As global demand for livestock products (such as meat, milk and eggs) is expected to double by 2050, necessary increases to future production must be reconciled with negative environmental impacts that livestock cause. This paper describes the LivestockPlus concept and demonstrates how the sowing of improved forages can lead to the sustainable intensification of mixed crop-forage-livestock-tree systems in the tropics by producing multiple social, economic and environmental benefits. Sustainable intensification not only improves the productivity of tropical forage-based systems but also reduces the ecological footprint of livestock production and generates a diversity of ecosystem services (ES) such as improved soil quality and reduced erosion, sedimentation and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Integrating improved grass and legume forages into mixed production systems (crop-livestock, tree-livestock, crop-tree-livestock) can restore degraded lands and enhance system resilience to drought and waterlogging associated with climate change. When properly managed tropical forages accumulate large amounts of carbon in soil, fix atmospheric nitrogen (legumes), inhibit nitrification in soil and reduce nitrous oxide emissions (grasses), and reduce GHG emissions per unit livestock product.The LivestockPlus concept is defined as the sustainable intensification of forage-based systems, which is based on 3 interrelated intensification processes: genetic intensification -the development and use of superior grass and legume www.tropicalgrasslands.info cultivars for increased livestock productivity; ecological intensification -the development and application of improved farm and natural resource management practices; and socio-economic intensification -the improvement of local and national institutions and policies, which enable refinements of technologies and support their enduring use. Increases in livestock productivity will require coordinated efforts to develop supportive government, non-government organization and private sector policies that foster investments and fair market compensation for both the products and ES provided. Effective research-for-development efforts that promote agricultural and environmental benefits of foragebased systems can contribute towards implemention of LivestockPlus across a variety of geographic, political and socio-economic contexts. ResumenDe la misma manera que la demanda global de productos pecuarios (carne, leche, huevos) se duplicará para 2050, se espera que las producciones futuras tengan en cuenta los efectos ambientales negativos ocasionados por este sector. En este documento se describe el concepto LivestockPlus y se demuestra cómo en el trópico los forrajes mejorados pueden llevar a la intensificación sostenible de sistemas de producción mixta que integran forrajes/ganadería y cultivos y/o árboles, produciendo múltiples beneficios sociales, económicos y ambientales. La intensificación sostenible no sólo incrementa la productividad de los sistemas tropicales basados en forra...

Forage-based livestock production plays a key role in national and regional economies, for food security and poverty alleviation, but is considered a major contributor to agricultural GHG emissions. While demand for livestock products is predicted to increase, there is political and societal pressure both to reduce environmental impacts and to convert some of the pasture area to alternative uses, such as crop production and environmental conservation. Thus, it is essential to develop approaches for sustainable intensification of livestock systems to mitigate GHG emissions, addressing biophysical, socio-economic and policy challenges.This paper highlights the potential of improved tropical forages, linked with policy incentives, to enhance livestock production, while reducing its environmental footprint. Emphasis is on crop-livestock systems. We give examples for sustainable intensification to mitigate GHG emissions, based on improved forages in Brazil and Colombia, and suggest future perspectives. ResumenLa producción ganadera a base de forrajes desempeña un papel clave en las economías nacional y regional en cuanto a seguridad alimentaria y mitigación de la pobreza. No obstante, se considera como un factor importante que contribuye a las emisiones de gases de efecto invernadero (GEI) producidos por la agricultura. Mientras que se prevé que la demanda de productos pecuarios seguirá en aumento, existe presión política y social para no solo reducir los impactos ambientales sino también para convertir parte del área en pasturas a usos alternativos como la producción agrícola y la conservación del medio ambiente. Por tanto, es esencial desarrollar enfoques para la intensificación sostenible de sistemas pecuarios para mitigar las emisiones de GEI, abordando desafíos biofísicos, socioeconómicos y políticos.En este documento se destaca el potencial de los forrajes tropicales mejorados, junto con incentivos a nivel de polí-ticas, para mejorar la producción pecuaria mientras se reduce su huella ambiental. Se hace énfasis en sistemas mixtos (cultivos-ganadería) y se dan ejemplos de intensificación sostenible para mitigar las emisiones de GEI con base en forrajes mejorados en Brasil y Colombia, y se señalan algunas perspectivas para el futuro.

No abstract

Livestock raising is an important sector of the Colombian economy, which will face serious challenges in the next decade, including adaptation to and mitigation of climate change. Colombia must change the model of livestock production in a very short time by freeing up areas of pasture for other uses and focusing intensified livestock production in suitable zones. Despite the urgency and the magnitude of the required changes, only isolated small-scale initiatives exist. Colombia therefore has the challenge to scale-up these initiatives 1 , but at present it has no program designed to achieve this objective. We started by analyzing the policies, actors, and existing initiatives in Colombia. We then sought to understand the potential for and the limitations to scaling-up promising initiatives to face the challenges of climate change in the livestock sector. We identified the key elements from previous initiatives and classified them into the conceptual spaces identified in the theory of scaling-up. These are the spaces in matters of: policy, fiscal and financial matters, institutional capacity, learning, partnerships, and technical matters, emphasizing the importance of the technical dimension. Finally, we propose some elements for the design of Colombia's national program of livestock raising.