Between 22nd and 26th October, ILRI’s Mazingira Centre and FAO jointly organised a training workshop on modelling greenhouse gas emissions from livestock systems in Africa. Why is this important? Current greenhouse gas emission estimates from livestock and manure in Africa are primarily estimating based on existing expert knowledge which is predominantly derived from livestock systems in developed … Continue reading
Category Archives: Climate change
First continuous greenhouse gas measurements and validation of satellite derived land surface temperature estimates in East African drylands
by Thomas Dowling (King’s College London) and Lutz Merbold (Mazingira Centre, ILRI) Since the beginning of August 2018, the International Livestock Research Institute’s (ILRI’s) Kapiti research station, approximately 60km South of Nairobi, has become a reference site for the validation of satellite derived land surface temperature (LST) in partnership with King’s College London (KCL). While … Continue reading
Strengthening African research infrastructure for greenhouse gas observations
Initial results of the EU-African SEACRIFOG project, which aims to design a GHG observation research infrastructure, highlight the current GHG emissions research gaps in the continent. Current efforts to strengthen research infrastructure are also highlighted.
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Investing in low emissions development strategies in the dairy sector: Viable options for Kenya and Ethiopia
Originally posted on Sustainable livestock systems:
Livestock production plays a critical role in sustaining livelihoods and ensuring food and nutrition security for millions of families across Africa. The centrality of livestock in achieving sustainable development for cannot be overstated. It is also true that livestock production is the largest source of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from…
Greenhouse gas emissions from dung patches in developing countries are ‘likely highly overestimated’—New report
Originally posted on ILRI news:
Cattle herding in Kenya (photo credit: CCAFS/Cecilia Schubert). A new research paper published by scientists of the Mazingira Centre (‘mazingira’ means ‘environment’ in Swahili) of the Nairobi-based International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) reports evidence that greenhouse gas emissions from dung patches in developing countries are ‘likely highly overestimated’ in global…
New studies provide the first accurate estimates of greenhouse gas emissions from East African livestock
Originally posted on ILRI Clippings:
ILRI scientist John Goopy describes ILRI’s Mazingira Centre research on livestock and greenhouse gas emissions to ILRI partners at the CGIAR Research Program on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security and leads them on a tour of Mazingira’s Greenhouse Gas Laboratory, in Nairobi, Kenya (photo credit: CCAFS/S Kilungu). The following…
Managing the environmental footprint of livestock: Context-specific information needed in Africa
Efforts towards mitigating green house gas emissions should help resource-poor farmers to not only decrease the environmental footprint of their small-scale livestock and whole-farm production systems but to simultaneously increase productivity and improve their livelihoods. Continue reading
Voices from the lab: Postdoctoral researcher shares her first field trip experience
In this blog, one of the most recent Mazingira members, Sonja Leitner (Postdoctoral researcher, soil ecologist) who started with the team on 1st March 2018, shares an experience of her first field trip to Tanzania. From 25-30/03/2018, I joined Lutz Merbold and Phyllis Ndung’u on a field trip to Tanzania, where we visited different smallholder … Continue reading
Mazingira contributes to a global litter decomposition initiative
Plant litter represents a major carbon pool in the global carbon cycle and accurate estimates of litter decomposition resulting in a major flux of CO2 to the atmosphere will allow to better constrain carbon turnover in ecosystems. Therefore a global approach – the TeaComposition Initiative – was taken (more info here: TeaComposition). In brief, within … Continue reading
Improved emission factors for enteric methane emissions from smallholder cattle in Western Kenya
After having spent one year in the field and following approximately 1000 cattle from smallholder farmers, Alice Onyango, John Patrick Goopy and colleagues present improved emission factors for enteric methane emissions from smallholder cattle in Nyando Kenya. The study, recently published in Agricultural Systems not only provides TIER 2 greenhouse gas (GHG) emission estimates, but … Continue reading