G-Range is a global model that simulates generalized changes in rangelands through time,

created with support from the International Livestock Research Institute. Spatial data and a set

of parameters that control plant growth and other ecological attributes in landscape units

combine with computer code to represent ecological process such as soil nutrient and water

dynamics, vegetation growth, fire, and wild and domestic animal offtake. The model is spatial,

with areas of the world divided into square cells.

Agriculture and food security are key sectors for intervention under climate change. Agricultural production is highly vulnerable even to 2C (lowend) predictions for global mean temperatures in 2100, with major implications for rural poverty and for both rural and urban food security. Agriculture also presents untapped opportunities for mitigation, given the large land area under crops and rangeland, and the additional mitigation potential of aquaculture.

The contemporary concern about anthropogenic release of greenhouse gas (GHG) into the

environment and the contribution of livestock to this phenomenon have sparked animal

scientists’ interest in predicting methane (CH4) emissions by ruminants. Focusing on milk

production, we address six basic nutrition models or feeding standards (mostly empirical

systems) and five complex nutrition models (mostly mechanistic systems), describe their key

characteristics, and highlight their similarities and differences. Four models were selected to

More than 400 million people in the developing world depend on dryland agriculture for their livelihoods. Dryland agriculture involves a complex combination of productive components: staple crops, vegetables, livestock, trees and fish interacting principally with rangeland, cultivated areas and watercourses. Managing risk and enhancing productivity through diversification and sustainable intensification is critical to securing and improving rural livelihoods.

2011 was the first year of operation of the CGIAR Research Program on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS). CCAFS brings together the work of all 15 international Centres in the CGIAR, and is a joint programme between the CGIAR and the Earth System Science Partnership (ESSP). 2011 was a start-up year in terms of introducing a new way of working across Centres, but it was also a year of considerable research effort. Work was initiated in the field at many sites, and baseline surveys were completed in three regions on two continents.

The objective of this study is to integrate socioeconomic, biophysical, and remote-sensing information to enhance the understanding of climate change, agriculture and food security within and between CCAFS sites. The purpose is to assess the agricultural production system in the CCAFS site Katuk Odeyo, Nyando (Western Kenya) to explore potential indicators that can be long-term monitored. Ecosystem health determines energy supply and demand by sustaining the productive capacity of the landscape.

Assessing the impact of integrated natural resource management (INRM) research poses a challenge to scientists. The complexity of INRM interventions requires a more holistic approach to impact assessment, beyond the plot and farm levels and beyond traditional analysis of economic returns. Impact assessment for INRM combines the traditional "what" and "where" factors of economic and environmental priorities with newer "who" and "how" aspects of social actors and institutions. This paper presents an analytical framework and methodology for assessing the impact of INRM.