Grazing in drylands
Grazing is taking focal point today in restoration strategies in many places and various ecosystems around the globe. Global climate change, as well as social, cultural and economic changes provide new insights and create new challenges in regard to grazing as restoration strategy in drylands & desertified regions.
The theme covers: reconciling traditional grazing regimes with restoration strategies in degraded dryland environments; and dryland pasture, climate change and biodiversity conservation.
Theme Organizers:
Dr. Eli Zaady
Gilat Agricultural Research Center, Israel
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Dr. Eli Zaady is a research scientist with the Gilat Research Center, Department of Natural Resources and Agronomy in the Ministry of Agriculture. Dr. Zaady received his B.Sc. in Agronomy, M.Sc. in Applied Microbiology and Biotechnology and Ph.D. in Soil Microbiology of Agro-Ecosystems from the Hebrew University in Jerusalem. He held a Postdoctoral position at The Institute of Ecosystems Studies, Millbrook, NY, USA from 1994-5. From 1995-2001, Dr. Zaady worked as a Research Scientist at the Desertification & Restoration Ecology Research Center and from 2002-2005, he was a Senior Scientist at the Mitrani Department for Desert Ecology, both part of The Jacob Blaustein Institute for Desert Research, Ben Gurion University of the Negev. His primary research interests include: biological soil crusts; succession of BSC, soil stabilization, erosion prevention and runoff production; biogeochemistry, C and N cycles in desert soils; livestock grazing and geophytes; grazing in organic agro-ecosystems; agro-tourism in pasture land and planted forests in semiarid areas; soil stabilization in dry afforestated areas; aeolic erosion; micro-morphology and chemistry of atmospheric particles; and rain generation in dry-lands via artificial heat island technique. He has also worked on the reclamation of an old phosphate mining field in the central Negev Desert. Dr. Zaady has published over fifty articles and contributed to more than ten books.
Invited Guests:
Dr. Enrique Nolte
Universidad Peruana Cayetano Heredia, Peru
Title Of Abstract:
Peruvian Livestock Production Systems in Drylands
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Dr. Enrique Nolte is an experienced Consultant in human development with emphasis in Dry Lands Agriculture, Innovation, Gender and Social Organizations. His academic and professional background is in zootechnics. Further graduate studies in Italy and the USA included reproductive physiology and nutrition. An MS in rural sociology enabled him to link both areas of knowledge with an integrative approach between technical and social factors. For more than thirty years, Enrique has combined roles as a graduate and undergraduate lecturer in various universities working on rural development, either as Project Director, Adviser, Monitor or Evaluator. Enrique's research experience includes the Per? Site Coordinator for the Small Ruminant (CRSP) and Development Projects, such us "Education and Environmental Management in the Piura Region for which he served as the Executive Director for six years. He has provided professional services to over seventy-five NGOs, twenty-five financial institutions and seven universities and colleges.
Dr. Frederick Provenza
Utah State University, United States
Title of Abstract:
Becoming Locally Adapted: What That Means and Why It Matters
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Fred Provenza began his career working on a ranch near Salida, Colorado, while earning a B.S. Degree in Wildlife Biology from Colorado State University. Upon receiving the degree in 1973,
he became ranch manager and spent a total of seven years on the ranch. He later earned his M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in Range Science from Utah State University, where he joined the faculty in 1982
and is currently a Professor Emeritus in the Department of Wildland Resources. He has been author or co-author of over 225 publications in peer-reviewed journals and books, and a key note speaker
at numerous national and international meetings. For the past 30 years, his group has produced ground-breaking research that laid the foundations for what is now known as behavior-based management
of livestock, wildlife and landscapes. Their efforts led to the formation in 2001 of an international network of scientists and land managers from five continents. That consortium, known as
BEHAVE (Behavioral Education for Human, Animal, Vegetation t and Ecosystem Management
www.behave.net), is committed to integrating behavioral principles and processes with local knowledge to
enhance ecological, economic and social values of rural and urban communities and landscapes. Provenza has received numerous awards including: Outstanding Achievement Award for accomplishments in research from the Society for Range Management in 1994, the W.R. Chapline Research Award, the most prestigious award given by the Society for Range Managements for achievements in research in 1999, professor of the year for the College of Natural Resources at Utah State University in 1989 and 2003, the Outstanding Graduate Mentor Award in 1999, the D. Wynne Thorne Award for exceptional achievements in research in 2008 (the two most prestigious awards at the university). These awards represent the efforts of well-over 75 graduate students, post-doctoral students, visiting scientists and other colleagues he has worked with over the past 30 years.
