Soil carbon – the “carbon beneath our feet” – could help mitigate significant greenhouse gas emissions, while also supporting food production and adaptation to climate change. Continue reading
On 29 May to 1 June 2017, a team of scientists and other stakeholders in environmental research convened at the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) in Nairobi to discuss environmental research infrastructures in Africa. This was a kick-off meeting of the project —Supporting EU-African Cooperation on Research Infrastructures for Food Security and Greenhouse gas observations (SEACRIFOG) — funded by the European Union under the Horizon2020 program. Continue reading
A group of women in western Kenya, upon completion of a training course in smallholder dairy production offered by the Mazingira Centre of the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI), have adopted and commercialized preparation of home-made dairy meal for cattle. Continue reading
The Mazingira Centre of the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) has now entered into a research partnership with the Kenya Biogas Program (KBP) of Hivos to assess the environmental, agronomic and productivity effects of bioslurry as organic fertilizer for crops in smallholder systems. Continue reading
‘Mazingira’ is the Swahili word for ‘environment’. The Mazingira Centre is an environmental research and educational facility established by the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) in Nairobi. Research at the Mazingira Centre focuses on understanding and managing the environmental footprint of livestock systems without hampering productivity. Read more here Continue reading
In this blog, one of the many researchers hosted by the Mazingira Centre under its objective of capacity development, Shade Akinsete from the Department of Environmental Health Sciences at the University of Ibadan in Nigeria, shares her experience as a Postdoctoral fellow (funded via Climate Impacts Research Capacity and Leadership Enhancement – CIRCLE – program) – at the Centre. Continue reading
A new book, Methods for Measuring Greenhouse Gas Balances and Evaluating Mitigation Options in Smallholder Agriculture, explains how to design a measurement program; how to quantify stocks, stock changes and fluxes of the major GHG sources and sinks including; and how to use field measurements to estimate mitigation potential at larger scales, and assess trade-offs between climate change and development objectives. Continue reading
The Africa Climate Smart Agriculture Alliance (ACSAA) held its second annual forum in Nairobi on 11–13 October 2016 which discussed Africa’s intended nationally determined contributions (INDCs). Under the Paris Agreement that seeks to reduce global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, countries publicly outlined the climate actions they intended to take, known as their INDCs. A parallel session by the CGIAR Research … Continue reading
To reduce greenhouse gas emissions from the livestock sector and demonstrate that they are delivering on the ambitious goals of the Paris Agreement on climate change, countries will benefit from using advanced greenhouse gas inventory and accounting methods to monitor, verify and report on emissions. Source: Improved greenhouse gas inventories for livestock essential to meet Paris Climate … Continue reading
Feed constraints are among the key constraints that smallholder dairy farmers grapple with. Staff of the Mazingira Centre—an environmental research and educational facility of the Kenya-based International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI)—are helping to build the capacity of farmers to improve the productivity of their dairy cows. Continue reading
Mazingira Centre 