Joint XXIV International Grassland Congress XI International Rangeland Congress
25-30 October 2020, Nairobi, Kenya
The National Organizing Committee of the Joint International Grassland & Rangeland Congress invite abstracts for concurrent panel sessions, oral paper presentations, and posters to be presented at this global conference, to be held in Nairobi, Kenya from 25 to 30 October 2020.
The conference shall present a platform to share cutting edge science and practices in management of the planets’ grasslands and rangelands and offer the participants the opportunity to experience the best from the Eastern African savannas.
Congress Themes
The theme of the conference is Sustainable Use of Grassland/Rangeland Resources for Improved Livelihoods. Keynote addresses, oral papers and posters presented at the conference will be organized around seven sub-themes.
Sub-Theme 1: Rangeland/Grassland Ecology
• Ecological site description and ecosystem classification
• Soil and watershed management, water supply, quality and riparian health
• Shrub encroachment, fire ecology, invasive species and pest management
• Monitoring of rangeland and grassland resources
• Sustainable rangeland/grassland management and improvement
Sub-Theme 2: Forage Production and Utilization
• Genetic resources, forage development and management
• Grazing management practices and animal nutrition
• Challenges for sustainability of intensive high rainfall grasslands, sown pastures and turf
• Seed science and production systems
Sub-Theme 3: Livestock Production Systems
• Intensive production systems (including small-holder dairy systems in tropics and subtropics)
• Extensive production systems (including ranching, nomadism, and dairying)
• Integrated systems (agro/silvopastoral systems and crop-livestock interactions)
Sub-Theme 4: Wildlife, Tourism and Multi-Facets of Rangeland/Grassland
• Wildlife management, conservation and tourism
• Privately owned or leased rangeland systems
• Biodiversity and ecosystem services of rangelands/grasslands
• Status, and trends in rangelands/grasslands and options in the future
• Competing Interests in rangelands: mining, fracking, ground water exploitation
Sub-Theme 5: Drought Management and Climate Change in Rangelands/Grasslands
• Drought management for sustainable productivity
• Carbon sequestration
• GHG emissions from rangeland/grassland livestock systems
• Impacts on biodiversity, livestock and grazing systems
• Early warning systems and modelling future climate change in arid and semi-arid lands
Sub-Theme 6: Pastoralism, Social, Gender and Policy Issues
• Cultural heritage and indigenous people’s use of rangelands/grasslands (indigenous technical knowledge)
• Governance, land rights and changes to pastoral systems
• Social justice, gender and equity issues in rangelands/grasslands.
• Livelihood diversification opportunities for pastoralists (crops, hand crafts, fishing, beekeeping, biofuels, silk, herbs, spices, wild fruit etc.).
• Marketing infrastructure and systems in rangelands/grasslands
• Policy issues for rangelands/grasslands development
• Political instability and extremism: its impact on rangelands/grasslands management
Sub-Theme 7: Capacity, Institutions and Innovations for Sustainable Development in Rangelands/Grasslands
• Emerging/trending issues in range/grassland science and education
• Extension and technology-transfer
• Green energy and Information Communication Technologies applications
• Rangelands/grasslands and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)
• Participatory approaches and innovations in the management of rangelands/grasslands
Submission Guidelines: General
Abstracts will be peer-reviewed and the selection criteria will include:
(i) Relevance to the congress theme and sessions;
(ii) Significance of information and enriching current state of knowledge;
(iii) Originality and novelty;
(iv) Structure and clarity;
(v) Scientific validity.
Submission of Abstracts Through the Congress Web Site
Submissions of abstracts for posters and oral presentations and proposals for concurrent panel
sessions is to be done through the congress web site (https://igandircongress2020.dryfta.com).
1. Navigate to the site.
2. If you have already created an account on this site login, then jump to Step 5. Otherwise, click “Abstract Submissions”.
3. This will take you to the login page. If you have not yet created an account, click “create one now”. Enter your personal information, including email address and your chosen password, then click “Create Account”.
4. This will log you in to the congress site and take you to your dashboard. Click “My Abstracts”.
5. Click the green “Submit Abstract” button. This will open a page where you will input all the information related to your abstract.
6. After you have entered all the required information, click “Submit” at the bottom of the page. You will receive an automated email notification of the submission.
Submission Guidelines: Concurrent Panel Sessions
Most papers accepted for presentation at the congress will be organized into concurrent panel sessions by the conference organizers. However, proposals for thematic panel sessions made up of a collection of related oral papers are welcome. Only a limited number of such proposed panel sessions will be accepted.
Proposals for concurrent panel sessions should include an abstract of maximum of 500 words describing the overall focus of the panel session, and a list of titles and authors of oral papers to be included in the panel sessions. Concurrent panel sessions at the congress will be 90 minutes long. Proposed concurrent panel sessions should include at least five oral presentations.
You will be asked to identify under which conference sub-theme you feel the proposed concurrent session best fits, and to enter details of the individual oral presentations to be included in the session including title, presenting author, and presenting author’s email address.
Only one (1) proposed concurrent panel session will be accepted from any individual.
Submission
For general instructions, see “Submission of Abstracts Through the Congress Web Site”, above. When submitting the proposal for the panel in the congress site, click the appropriate “Submission Type”. This will cause the web page to reload. Input all the required information and upload your proposal as a Word (.doc or .docx) or .rtf file.
After entering all the required information, be sure to click “Submit” at the bottom of the page.
Submissions will close on 1 October 2019. Submissions will not be accepted after the closing date/time.
Review Process
Proposals for concurrent panel sessions will be peer-reviewed by experts, and only a limited number of such proposals will be accepted.
Acceptance of a panel does not guarantee that all the papers proposed as part of that session will be individually accepted. Abstracts for individual oral papers belonging to a proposed session will be reviewed independently (see below).
Submission Guidelines: Contributed Oral Papers and Posters
A maximum of two (2) papers/posters will be accepted from any one corresponding author. For both contributed oral papers and posters, authors should submit an abstract of maximum 300 words. When submitting abstracts, authors will be asked to identify whether they prefer to present an oral paper or a poster, and to identify under which conference sub-theme the author feels the paper or poster best fits.
Contributed oral papers will be presented in the concurrent sessions. Each presentation is expected to be no more than 10 minutes long plus two and half minutes of question and answer.
Posters will be presented in dedicated poster sessions at the congress. The posters should be approximately 90 cm x 120 cm (36″ x 48″). Cost of printing posters is to be borne by the authors; the congress organizing committee will not reimburse the cost printing posters.
Authors whose oral paper presentations or posters are accepted will receive detailed instruction about congress computing facilities, requirements and appropriate guidelines prior to the congress.
Submission
For general instructions, see “Submission of Abstracts Through the Congress Web Site”, above.
Enter all the required information in the online form, including selecting the appropriate Submission Type. Upload your abstract as a Word (.doc or .docx) or .rtf file. After entering all the required information, be sure to click “Submit” at the bottom of the page.
Submissions will close on 15 November 2019. Submissions will not be accepted after the closing
date/time.
Review Process
Abstracts will be peer-reviewed by experts. Papers describing programs and projects should focus on what was done and restrict background information such as the description of organization/ institution/country to a minimum.
As it is likely that the quantity of submissions will exceed the number of available slots, some submitted abstracts for oral presentations may be accepted for presentation as posters.
Acceptance of contributed oral presentations and posters will be ongoing and authors will be informed of the status of their submission typically within four months of submission and no later than 15 March 2020.
Authors of abstracts accepted for presentation as an oral paper or as a poster must register for the congress no later than 31 May 2020. Authors who have not registered by this date will have their paper/poster removed from the program.
Authors of abstracts accepted for presentation as an oral paper or as a poster will be invited to submit the full paper (minimum 3 pp., maximum 4 pp.) to be included in the congress proceedings. The deadline for submitting the full paper is 30 April 2020.
Guidelines for formatting papers will be made available on the conference web site. As mentioned above, costs of printing posters will be borne by the author(s); the congress organizing committee will not reimburse the cost of printing posters.
