Removing Barriers to Successful Land Management
The Savory Institute works to remove barriers that stand in the way of successful large-scale change to how the world’s grasslands and other resources are managed. Our work to remove barriers takes many different shapes, including:
Monitoring, Curating and Conducting Research
The Savory Institute conducts, coordinates and supports comprehensive social, ecological, and financial monitoring. We work in collaboration with many organizations and academic institutions to collect and conduct research that will increase our understanding of how properly managed livestock in the grasslands of the world contribute to removing carbon from the air and addressing problems such as drought, poverty, hunger and social violence.
For example, we are partnering with The Nature Conservancy on a 10-year effort to collect data to demonstrate that Holistic Management yields improvements in financial performance, range conditions and biological diversity on a portfolio of ranches in Colorado and around the world.
Informing Policy
Policies and development programs concerning grasslands management in many countries are often flawed – and they are a major reason why desertification is expanding so rapidly around the world. The Savory Institute informs policymakers of the need to shift current agriculture and land management policies and programs.
To bring about this shift in policy, the Savory Institute works with organizations such as the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD), USAID’s Office of Foreign Disaster Assistance (OFDA), Natural Resources Defense Council, The Nature Conservancy and others to compile and conduct relevant research supporting the important findings behind Holistic Management and the large-scale environmental, economic and social benefits that it can provide.
Identifying and Establishing Market Incentives
The Savory Institute works to identify and establish strategies to create market-based incentives to encourage people to use Holistic Management to create environmental, economic and social benefits. For example, we have joined a collaboration of sheep producers in Argentina, The Nature Conservancy (TNC) and Patagonia, Inc. on a land management project that will restore 40 million acres of the Patagonia grasslands and add value to the wool produced on these estancias.
Increasing Public Awareness
The Savory Institute engages many different audiences to change public perception that livestock itself causes the degradation and/or desertification of grasslands. It is actually the way humans manage livestock that is the culprit. This fundamental shift in thinking must happen to drive needed policy and market shifts.
Many different key environmental activists and thought leaders are supporting our efforts to increase public awareness such as Deepak Chopra, Ian Somerhalder, Hazel Henderson, and Gretel Erlich. The Savory Institute team is also available to speak at conferences, meetings and other gatherings.