Suchergebnisse

This book is the product of a Satellite Symposium on the Role of Livestock in Developing Communities: Enhancing Multifunctionality, held as part of the 10th World Conference on Animal Production (WCAP) in Cape Town, 22 – 28 November 2008. The Symposium, jointly organised by the University of the Free State (UFS) and the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) aimed to stimulate critical thinking on the role of livestock in livelihood strategies for the poor in the developing world as a contribution to address the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). The livestock sector in developing countries contributes more than 33% to agricultural Gross Domestic Product (GDP), and is one of the fastest growing agricultural subsectors. The livestock sector has been experiencing what has been coined the "Livestock Revolution". Population growth, urbanisation, and most importantly, increasing income have resulted in a rapid increase in demand for livestock products, which is likely to continue well into the future. This growth of the livestock sector presents both enormous opportunities and challenges. This book therefore comes at an opportune time for both policy makers and practitioners in developing countries, and the international community. Livestock is a major contributor to food and nutritional security, and serves as an important source of livelihood for nearly 1 billion poor people in developing countries. Its importance in attaining the MDGs should therefore not be underestimated. The book aims to provide critical information and knowledge on the importance of livestock in the global effort to alleviate poverty and promote human health. It describes and evaluates case studies, examines theoretical frameworks, and discusses key global policy development issues, challenges and constraints related to smallholder livestock-production systems around the globe. The book is written for academic professionals, industry experts, government officials and other scholars interested in the facts and issues concerning the contribution of livestock to the social and economic progress of developing countries.

Recent studies have projected significant climate change impacts in Africa. In order to understand what this means in terms of human well-being at local level, we need to understand how households can cope and adapt. This need has led many authors to argue for approaches to adaptation that are based on vulnerability analysis. Vulnerability is one of the key terms in the climate change literature, but little progress has been made in the field of its quantification. Typically, indicators are combined according to a weighing scheme, with the identification of indicators and the weighing schemes based on expert judgment rather than empirical evidence. In addition, most quantitative assessments are applied to countries or other administrative units, whereas managing climate risk has traditionally been the responsibility of households. We therefore focus on the adaptive capacity of households. We analyze the coping strategies and vulnerability to climatic stresses of agro-pastoralists in Mozambique and test the validity of a number of commonly used vulnerability indicators. We derive a household-level vulnerability index based on survey data. We find that only 9 out of 26 indicators tested exhibit a statistically significant relationship with households' vulnerability. In total, they explain about one-third of the variation in vulnerability between households, confirming the need for more research on underlying determinants and processes of vulnerability. With inclusion of local knowledge, our study findings can be used for local targeting, priority setting and resource allocation. Complemented with studies analyzing climate change impacts and findings from country-level adaptive capacity studies, governmental policy can be informed.