Researches

Evaluating greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions at farm level is an important tool to mitigate climate change.Livestock account for 80% of the total GHG emissions in Uruguay, and beef cow-calf systems are possibly thelargest contributors. In cow-calf grazing systems, optimizing forage allowance and grazing intensity mayincrease pasture productivity, reproductive performance, beef productivity, and possibly reduce GHG emissions.This study estimated GHG emissions per kg of live weight gain (LWG) and per hectare from 20 cow-calfsystems in Uruguay, with different management practices. The GHG emissions were on average 20.8 kgCO2 -e.kg LWG -1 , ranging from 11.4 to 32.2. Beef productivity and reproductive efficiency were the maindeterminants of GHG emissions. Five farm clusters were identified with different productive and environmentalefficiency by numerical classification of relevant variables. Improving grazing efficiency by optimizing thestocking rate and forage production can increase beef productivity by 22% and reduce GHG emissions per kgLWG by 28% compared to “low performance” management. Further improvements in reproductive efficiencycan increase productivity by 41% and reduce GHG emissions per kg LWG by 23%, resulting in a “carbon smart”strategy. However, the most intensified farms with highest stocking rate and beef productivity, did not reduceGHG emissions per kg LWG, while increased GHG emissions per ha compared to the carbon smart. Thisanalysis showed that it is possible to simultaneously reduce carbon footprint per kg and per ha, by optimizinggrazing management. This study demonstrated that there is high potential to reduce cow-calf GHG emissionsthrough improved grazing management.

Rice wheat cropping system has been widely adopted in Nepal since very long, but much less been studied about the sustainability aspects of this practice. South Asian countries-, as well as other rice-growing countries, have already experienced different ecological and environmental impacts of the long-term rice-wheat system. Also,climate change seems to inflict the rice-based farming system to a varied extent depending uponagroecological regions. In the meantime, the growth in yield of rice is plateauing to less than 1.5% although productivity is well below other South Asian countries. With the heightening consumption of agrochemicals and its subsequent impact on air, water and soil have to be taken into consideration. Rice-wheat system being heavy consumer of nutrient and waterraises question about the sustainable consumption of resources.

The ecosystem approach is a strategy for the integrated management of land, water and living resources that promotes conservation and sustainable use in an equitable way. There is no single way to implement the ecosystem approach, as it depends on local, provincial, national, regional or global conditions. The North Eastern Region (NER) of India represents three geographies (East Himalayas, Brahmaputra Valley, and North East Hills) and covers about 7.7 percent of the total geographic area of India. Around 56 percent of the cultivated area of the NER is under low altitude (valley or lowland), 33 percent under mid-altitude (flat upland), and the rest under high altitude (upland terrace). The environment, local conditions, socio-economic and socio-cultural life of different tribal communities and the rituals associated with agricultural practices have developed many Indigenous farming systems, which have in-built eco-friendly systems for conservation, preservation and utilization of natural resources. However, with the passage of time, some of these practices have been further refined and modified to cater the location specific present day needs for conservation of natural resources, particularly soil and water resources. The present article is to discuss some important ecosystem approaches/traditional practices followed in the North Eastern Region with recent innovations to make agriculture more efficient and more sustainable.