Blog for People, Food and Nature

January 23, 2015

“Shallow” private-sector engagement a major concern for integrated landscape initiatives

Daisy Ouya World Agroforestry Centre

Editor’s note: This post originally appeared on the World Agroforestry Centre’s Agroforestry World Blog. It discusses one key emerging finding of the Landscapes for People, Food and Nature Initiative’s Continental Review series of studies regarding how involved, or not involved, businesses are in integrated landscape initiatives. The Initiative has also worke ...
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January 16, 2015

Reaching Across the Metaphorical Divide: Understanding Sustainable Diets and Food Systems

Bruce Cogill Bioversity International

Jeffrey Sachs did it. In his address to the International Conference on Nutrition 2 (ICN2) in Rome on the 20th November 2014, Sachs challenged the nutrition community to develop better metrics around what is meant by hunger, adequate nutrition and sustainable food systems. He is not alone. Recommending diverse diets The ICN2 Framework for Action continues […] ...
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December 16, 2014

Bottom up! Linking local plans to the big picture demands

Nadia Bergamini Bioversity International Camilla Zanzanaini

When we talk about large-scale landscape initiatives, one of the biggest risks is losing out on the detail. How do we continue to take into account the intricate dynamics between people and nature as we go bigger and bigger? Many large-scale initiatives can be quite top-down, while most people living in a landscape see things […] ...
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December 15, 2014

Building Resilience Among the Most Vulnerable Populations

Eva Fillion EcoAgriculture Partners

Whether we like it or not, communities around the world are now in the position of being forced to adapt to the inevitable effects of a changing climate. Sure, reducing emissions and taking similar measures to slow human-driven sources of climate change are still at the forefront of research, but we must also face the […] ...
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December 8, 2014

How can we manage ecosystem services for development outcomes? The case of the Cañete River Basin

Marcela Quintero International Centre for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT) Sarah Jones

Earlier this month, the CGIAR research program on Water, Land and Ecosystems published an Ecosystem Service and Resilience (ESR) Framework presenting an approach for using ecosystem service and resilience concepts to create multi-functional landscapes that sustain production, livelihoods, and human well-being. What does this mean for communities living in rural landscapes? The ...
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November 26, 2014

Analog Forestry: Creating Productive Landscapes by Imitating Forest Structure

Adam Kabir Dickinson International Analog Forestry Network

As we look toward the 2014 Global Landscapes Forum, one of the key challenges we are faced with is to find a way for agricultural landscapes to contribute to ecosystem integrity and safeguard biodiversity. If one were asked to come up with a defining question or challenge for contemporary landscape restoration, it might go something […] ...
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November 25, 2014

Making Large Land Initiatives in Africa Work: Policy Reforms that Support Ecosystem-Based Approaches

Robert Mgendi UN Environment Richard Munang

This post is part of an online discussion on large-scale land interventions that runs through December 14th. Can these initiatives fulfill their promises? Comment below or send a max 800 word response to a.waldorf@cgiar.org. Nearly 240 million people, or 1 in every 4 persons, in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) lack adequate food. Re ...
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November 19, 2014

Innovation in Family Farming for Food Security and Poverty Alleviation

Sarah Lowder Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) Terri Raney Jakob Skoet

In recognition of the International Year of Family Farming, the recently published 2014 edition of FAO’s annual flagship publication The State of Food and Agriculture focuses on how to promote innovation among family farms to achieve sustainable food security and poverty alleviation. Family farms are key to ensuring long-term global food security. Defining & estimating s ...
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November 11, 2014

New Curriculum: Monitoring & Evaluation for Sustainable Land Management

EcoAgriculture Partners, along with Cornell University, the Environmental Resources Management Center for Sustainable Development and TerrAfrica, has recently released a new curriculum for a monitoring and evaluation (M&E) course for sustainable land management practitioners. This curriculum, entitled A Landscape Perspective on Monitoring & Evaluation for Sustainable L ...
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November 10, 2014

Climate-Smart Agricultural Landscapes: A Closer Look at Shinyanga, Tanzania

Sarina Katz EcoAgriculture Partners

The United Nations’ 2014 Climate Summit engaged nations and leaders from government, finance, business and civil society in meaningful discussions around the imminent threat of climate change and possibilities for mitigating and adapting to its devastating effects. Because it is estimated that farmers will need to feed 9 billion people by 2050, food security and agricultur ...
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