Blog for People, Food and Nature

The use of the term ‘Landscape Approaches’ has grown substantially in the past few years, making its way into the parlance of major research organizations and development institutions. Of course, there is always the question of what is actually meant when using the term. As we saw in Wednesday’s blog post, landscapes are discussed in […] ...

Getting the forestry, agriculture, and food security people all in the same room and agreeing upon common goals and strategies is not a task to be taken lightly. Perceived trade-offs between each group’s various interests often deter working together, and historical sector-based inertia is difficult to break. But in spite of this, institutions are beginning […] ...

The importance of landscape approaches within commodity production systems is gaining increasing recognition. While many of these commodities operate at large scales with few landowners, cocoa is still very much a smallholder crop. Earlier this month the World Cocoa Foundation hosted its Partnership Meeting & Roundtable Sessions for the international cocoa community, uniti ...

As discussed Wednesday on the Landscapes Blog, this week began with the observance of World Day to Combat Desertification and the announcement of the Land for Life Awards by the UNCCD. Water scarcity and drought of course have serious implications for agricultural production and the livelihoods of many of those who depend on the land […] ...

“Don’t Let Our Future Dry Up.” These words tried to capture a sense of collective responsibility for sustainable use of land and water as Monday marked the 18th annual World Day to Combat Desertification. With 2013 designated by the United Nations as the International Year for Water Cooperation, and resilience to water scarcity becoming an ever-greater [&hell ...

By Tim Benton, Professor of Population Ecology, University of Leeds Over the past couple of weeks, there has been a focus on the climate services (mitigation and adaptation) that agricultural landscapes provide. But one of the selling points for integrated landscape management is multifunctionality – not privileging one environmental, social, or economic benefit over another. ...

“Although the landscape approach, which involves multi-sector and multi-stakeholder interventions across multiple scales, makes planning and management challenging, there are no other options for achieving Climate-Smart Agriculture’s goals” This sentiment, and the recognition that agricultural land management must be approached more holistically is growing in the ...

By Nicholas Berry, Researcher in the School of GeoSciences, University of Edinburgh This week marks the second week of the 38th session of the Subsidiary Body for Scientific and Technological Advice (SBSTA) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), where one of the many topics on tap was land-based climate change mitigation […] ...

This post originally appeared on WRI Insights, the blog of Landscapes for People, Food and Nature Initiative co-organizer World Resources Institute. We are cross-posting to wrap up our World Environment Day 2013 coverage. It is the third installment of WRI’s blog series, “Creating a Sustainable Food Future.” The series explores strategies to sustainably feed 9 billion ...

Across the humid tropics, cocoa farming has followed a “boom and bust” cycle, with production peaking in each country for a few decades before farms become susceptible to cocoa tree diseases and soil exhaustion. In Indonesia, cocoa is now booming: production is rising and the world’s largest traders, processors and chocolate companies are expanding operations. […] ...