On July 13, IATP hosted a webinar, "Livestock Methane: Identifying gaps to advance meaningful solutions." Watch the recording of the webinar above or on YouTube.
The Global Methane Pledge commits signatories (now ~150 countries) to tackle agricultural methane “through technology innovation as well as incentives and partnerships with farmers.” Livestock is the leading source of agricultural methane. Will further intensification of livestock that results in the incentivization (in the global North) and expansion (in the global South) of the factory farm system solve livestock’s methane problem? This system of production is widely documented to result in numerous negative environmental and social impacts. Without holistically addressing livestock’s methane, mitigation measures are more likely to create more social and environmental problems and resistance than to lead to meaningful solutions.
The webinar advanced the discussion on the future of livestock and methane emissions. We discussed the science and on-the-ground considerations related to livestock production and the gaps that need to be addressed to advance lasting solutions to livestock’s methane problem.
Webinar Resources
Read the chat from the webinar here.
Read the questions from the Q&A session here.
Download Ian Scoones' presentation slides here.
Download Daniel Girma Mulat's presentation slides here.
Speakers & Panelists
Speakers:
Ian Scoones is a Professor at the Institute of Development Studies at the University of Sussex. An ecologist by original training, he works on issues of agricultural and environmental change particularly in Africa. He is the principal investigator of the ERC Advanced Grant project, PASTRES (Pastoralism, Uncertainty and Resilience: Lessons From the Margins).
Daniel Girma Mulat is an Environmental Researcher and Lab Manager at the Mazingira Center, an Environmental Research and Educational Centre affiliated with the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) in Nairobi, Kenya. The centre was established by CGIAR’s International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) in 2014 and staffed by scientists and technicians from ILRI. The centre promises a step change in Africa’s environmental research infrastructure and capacity. Its mandate is to provide environmental baseline data and intervention testing as well as serve as centre for capacity building and hub for scientific exchange. Daniel’s primary area of focus is the measurement of greenhouse gas emissions and the development of biotechnological processes for converting organic resources, particularly livestock manure, into valuable biochemicals, biofertilizers, and bioenergy, all within the framework of a circular economy.
Panelists:
Monicah Yator is the Founder of the Indigenous Women and Girls Initiative a community-based Organization in Baringo County, Kenya. She is a Human Rights Defender, Feminist and Activist with 13 years' experience in community development. Yator comes from a pastoralist community where livestock is a way of life. She works with women and girls to develop alternative livelihoods through agroecological practices to build communities’ resilience and adaptation to climate change impacts. She is a member of the Agroecology Coalition, East and Southern Africa Pastoralists Network and member of the Pastoralist Alliance for Resilience in Northern Rangelands.
Anne Wanjiku Maina is the National Coordinator of the Biodiversity and Biosafety Association of Kenya (BIBA Kenya), a member of the Africa Food Sovereignty Alliance (AFSA). With over 15 years’ experience as a development practitioner, Anne has been actively working with communities and challenging false agricultural solutions being pushed in Africa. She has contributed to the growth and development of various regional networks in Africa, including the Eastern and Southern Africa Small Scale Farmers’ Forum (ESAFF), Participatory Ecological Land Use Management (PELUM) Association and AFSA.
Ole Faergeman is the Vice Chair of FBLL (Frie Bønder – Levende Lands). Founded in 2003, FBLL is the Danish member of La Via Campesina, a peasant movement organization with members in over 80 countries around the world. FBLL was founded in 2003. It advocates for small and nature-friendly agriculture and works for closer relationships between rural and urban communities to restore rural areas and nature.
Moderator:
Shefali Sharma is the director of the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy (IATP) European office based in Berlin. From the global production of feed grains to meat processing and retail, her publications in the past decade have focused on the economic, social and environmental impacts of the global meat and dairy industries. Shefali established IATP’s Geneva office in 2000 and led its Trade Information Project for several years. She has worked with and consulted for several other civil society organizations, such as the Malaysia-based Third World Network, as the South Asia coordinator of the Bank Information Center, based in Delhi, and ActionAid International. She has a MPhil from the Institute of Development Studies (IDS) in Sussex and a Bachelor of Arts in anthropology from the College of William and Mary.
