August 29, 2014
Guna Yala and REDD+: A Look at Why Some Resist
Jes Walton
EcoAgriculture Partners
Recently, several of us at EcoAgriculture Partners discussed the need to explore why some groups resist or hesitate to adopt ecoagricultural practices and integrated approaches to landscape management. As the Third International Conference for Small Island Developing States (SIDS) meets in Samoa this week, the case of the Guna people, whose ancestral lands of Guna […] ...
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August 27, 2014
How Big of a Role Does Gender Play in Restoration Efforts?
Gender has a whole lot more to do with the landscape of Burkina Faso than meets the eye. Editor’s Note: Marlène Elias, as part of the IUCN’s Case Study Series on Gender and Restoration, writes about the distinct relationships that each gender has with various crops—in this case it’s the shea tree—and how these relationships create distinct knowledge [& ...
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August 25, 2014
LIBERATION: A Knowledge Platform for Ecological Intensification
Elise Ursin, EcoAgriculture Partners As it becomes increasingly clear that industrial agriculture is not sustainable, the current search for alternatives may very well define the future of food. Though academics, policy makers, and civil society organizations have produced an impressive amount of research on sustainable farming and ecosystems, these approaches still remain rela ...
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August 22, 2014
Meeting Food Needs in a Perfect Storm
By Eva Fillion, EcoAgriculture Partners The world’s population continues to outgrow our capacity to produce and distribute enough nutritious food for all. With this steadily ballooning population, increasing hunger and evidence that industrial agriculture contributes heavily to climate change, achieving food security is far from simple. We too often turn to agricultural inte ...
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August 20, 2014
Nicaraguan Mega-Gardens: Community-Led Conservation for Plant Diversity and Soil Health/Mega-Huertos Nicaragüenses: Conservación para la Diversidad de Cultivos y la Salud de la Tierra, Dirigido por la Comunidad
Sara Delaney, Episcopal Relief & Development
Audrey White, Council of Protestant Churches in Nicaragua
English Español Over the past few years I’ve often wondered—why do some agricultural training programs inspire farmers to make real changes in their fields, while others amount to little more than a free lunch for participants? Recently, an approach developed by the staff of one of Episcopal Relief & Development’s program partners, The Council of Protestant ...
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August 18, 2014
Agri-Culture and Agroecosystems: Producing More, Protecting More
Jules Pretty, Professor of Environment and Society, University of Essex
Interest in agricultural sustainability can be traced to environmental concerns that began to appear in the 1950s and 1960s, particularly with books by Rachel Carson and Barbara Ward. However, concepts and practice of sustainability date back at least to the oldest surviving texts from China, India, Greece and Rome. Prominent Roman agricultural writers, including [&helli ...
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August 15, 2014
Grass, Soil, Hope: A Story About Carbon Country
By Courtney White, Quivira Coalition This is the story of how I came into Carbon Country. I’m a former archaeologist and Sierra Club activist who became a dues-paying member of the New Mexico Cattle Growers’ Association as a producer of local, grass-fed beef. For a boy raised in the suburbs of Phoenix, Arizona, during the […] ...
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August 13, 2014
Negotiating Sustainable Landscapes Requires Inclusive and Innovative Tools
By Robert Frederick Finlayson, World Agroforestry Centre (ICRAF) Governments and communities are finding it easier to work together to create a sustainable, climate-friendly Southeast Asia thanks to a suite of ‘tools’ that support negotiations over land use. But, do you ‘spare’ land or do you ‘share’ it? If you spare it by ‘protecting’ it, for […] ...
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August 11, 2014
Growth Scenarios and Conservation Trade-offs in the US-Mexico Borderlands
By Miguel L. Villarreal and Laura M. Norman, United States Geological Survey Developing and interpreting alternative future land-use scenarios is an effective way to engage communities in local and regional planning and illustrate how rates and patterns of land-use change may affect human well-being and the environment. Along the arid borderlands between the United States [&hel ...
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August 8, 2014
Recognizing the Rights and Contributions of Indigenous Peoples as Stewards of Landscapes
Jes Walton
EcoAgriculture Partners
This year’s International Day for the World’s Indigenous Peoples focuses on the rights and contributions of diverse knowledge systems to many aspects of our lives. Indigenous and rural communities have developed and maintained integrated systems for people, food and nature for centuries. Farmers, fisherfolk, pastoralists, horticulturalists, foresters and landless peasants m ...
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