Blog for People, Food and Nature

In the Tigray Region of Ethiopia, severe land degradation, population growth and immigration, and unsustainable agricultural practices and management have undermined food security and rural livelihoods. Increased and recurrent drought and unpredictable and variable rainfall since the 1970s have exacerbated these problems. Climate change is multiplying the threats. The World Fo ...

It’s all about the institutions. That message came through strongly yesterday at an event on engaging communities in sustainable landscapes held by Rainforest Alliance and The Center for Peoples and Forests (RECOFTC). Honing in on how to advance adaptation and lower emissions, the panel set forth to address the challenges and tools for smallholders and […] ...

Day 3 of COP18 is well underway, and there are plenty of events related to agriculture on the horizon. Yesterday, a joint event held by FAO, IFAD, and WFP commenced the discussion, attempting to tease out answers to three questions related to climate-smart agriculture: How can climate-smart approaches be used to build resilience in food […] ...

Yesterday launched the first day of the 18th Conference of the Parties (COP18) for the UNFCCC. Already, references to agriculture have been made  at the Subsidiary Body on Scientific and Technical Advice (SBSTA), with adaptation  needs carrying considerable weight especially in developing countries. Adaptation is also the topic of today’s blog post from Bioversity In ...

Ever wonder what the climate will look in 10, 50, 100 years? Will corn be able to grow in the far northern reaches? Will the northern hemisphere play host to coffee and bananas? A spatial tool developed by the Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS) research program of the CGIAR tries to illustrate these shifts. […] ...

In addition to the challenges of crafting policy to support climate-smart agricultural landscapes, those related to investment and the financial challenges of dealing with climate change have received considerable attention of late, and will be a major topic of discussion at the upcoming COP18. An earlier Blog post noted that more integrated finance mechanisms are needed to [ ...

This week’s Blog posts have focused on policies and financing mechanisms to align agricultural development and climate change adaptation and mitigation efforts. Since it’s inception in 2008, the UN program on Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and forest Degradation (REDD+) has come under heavy criticism. At the same time, it is one of the few opportunities ...

As discussed on the blog yesterday, policy is a critical piece of the climate-smart landscape puzzle. Often, to motivate the shifts toward farm practices and landscape features that both mitigate greenhouse gas emissions and increase the resilience of agricultural systems, policies must be in place that align these goals. The State of California recently made […] ...

Making agriculture more resilient to climate change and contributing to mitigation efforts requires some specific elements are present within a landscape, as we outlined on the Blog last Tuesday. Incorporating climate-smart agricultural practices, a diversity of land uses across a landscape, and the management of interactions between those land uses is critical to achieving ada ...

On Wednesday the Landscapes Blog explored the role of forests in integrated agricultural landscape management. Trees become increasingly important features in a landscape when the needs of carbon sequestration for climate mitigation and increasing resilience to adapt enter the picture. A new project implemented by Madagascar’s Ministry of Environment and Forestry, and sup ...