Animals, resources, environments: adaptive capacities and interactions (ARE)

Environmental constraints, the consequences of climate change, global economic uncertainty and current and future trends in agriculture and livestock farming are generating more or less predictable situations and causing fluctuations that are directly or indirectly affecting traditional animal husbandry strategies, farm self-sufficiency and finally the productivity of the systems and their impact on the environment.

In Mediterranean and tropical contexts, which are often characterised by the variability, unpredictability and heterogeneity of resources, livestock production must adapt to the resources available and use them more efficiently, with a dual productive and environmental objective.

To support the design of agroecological livestock systems able to contribute significantly to local food systems and the maintenance of ecological services, ARE is particularly interested in the characterisation and use of their main biotechnical levers, especially the diversity of animals (individuals, herds, locally adapted breeds) and plants in order to increase the range of food resources available, reduce the use of inputs and reinforce resilience and the closing of nutrient cycles. A variety of systems are chosen for study to reflect different contexts (North/South; Mediterranean/Tropical) and levels of intensification, progress in the agroecological transition and specialization of livestock (livestock/crop-livestock).