A young boy watches over his family’s herd. A new Livestock-Climate Change CRSP project led by South Dakota State University will help pastoralists in Mali adapt to a changes in climate and land-use that threatened this traditional way of life. Photo courtesy of Niall Hanan.

The Livestock-Climate Change Collaborative Support Program (LCC CRSP), has awarded over $1.3 million to South Dakota State University and Syracuse University for projects that incorporate innovative scientific research with capacity building and institutional strengthening to improve the lives and livelihoods of livestock producers and increase the resilience of livestock systems in West Africa in the face of climate variability and long-term climate change. Projects are targeted toward reducing vulnerability, increasing adaptive capacity, and augmenting the income of livestock producers in West Africa, where dryland agricultural systems are especially vulnerable to climate change-induced drought, flooding, and other weather extremes and over 50% of the population lives in poverty. Both projects take an interdisciplinary approach to problem-solving, seek to develop and/or expand innovation, and build capacity.

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The Livestock-Climate Change CRSP is pleased to announce a new funding opportunity designed to build scientific capacity in West Africa: the International Graduate Student Fellowship Program-West Africa (IGSFP-WA). The LCC CRSP is committed to building research capacity in the regions where we work, including West Africa because well trained, innovative scientists and leaders are essential to achieving broader research and development goals and building a sustainable, prosperous future.

The IGSFP-WA for Adapting Livestock Systems to Climate Change is intended to provide opportunities for graduate education that prepare students in West Africa for interdisciplinary careers within the vision and objectives of the Livestock Climate-Change CRSP (see LCC CRSP Research Strategy).

Fellows will be expected to become specialists who can contribute to research regarding the adaptation of livestock systems to climate change in the LCC CRSP countries of focus in West Africa (Mali and Senegal). Selected fellows must propose to conduct research in Mali or Senegal. In this way, the LCC CRSP aims to build research capacity.

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Data on factors that affect a region’s vulnerability to climate change (poverty, hunger, agricultural resource, etc.) are often dispersed and difficult to find. To aid researchers who study livestock systems and climate change, we have gathered the latest maps and datasets on factors such as poverty, hunger, and land use for seven countries: Nepal, Bangladesh, Tajikistan, Senegal, Mali, Ethiopia, and Kenya. This collection is far from comprehensive; however, a search is conducted every month to update the collection with new material.

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The Adapting Livestock Systems to Climate Change Collaborative Research Support Program at Colorado State University has awarded a total of $720,000 to nine U.S. universities and their host-country partners in east Africa, west Africa and central Asia to improve the livelihoods of small-scale livestock producers. Two of the awards were given to researchers at Colorado State University.

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