Ladies and gentlemen, and distinguished guests and colleagues, you are all welcome to ILRI and to this workshop.
The world is facing significant challenges as a result of population growth, coping with the increasing demands for foods, the need to improve the quality of life, the promotion of equity, and the protection of the environment.
The challenges are greater in developing countries, due to the added constraint of resources. Agriculture constitutes the main activity in terms of use of natural resources, and generation of employment in developing countries. It contributes significantly to the livelihood of the poorest sectors of society. It allows the production of food that if accessible and available in adequate quantity and quality could contribute to the overall health and nutrition of the human population.
The Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR), a consortium of governments from developed and developing countries, and international agencies recognises the role agricultural research plays in the development of sustainable livelihoods of the poor in developing countries. It supports 16 international agricultural research centres distributed around the world to carry out its mission. Its goals are achieving food security, poverty eradication, and environmental protection.
Within the CGIAR, the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) is the only institute that promotes and conducts livestock research with a global mandate. ILRI's mission is to enhance the well-being of present and future generations in developing countries through research that improves livestock production. Enhancement of the well-being of the population implies increased incomes, better health and education, an equitable society, proper leisure and a clean environment, among others. In addressing its mission and the higher goals of the CGIAR, ILRI is particularly concerned about enhancement of the positive role of livestock in achieving improved human welfare.
The simultaneous search for those goals is a complex process. Thus holistic, participatory and multi-disciplinary approaches are required. The agro-ecosystem health approach has been suggested as a paradigm to provide the conceptual framework to tackle the complex problems of improving human health and nutrition, through increases in crop–livestock productivity while managing natural resources in a sustainable manner.
On the basis of common interests to further develop and refine this concept, ILRI approached the International Development Research Centre (IDRC) of Canada to fund a small project, to which they responded positively and generously. As a test site, it was agreed that it would be put into practice under the most challenging conditions of the Ethiopian highlands, for their combination of population pressure and needs, importance of livestock for the livelihood of people, and the environmental fragility. The assumption is to prove a feasible approach and develop methodologies that could be used in other highland ecosystems, as well as in other ecoregions.
Given the complexity of the problems and needed solutions, no single institution could address them alone. It requires the participation of the communities themselves, as well as an assortment of institutions and disciplines addressing the biological and social sciences. So it was agreed that the concept being new, ILRI and IDRC would jointly organise a workshop to bring together experts in the field and potential partners and other users of the concept in the East Africa region to exchange ideas and experiences before launching the project.
ILRI is quite pleased to host the workshop and will be looking forward to the implementation of the recommendations coming from the meeting, as it constitutes a milestone in the advancement of concepts and methods on the agro-ecosystems health paradigm.
ILRI is especially grateful to the IDRC for the technical and financial support that made this initiative possible. Once more IDRC is showing its commitment to research and development for the improvement of the livelihoods of the poor in developing countries.
I wish you an enjoyable stay at ILRI.
Hugo Li Pun
Director, Sustainable Production Systems Programme
ILRI, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
