CGIAR Initiative: Livestock, Climate and System Resilience <p class="ql-align-justify">Low- and middle-income countries (LMIC) require solutions that adapt livestock systems to climate change while improving nutritional security, reducing poverty, increasing social equity and socio-political security, without accelerating greenhouse gas emissions&nbsp;(GHGe)&nbsp;or degrading land, water, and biodiversity. Rangeland systems, home to 46% of ruminant production systems, face additional challenges to their long-term climate resilience, including land fragmentation and degradation, and long-term neglect&nbsp;(Herrero et al., 2016<span style="background-color: inherit;">i</span>;&nbsp;Ayal et al., 2018<span style="background-color: inherit;">ii</span>; FAO, 2018<span style="background-color: inherit;">iii</span>;&nbsp;Cervigni&nbsp;and Morris, 2016<span style="background-color: inherit;">iv</span>). Strategic, well-targeted action research can provide answers to&nbsp;the&nbsp;tough choices and tradeoffs&nbsp;as well as&nbsp;‘investable’ solutions that attract policy attention and climate finance.&nbsp;</p><p class="ql-align-justify">&nbsp;</p><p class="ql-align-justify">Facing a climate emergency, research must provide proven adaptive measures that safeguard and capitalize on livestock benefits<span style="background-color: inherit;">v</span>. Livestock are essential to the income and livelihoods of almost 930 million poor Africans and South Asians<span style="background-color: inherit;">vi</span>, especially in drylands, where livestock production is the most ecologically rational farming choice<span style="background-color: inherit;">vii</span>. Consuming animal-source foods (ASF) has positive impacts on our cognitive development<span style="background-color: inherit;">viii</span>&nbsp;and growth<span style="background-color: inherit;">ix</span>, and&nbsp;animals&nbsp;are&nbsp;a critical safety net and source of income for women.&nbsp;&nbsp;</p><p class="ql-align-justify">&nbsp;</p><p class="ql-align-justify">Livestock production is highly vulnerable to rising temperatures, erratic precipitation and increasing extreme events<span style="background-color: inherit;">x</span>. About&nbsp;US$311&nbsp;billion in livestock&nbsp;production&nbsp;value (~40% of total) are exposed to various climate hazards, especially&nbsp;drought (88 billion US$),&nbsp;climate variability (84&nbsp;billion&nbsp;US$)&nbsp;and heat stress (US$61&nbsp;billion)<span style="background-color: inherit;">xi</span>. Dryland pastoral systems&nbsp;experience&nbsp;intensifying impacts from climate change and other forces (Herrero et al., 2016<span style="background-color: inherit;">xii</span>;&nbsp;Cervigni&nbsp;and Morris, 2016<span style="background-color: inherit;">xiii</span>). Climate is a threat multiplier, exacerbating existing risks and insecurities that may lead to further tensions<span style="background-color: inherit;">xiv</span>&nbsp;and conflicts<span style="background-color: inherit;">xv</span>. This is important for livestock&nbsp;agrifood&nbsp;systems&nbsp;(LAFS), where conflicts on natural resources access, use and management (land, pasture and water) are a&nbsp;widespread&nbsp;concern<span style="background-color: inherit;">xvi</span>. Innovations such as improved and widely disseminated climate information services show promise<span style="background-color: inherit;">xvii</span>, but&nbsp;there is little experience using them in LAFS.&nbsp;</p><p>&nbsp;</p><p class="ql-align-justify">Research must also provide innovations that mitigate livestock climate impacts. Livestock cause ~15% of&nbsp;human-induced&nbsp;GHG emissions<span style="background-color: inherit;">xviii</span>&nbsp;largely due to low feed efficiencies<span style="background-color: inherit;">xix</span>&nbsp;land use change<span style="background-color: inherit;">xx</span>, land degradation<span style="background-color: inherit;">xxi</span>&nbsp;and deforestation<span style="background-color: inherit;">xxii</span>. Land degradation in rangelands is a particular concern;&nbsp;while&nbsp;restoration offers opportunities for carbon sequestration, rangelands receive little attention compared with forests (CDKN, 2021<span style="background-color: inherit;">xxiii</span>;&nbsp;IISD, 2016<span style="background-color: inherit;">xxiv</span>; Andrieu et al., 2017<span style="background-color: inherit;">xxv</span>&nbsp;; Haddad et al., 2021<span style="background-color: inherit;">xxvi</span>;&nbsp;Cervigni&nbsp;and Morris, 2016<span style="background-color: inherit;">xxvii</span>). Nearly 50% of LMICs prioritize livestock-actions in their Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) – national blueprints for climate action<span style="background-color: inherit;">xxviii</span>, and some are developing&nbsp;livestock-based&nbsp;Nationally Appropriate Mitigation Actions<span style="background-color: inherit;">xxix</span>&nbsp;(NAMAs), but implementation lags. Governments need technical support to access finance, implement programs and report mitigation achievements<span style="background-color: inherit;">xxx</span>. These challenges apply equally to the private sector where large-scale production changes landscapes, and supply and demand shifts can provide major benefits and influence consumer behavior, yet evidence for the livestock sector is scarce, meaning that investment in resilient,&nbsp;low emissions (RLE) practices by private actors along livestock value chains is low<span style="background-color: inherit;">xxxi</span>.&nbsp;</p><p><br></p>