also determined key factors such as the criteria for the selection of case study areas; identification of the main determinants of structural and functional changes in livestock, environment and poverty interactions; assessment of impact of the changes; and the nature of recommendations that the study will realistically be able to provide.

Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) has been a pioneer in introducing innovations and new concepts in watershed development since the middle 1980s, through Participative Integrated Development of Watersheds. The efforts of the SDC will be assisted by the LEAD Initiative, has assembled design and planning tools to facilitate the decision-making process on issues regarding the interaction of livestock, environment and development. These tools include impact analysis programs, predictive computer models, geographical information systems, databases, and socio-economic analysis programs.

The workshop was attended by 28 participants, including SDC officials, representatives from six Indian states, on-going watershed development programs, and other donor and non-governmental organisation representatives.

List of participants:

1. Mr Siva Prasad, AFPRO Hyderabad
2. Ms Sagari Ramdas, Anthra, Hyderabad
3. Ms Nitya Ghotge, Anthra Pune
4. Mr B.N.Yugandhar, Hyderabad (*)
5. Mr NK Sanghi, MANAGE, Hyderabad
6. Mr BK Mathur, CAZRI, Jodhpur
7. Mr T.Pradeep, Samuha, Bangalore
8. Dr MPG Kurup, Anand
9. Dr BR Mangurkar, Pune
10. Dr Ravikumar, Bangalore
11. Mr Abraham Samuel, WOTR, Ahmednagar
12. Mr Arvind Khare
13. Dr Sreenivasa Rao, Deptt of Animal Husbandry, Govt of AP, Hyderabad (*)
14. Dr GNS Reddy, BAIF, Karnataka
15. Mr J Jangal, PSMU, ISPWDK, Bangalore
16. Mr Henk op het Veld, NRMP-AP, Hyderabad
17. Ms Rebecca Katticaren, NRMP-AP, Hyderabad
18. Mr Vinod Goud, NGO Programme, NRMP-AP, Hyderabad
19. Mr Jan Morrenhof, NRM Programme, Orissa, Bhubaneswar
20. Mr Udo Hoeggel
21. Mr Andreas Schild
22. Mr Fritz Schneider, Vice Director, Swiss College of Agriculture
23. Ms Olivia Faessler, HO IC Bern
24. Ms Lucy Maarse, SDC/IC COOF
25. Mr NR Jagannath, SDC/IC COOF
26. Mr KR Viswanathan, SDC/IC COOF
27. Dr. Henning Steinfeld, FAO-LEAD
28. Dr. Mauricio Rosales, FAO-LEAD

LEAD group meets to appraise progress, enhance IT use
*** This article comes from "WAICENT in the News". For more information on the World Agricultural Information Centre (WAICENT), click here.

Almost two years after its first English language Internet platform was successfully launched in Rome, the team behind the Livestock, Environment and Development (LEAD) Initiative, met on March 11-13, 2002 to discuss the 2002-03 work programme and look at ways in which innovative information technologies can enhance its effectiveness.

LEAD is a cross-institutional initiative that works to highlight the fragile relationship between livestock and the environment in developing nations and advises local policy makers on technologies and regulations to ease pressure on natural resources such as rainforests and national parks.

Based out of FAO headquarters in Rome, the initiative now includes a Francophone platform located at the Centre for International Cooperation on Agricultural Research for the Development (CIRAD) in Montpellier, France and a Spanish-language platform housed at the Tropical Agricultural Research and Higher Education Center (CATIE) in Costa Rica.

“The platforms are semi-autonomous and that approach means that they can grow organically and respond to local issues quickly and more effectively in the local language,” says Mauricio Rosales, Manager of LEAD’s Virtual Research and Development Centre in Rome. “FAO provides technology, software, advice and the logistical framework but they themselves decide on research goals and approach.”

A jump in global interest over environmental concerns in the late nineties led to the creation of the initiative which is now funded by several European governments as well as a number of international development institutions.

“Many farmers in developing countries work within a national policy framework that gives them no incentive to stop or change the way animals interact with the environment. In some countries ownership of the land is proved once you have cut the forest down and settled it, in other cases a national park has been created in the middle of a nomadic grazing route and people who have used it for centuries are barred from entering,” Rosales explains. “LEAD’s mandate is to target top-tier policy makers and work closely with local institutions so that they themselves can make the legal and institutional difference.”

The meeting was attended by WAICENT, FAO departments and representatives from CATIE in Costa Rica and CIRAD in Montpellier.

Appraisal Mission of the Regional Silvo-Pastoral Project
Turrialba, Costa Rica -- December 2001

Scroll over the image to identify the members in the group!

Representatives of the World Bank and FAO-LEAD carried out a mission in Costa Rica with representatives of the Centro Agronomico Tropical de Investigacion y Ensenanza (CATIE), the Centre for Research on Sustainable Agricultural Production Systems (CIPAV), the Institute of Research and Development of the University of Central America in Nicaragua (Nitlapan) and the American Bird Conservancy (ABC) to evaluate the Global Environment Facility (GEF) Regional Silvopastoral Project, "Integrated Silvopastoral Approaches to Ecosystem Management" on December 3 - 8, 2001.

While in Costa Rica the team had to define payment plans for environmental services, establish a method for monitoring biodiversity, more clearly define the political components involved in the project and assemble an operational manual. They also finalized the implementation agreements and drafted contracts between CATIE and the executive agencies as well as between the executive agencies and participating farmers.

The mission established numerous elements including economic factors, such as the compensation for environmental services based on land use changes rather than vegetation cover; legal factors, such as those regarding contracts for farmers; and administrative factors, such as institutional regulations that refer to the hire of services or purchase of goods.

The "Integrated Silvopastoral Approaches to Ecosystem Management" regional project was presented to GEF through the World Bank. The project works torwards the improvement of functionality of ecosystems and degraded pastures in Colombia, Costa Rica and Nicaragua through the development of intensive silvopastoral systems that provide global environmental services and local socio-economic benefits.

For more information on the GEF project, visit our main article in this newsletter,
GEF Project to Support Cattle Rearing That Heals, Not Hurts.

You can also learn more on silvopastoral projects at the Plataforma Hispanoparlante of the Virtual Research and Development Centre, or visit the Global Environment Facility.