Israel Feldman

• Plenary Speaker
• Date: Monday 04 April
• Time: 17:30

Israel Feldman graduated in Agronomy from the National University of La Plata and completed his MSc at the University of Nebraska, USA. He worked as an INTA researcher in grassland management and later in range and brush management. As a consultant he has worked on many projects planning agro-forestry and range enterprises and has many scientific publications and reports, also finding time for lecturing as Professor of Plant Ecology at the National University of Rosario. In his spare time he is also a rancher!! He has been vice -president of the Ecological Society of Argentina. He was the Founding President of the Argentinean Association for Range Management from 1999 to 2001 and from 2007 to 2009.

Paulo César de Faccio Carvalho

• Plenary Speaker / Invited Speaker & Chair in Session 2.4
• Date: Tuesday 05 April / Friday 08 April
• Time: 9:30 a.m. / 10 a.m.

Paulo César de Faccio Carvalho trabaja en la Facultad de Agronomía de la Universidad Federal de Río Grande del Sul, en Porto Alegre – Brasil. Su interés en investigación se centra sobre las relaciones planta-animal y los efectos del pastoreo sobre los sistemas pastoriles naturales, cultivados o integrados con agricultura. 
 
Mi CV completo puede ser obtenido en http://lattes.cnpq.br/3131637447868865

Cristian R. Feldkamp

• Plenay Speaker
• Date: Thursday 07 April
• Time: 17:30

Cristian R. Feldkamp is Agricultural Engineer graduated in the Universidad Nacional de Entre Ríos, Argentina and Doctor rerum agriculturarum by the Humboldt University of Berlin, Germany. He has participated and directed research and development studies in Argentina, Germany and Brazil in subjects as rangelands, ruminant nutrition, cow-calf systems, application of thermodynamics to the study of the farming systems behavior, traceability and quality follow-up in the chains of supply, production systems and modeling. He has participated as lecturer in congresses, seminaries and graduate studies in Argentina, Germany, Brazil and Mexico. Currently, he is associated professor of “Production Economics” at the Facultad de Ciencias Agrarias of the Universidad de Concepción del Uruguay, and lecturer of “Beef cattle production” of the Facultad de Agronomía of the Universidad de Buenos Aires. He also works as a private consultant in beef production systems and runs his cow-calf ranch.

Dr John A Taylor

• Chair in Session 3.2
• Date: Tuesday 05 April
• Time: 11 a.m.

Dr John A Taylor is the Director of Rangelands Australia and Professor of Rangeland Management at the University of Queensland’s Gatton Campus.  He is a graduate of Queensland and New England Universities who has worked in the rangelands of Australia for over 30 years, in roles ranging from a research scientist to the Chief of a CSIRO Division.  In his current role, he is focused on building capacity for individual and enterprise success in Australia’s rangelands, and has won national and institutional awards for these efforts.  John has been a member of the Board of the Desert Knowledge Cooperative Research Centre and the Ministerial Advisory Board for the Remote Enterprise Centre.  He is a member of the Society for Range Management, Global Rangelands Initiative, Range Science Education Council, Society for Provision of Education in Rural Australia, and is the President of the Australian Rangeland Society.

Elbio J. Berretta

• Chair in Session 3.2
• Date: Tuesday 05 April
• Time: 11 a.m.

Bachelor degree from Faculty of Agronomy, Universidad de la República, Montevideo, Uruguay.
Doctorate in General and Applied Ecology at the Université des Sciences et Techniques du Languedoc, Montpellier, France, while working at CNRS-CEFE “L. Emberger” and INRA.
Assistant Professor of Forage at Faculty of Agronomy, 1976 – 1987.
Pasture Production Consultant at CIAAB, Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Fisheries, 1988 – 1990.
Senior Researcher at the National Institute of Agricultural Research (INIA in Spanish) and Executive Regional Director at the Experimental Stations of Tacuarembó and Salto, 1991 – 2008.
Forage Production Research Consultant at INIA, 2008 – 2010.
Invited Speaker: Problems of animal production related to pastures in South America: Uruguay. International Grassland Ecophysiology and Grazing Ecology Symposium. Curutiba, Paraná, Brasil. 1999.
Invited Speaker: Ecophisiology and management response of the subtropical grasslands of Southern South America. XIX IGC, Brasil, 2001.
Chairman: Section Forage in Cropping Systems. XIX IGC, Brasil 2001.
Country pasture/forage resource profiles: Uruguay. FAO, 2003.
http://www.fao.org/ag/AGP/AGPC/doc/Counprof/uruguay/uruguay.htm
Lectures in numerous Symposiums and Congress in Uruguay, Brazil and Argentine.
Member of the Forage and Grazing Terminology Committee.

Dr Jocelyn Davies

• Chair in Session 3.3. a
• Date: Thursday 07 April
• Time: 10:30 a.m.

Jocelyn is a geographer based in Alice Springs, central Australia, and a principal research scientist with the CSIRO Division of Ecosystem Sciences.  Her recent research, in collaborations fostered by Desert Knowledge Cooperative Research Centre, has focused on Aboriginal land management in Australian rangelands and its outcomes for health and well being and adaptive capacity in social-ecological systems.  Jocelyn’s research has also addressed community based planning processes by Aboriginal groups, effective and ethical cross cultural research engagement, management planning for protected areas owned and managed by Aboriginal people, and sustainable livelihoods opportunities through Aboriginal commercial use of wildlife and fire management for greenhouse gas mitigation.  In earlier work for The University of Adelaide, Jocelyn developed and coordinated innovative approaches to learning about the ecology and management of Aboriginal lands, involving Aboriginal elders and community members in field based teaching.  Jocelyn has had long standing interests and involvement in negotiations between Aboriginal groups, government and other stakeholders for recognition of Aboriginal property rights in southern Australian rangelands, in development of partnerships between Aboriginal people and Australian governments for management of protected areas, in common property regimes and in development challenges in Asian rangelands.  Her work and passions contribute to awareness of desert knowledge and development paradigms – valuing and promoting knowledge and ways of practice that are appropriate to drylands

Andrés F. Cibils

• Chair in Session 2.4
• Date: Friday 08 April
• Time: 8:30 a.m.

Andrés F. Cibils received a B.S. in Animal Science (Zootechnician Engineer) from the Lomas de Zamora National University (Arg) in 1984, a MSc. and PhD in Rangeland Ecosystem Science from Colorado State University in 1996 and 1999, and was a post-doctoral fellow in the School of Renewable Natural Resources at the University of Arizona between 2002 and 2003. Andrés is currently an Associate Professor of Rangeland Science in the Department of Animal and Range Sciences at New Mexico State University. Contact: Ph. 575-646-4342; Fax 575-646-5441; email: acibils@nmsu.edu

Dr Rebecca Bartley

• Invited Speaker in Session 1.1
• Date: Monday 04 April
• Time: 12 a.m.

Dr Rebecca Bartley is a Research Scientist and Team Leader with Australia’s Commonwealth Scientific Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) based in Brisbane. Rebecca received a Bachelor of Science from the University of Sydney and a PhD from Monash University in Melbourne. Dr Bartley has experience in the fields of fluvial geomorphology and catchment hydrology and has worked extensively in catchments in Eastern Australia. Her primary interest has been to develop field experiments and monitoring projects that will help underpin and support the large scale catchment models that are used to predict sediment and nutrient loads in Australia’s coastal catchments. Her most recent work has been as the lead scientist on a 10 year monitoring project in the rangelands of Northern Australia. This work has involved monitoring the impact of reduced grazing on runoff and sediment yields at various spatial scales. Dr Bartley is the author of 61 publications including 11 journal articles, 21 reports, four book chapters and 25 conference papers. Dr Bartley has won several awards including the CSIRO Payne-Scott award (2009) and the Australian Young Water Scientist of the Year Award (2001).

Dr. Enrique Chaneton

• Invited Speaker in Session 2.1
• Date: Monday 04 April
• Time: 11:30 a.m.

Dr. Enrique Chaneton is Assistant Professor of Ecology and Research Scientist in the Institute for Agricultural Plant Physiology and Ecology (IFEVA) of National Research Council of Argentina and in the Department of Natural Resources, Faculty of Agronomy, University of Buenos Aires. He received in 1995 a MSc. degreee in Natural Resources from UBA, and in 1998 completed his PhD studies at the Centre for Population Biology, Imperial College at Silwood Park, UK. His broad research interests include the impacts of herbivorous consumers on the dynamics and functioning of temperate grassland and forest ecosystems; the biotic and abiotic controls of exotic plant invasions and their consequences for biodiversity; and the role of indirect interactions in structuring multi-trophic communities. His work in collaboration with numerous colleagues and graduate students has produced over 50 scientific publications in peer-reviewed journals and book chapters. He has supervised some 15 graduate students in Biology and Agronomy. He currently chairs the PhD programme in Agricultural Sciences of UBA, and serves as associate editor of Oikos and Biological Invasions.

Dr. D. Layne Coppock

• Speaker in Session 3.1
• Date: Monday 04 April
• Time: 11:30

Dr. D. Layne Coppock, American, was formally educated as an ecologist and animal scientist. With his first degree in zoology, he later conducted post-graduate work on bison/prairie dog grazing interactions in South Dakota and pastoral livestock feeding ecology in the Turkana region of northwestern Kenya. After attaining the PhD degree, Dr. Coppock became a staff scientist at the International Livestock Center for Africa (ILCA) in Ethiopia from 1985-91,  followed by a faculty position in the Department of Rangeland Resources at Utah State University. Over the next 20 years he has gradually become more involved in human problem-solving in rangelands and smallholder farming systems, with a growing focus on interdisciplinary research and participatory methods. Projects undertaken by Dr. Coppock and his associates have included studies of: (1) How to improve risk management and reduce poverty among Ethiopian pastoralists via capacity building and livelihood diversification; (2) how to improve drought management and adoption of innovations among Utah ranchers; (3) the effects of pastoralists and vegetation change on sustaining protected areas and endangered wildlife species in Ethiopia; (4) the factors affecting adoption of soil and water conservation practices among small farmers in a Kenyan watershed; (4) determinants of livelihood resilience among smallholder famers in western Tanzania; and (5) sustainability for agro-pastoral communities of the Bolivian highlands. Dr. Coppock currently is an associate professor in the Department of Environment and Society in the College of Natural Resources at Utah State University, with an emphasis on research and teaching. More information can be found at http://www.cnr.usu.edu/htm/facstaff/memberID=816

Fabián Piqué

• Invited Speaker in Session 2.2
• Date: Tuesday 05 April
• Time: 11 a.m.

Experto en Turismo, ex-agente de viajes, Geógrafo, idóneo en Turismo y Consultor de Empresas en temas de Marketing, Turismo Sustentable y Turismo en Áreas Protegidas. Porteño, vive en Bariloche desde 1999.
Trabajó en Buenos Aires en Empresas Mayoristas internacionales y desde 1990 se especializó en Patagonia y Esquí, llegando a ser Director Comercial de la Operadora Badino Turismo (donde permaneció por 10 años).
En Bariloche se dedica a trabajar como Consultor Externo de Empresas, especialmente en proyectos dentro de Áreas Protegidas.
En este rol, estuvo varios años participando en el desarrollo de los Concesionarios Oficiales de Parques Nacionales (APN), específicamente en los Parques Nahuel Huapi, Bosque de Arrayanes y Talampaya, donde se alcanzó certificación ISO 9001 y 14001 y se realizó uno de los primeros cálculos de gases efecto invernadero (GEI) para su posterior mitigación y captura en la industria turística en Argentina. Promueve la Responsabilidad Social Empresaria (RSE), siendo co-organizador del Foro Empresarial de la Patagonia realizado en Mayo de 2010.
También asesora a Empresas Hoteleras en desarrollo de producto y a Agencias de Viajes en Calidad y posicionamiento. Es Organizador Profesional de Eventos y Convenciones (OPC) y ha dictado conferencias y capacitaciones sobre Turismo Sustentable y Eventos Corporativos en diferentes puntos del país. Sitio web: www.seraustral.com.ar

Dr. Zalmen Henkin

• Invited Speaker in Session 2.2
• Date: Tuesday 05 April
• Time: 11:30 a.m.

Born in Naharia, Israel. B.Sc.  in Geology at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.
M.Sc. in Environmental Biology at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.
Ph.D. in Evolution, Systematics and Ecology at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. 
Galilee Technological Center (MIGAL), Head of research in range management in Mediterranean woodland. Researcher in Range Management, Deparment of Natural Resources, Agricultural Research Organization, Israel.
Lecture at Tel-Hai Academic College - Research Methods in Ecology and Quantitative Ecology.
Lecture at Tel-Hai Academic College – Introduction to Israel vegetation.
Lecture at Faculty of Agricultural, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem – Natural Pastoral Systems.
Latest articles in reviewed journals:
Aharoni, Y., Z. Henkin, A. Ezra, A. Dolev, A. Shabtay, A. Orlov, Y. Yehuda, and A.    Brosh, (2009). Grazing behavior and energy costs of activity: A comparison B.    between two types of cattle. Journal of animal Science, 87:2719-2731.
Henkin, Z., A. Perevolotsky, A. Rosenfeld,  A. Brosh, F. Provenza, and N. Silanikove, (2009). The effect of Polyethylene glycol on browsing behaviour of beef cattle in a tanniferous shrubby Mediterranean range. Livestock Science, 126:245 251.
Brosh, A., Z. Henkin, E.D. Ungar, A. Dolev, A. Shabtay, A. Orlov, Y. Yehuda, and Y. Aharoni, (2010). Energy cost of activities and locomotion of grazing cows: a repeated study in larger plots. Journal of animal Science, 88:315-323.
Henkin, Z., N.G. Seligman, and I. Noy-Meir, (2010).Long-term productivity of Mediterranean herbaceous vegetation after a single phosphorus application. Journal of Vegetation Science, 21:979-991.

Dr. Justin Derner

• Invited Speaker in Session 1.3
• Date: Thursday 07 April
• Time: 10:30 a.m.

Dr. Justin Derner is the Research Leader for the Rangeland Resources Research Unit of the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA)-Agricultural Research Service (ARS).  He received his Ph.D. degree in Rangeland Ecology and Management from Texas A&M University in 1996.  Currently, Dr. Derner leads a multi-disciplinary team of scientists developing and providing land managers the necessary tools to address the interface of contemporary production-conservation issues related to provision of ecosystem goods and services on western US rangelands.  Research ascertains the effects of livestock as ecosystem engineers, alone or in combination with fire and prairie dogs, to influence vegetation heterogeneity and modify states of vegetation and affect resilience within ecological sites of semi-arid rangelands.  Research efforts target management strategies for mitigation and adaptation of climate change on rangelands by evaluating dynamics of soil carbon and nitrogen as influenced by management X environment (weather/climate) effects.  Dr. Derner received the “Early Career Scientist of the Year Award” for the Northern Plains Area of ARS in 2006, the “Outstanding Young Range Professional Award from the Society for Range Management in 2002, and the “Outstanding Achievement Award” from the Society for Range Management in 2006.  He served as an Associate Editor for Rangeland Ecology and Management from 2007-2010.  Dr. Derner is also a co-PI on the National Science Foundation funded Shortgrass Steppe Long-Term Ecological Research Project and is an affiliate faculty member in the Department of Renewable Resources at the University of Wyoming.

Dr. Chuluun Togtokh

• Invited Speaker in Session 1.3
• Date: Thursday 07 April
• Time: 11:30 a.m.

Dr. Chuluun Togtokh is Director, Department of Environmental Policy and Science, Mongolian Development Institute, the Office of the President of Mongolia; Professor at the National University of Mongolia; and Director of the Dryland Sustainability Institute. Dr. Chuluun is Vice-Chair of the Global Change National Committee of Mongolia; Science and Technology Committee Member of the Ministry of Nature, Environment and Tourism; the Monsoon Asia Integrated Regional Study SSC member; and Continuing Committee Member of the International Rangeland Congress (represents Central Asia and Mongolia). Dr. Chuluun’s research activities address sustainability of dryland human-environmental systems; and adaptation of rangeland ecosystems to climate change.

Walter Ayala

• Invited Speaker in Session 2.3
• Date: Tuesday 07 April
• Time: 10:30 a.m.

Walter Ayala is an Agricultural Engineer (graduated from Agronomy Faculty, Republic University, Uruguay in 1998) and has a PhD in Pastoral Science (Massey University, New Zealand, 2001). Since 1990, he has worked as a researcher at Pastures and Forages National Research Program from National Agricultural Research Institute – INIA Uruguay, being successively Assistant Researcher, Associated, and from 2003 Senior Researcher. He has developed research and publications in pastures management and utilization, with emphasis in plant ecophysiology studies in different forage species. In 2009, the book “El Valor agronómico del género Lotus (The agronomy of Lotus genus)” was published, being coauthor of that publication.  Between 2006 and 2010 he served as Director of Pastures and Forages National Research Program, currently holds the position of Regional Director of the East Experimental Station – INIA Treinta y Tres.

Email: wayala@tyt.inia.org.uy

Michael Ochieng Odhiambo

• Invited Speaker in Session 3.4
• Date: Friday 08 April
• Time: 10:30 a.m.

Michael Ochieng Odhiambo is the founder of Resource Conflict Institute (RECONCILE), and was for 10 years its Executive Director.  He is since January 2011 the Institute’s Senior Associate for Programme Development and Research.  RECONCILE is regional policy research and advocacy NGO based in Nakuru, Kenya and working on land, environment and natural resources policy and law in Eastern Africa.
A law graduate of the University of Nairobi, Mr. Odhiambo is an Advocate of the High Court of Kenya.  He practiced law in his country for more than 10 years, specializing in litigation, and in the process coming to grips with the challenges of land and other resource based conflicts, particularly in the Rift Valley.  It was in order to deepen his understanding of the role of law in mediating property rights and relations that he went back to University for postgraduate studies, specializing in Environment and Natural Resources Law.
He founded RECONCILE in 1999 to conduct policy research and analysis as well as capacity development on land, environment, and natural resource rights.  He has worked on these issues in Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Ethiopia, Eritrea and Southern Sudan, consulting for the World Bank, UN agencies, Governments and international development agencies.  He is an acknowledge authority in the region on pastoral land rights and pastoral development policy, and was a member of the Specialist Task Force for the African Union Pastoral Policy Framework Initiative that guided the development of the AU Pastoral Policy Framework.
He is the author of The Karamoja Conflict: Origins, Impact and Solutions published by Oxfam and Fountain Publishers.