Scientific Program – IRC2011

1. Ecological Integrity

   1. Water in rangelands: watershed function, aquifer recharge and erosion control. Water harvesting. Ecological responses of rangeland systems to global change at different scales. Chairs: Tony Palmer (SA) and Marcelo Varni (AR).
   2. Rangeland Ecology and Changes in land use. Impact of the expansion of agriculture with direct seeding and genetically modified crops in rangelands. Impact of food and fuel prices on rangeland land use. Chairs: Debra Peters and Silvia Mestelan.
   3. Climate change mitigation and adaptation in rangelands. Biofuels, methane reduction, biosequestration and derived livelihood opportunities, trading and legislative impediments. Chairs: Andrew Ash (AU) and Nestor Maceira (ARG).
   4. Monitoring: Towards a global rangeland sustainability assessment. Application of indicators at a global scale. Adaptation and integration of current monitoring tools to track changes. Monitoring of regional processes with remote sensing. Chairs: Ian Watson.

2. Sustainable Production

   1. Ecological basis of rangeland dynamics and restoration. Rangeland productivity. State and transition models. Rehabilitation techniques. Economic analysis. Chairs Brandon Bestelmeyer (US) and Pablo Cruz (FRA).
   2. Diversified rangeland uses: Agro-tourism, eco-tourism, medicinal, aromatic or ornamental plants, wildlife habitat preservation and management. Silvo-pastoral production. Integrated management of woody species. Fire. Chairs: Susanne Vetter and David Bilenca.
   3. Rangeland germplasm resources to meet forage and other biomass production needs: Forage germplasm, production and certification of seeds from native rangeland plant species. Chairs: Douglas Johnson and Jose Pedro de Battista.
   4. Management of livestock grazing, nutrition, and foraging behavior: Strategies and tools to enhance secondary production while conserving biodiversity and function of rangelands. Forage evaluation, nutrition management, behavior and animal welfare. Grazing systems. Chairs: Andres Cibils an Paulo Carvalho.

3. Social Sustainability

   1. Social and cultural dimensions of rangeland management: Variation in approaches and values Chairs Urs Krueter and Roberto Benencia Changes of land users, policymakers and scientists, in response to demands from society. Urban societies and range management. Valuation of non-tangible benefits. Linking to market. Opportunities in the increasing demand for quality, traceability and ?identity? of food. Organic production. Chairs: Urs Krueter and Roberto Benencia.
   2. Education, extension and research of muti purpose rangeland use Negotiation of multi-purpose rangeland use. Multi-stakeholder interaction in managing resources. Livelihood and the environment. Resources needed for facilitation: Extension skills, time and money. Pilot areas vs. regional management. Integration of disciplines; research, extension and education and integration of knowledge systems. Extension in rangelands. Chair: Elbio Berreta.
   3. (a) Land rights and nomadism. Viability of adaptive mobile pastoralism and traditional management of rangelands from the point of view of aboriginal and native peoples. Chairs: Karen Braun and Jocelyn Davies.
      (b) Desert Development Paradigm and desertification Chairs Mark Stafford Smith and Roberto Fernandez
   4. Policy influence and Land Rights. Privatization vs. traditional rights. Linking of modern and traditional knowledge. Complexity, change and integration. Systems perspective. Public Policies. Chair: Layne Coppock and Sebastian Villagra.

4. Overview of Argentina’s Rangelands Situation

5. Rangeland types and production systems.
6. Vegetation and ecology of Argentina´s rangelands.
7. Livestock production on Rangelands.

Note to authors:

Please note that this Program has some changes in relation to the original one

• Rehabilitation papers in session 1.3 have been derived to session 2.1.
• Session 2.1 has been subdivided into:
  • 2.1 Production, structure and quality of rangelands.
  • 2.4 Management of livestock grazing, nutrition, and foraging behavior.
• The original Silvopastoril Session (2.4) has been joined with 2.2 "Diverse uses of rangelands".
• The original Valuation of rangeland services (3.3) has been combined with 3.1, now called "Social and cultural dimensions of rangeland management: Variation in approaches and values"
• The Session 3.3a is now called Land rights and nomadism and reserved for native and aboriginal people presentations.
• A new session 3.3b "Desert Development Paradigm" has been included.