1.1Sessions

The Congress will be organised under seven thematic areas of rangeland research and development with a better balance between the people/social/policy and the more traditional topics.  The themes are 1) Rangeland ecology, 2) Forage production and utilization,  3) Livestock production systems 4) Wildlife, tourism and multi-facets of rangelands, 5) Drought management and climate change,  6) Pastoralism, social and policy issues and 7) Capacity building, extension and governance.   The congress will cover 30 sessions each dealing with a particular aspect of grassland/rangelands as listed below. Each session will be preceeded by a plenary session where a key note speaker will address thematic issues.

RANGELAND/GRASSLAND ECOLOGY

  • Ecological site description and ecosystem classification
  • Soil  and watershed management, water supply, quality and riparian health
  • Invasive species, pest management and fire ecology
  • Monitoring of rangeland and grassland resources
  • Rangeland/grassland improvement

FORAGE PRODUCTION AND UTILIZATION

  • Genetic resources, forage development and management
  • Grazing management practices and animal nutrition
  • Seed science and production systems

LIVESTOCK PRODUCTION SYSTEMS

  • Intensive production systems (including small-holder dairy systems in tropics and subtropics)
  • Extensive production systems (including ranching, nomadism, and dairying)
  • Integrated systems (Agro-silvopastoral systems and  crop-livestock interactions

WILDLIFE, TOURISM AND MULTI-FACETS OF RANGELAND/GRASSLAND

  • Wildlife management, conservation and tourism
  • Livestock, wildlife and people interactions
  • Privately owned or leased rangeland systems
  • Coexistence of mining and rangelands

DROUGHT MANAGEMENT AND CLIMATE CHANGE IN RANGELANDS

  • Drought management for sustainable productivity
  • Carbon sequestration
  • GHG emissions from rangeland/grassland livestock systems
  • Impacts on biodiversity, livestock and grazing systems
  • Early warning systems and modelling future climate change in ASALs

PASTORALISM, SOCIAL AND POLICY ISSUES

  • Cultural Heritage and indigenous people’s use of rangeland/grasslands (ITK)
  • Land rights and changes to pastoral systems
  • Social justice, gender and equity issues in rangelands/grasslands.
  • Livelihood diversification opportunities for pastoralists (crops, hand crafts, fishing, beekeeping, bio-fuels, silk, herbs, spices, wild fruit etc.).
  • Marketing infrastructure and systems in rangelands/grasslands
  • Policy issues for rangeland/grassland development

 CAPACITY BUILDING, EXTENSION AND GOVERNANCE

  • Emerging/trending issues in Range/grassland science and education
  • Extension and technology-transfer
  • Management of shared resources
  • Green energy and ICT applications