My name is Peter Harris. I am a Grassland and Livestock Resource Assessment and Development Specialist, based in New Zealand. I have a Masters Degree in Range Management (1st Class Honours), more than 25 years professional experience and have successfully carried out many national and international consultancies. My approach to pastoral resource assessment is innovative and directed towards practical solutions.

Professional specialisation has focused on integrated grassland/livestock survey; assessment of livestock carrying capacity; evaluation of development options; grassland development and fodder production; livestock grazing management; environmental impact assessment within pastoral environments, and; emergency relief assessment, pastoral and agricultural components.

Have also worked on project identification, preparation monitoring and evaluation.

The international work has mainly related to development projects of United Nations Organisations.

Countries worked in: New Zealand, Australia, Bhutan, China, Ethiopia, India, Italy, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Mongolia, Nepal, Pakistan and Sudan.

Major achievements include:

• Successful execution of an extensive series of forage and livestock development consultancies spanning a number of countries, involving a wide range of cultures, ethnic groups and climatic environments.
• Authorship of a comprehensive technical book on Grassland Resource Assessment for the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations.
• The writing of guidelines for the assessment of rangelands and natural pastures within the context of natural resource management for rural poverty alleviation.
• An investigation of historical nutrient balances relating to pastoral activities on extensive sheep farms in New Zealand.
• Contribution to the understanding of the behaviour and grazing distribution of sheep on extensive mountainous pastoral land.
• Design and use of RAPS, a computer-based model for the estimation of the livestock carrying capacities of complex pastoral and forage systems and the analysis of the inter-relationships between forage sources or management units.
• The application of the above software in the assessment of pastoral risk, environmental impact and emergency requirements.
• Development of the concept of forage resource indices to identify and quantify complementarity between land and forage units and for the assessment of net productivity and relative economic value of land units.
• Awarded the 1997 Denghuang Prize by the Gansu Provincial Government (China) for contribution to economic development, science and technology, education and training.