September 5, 2014
Demonstrating How to Integrate Gender into Conservation
Brittany Ajroud
Conservation International
In East Timor’s Nino Konis Santana National Park, men work as fishermen while women prepare the catch for sale—first removing the fish from fishing gear, then sorting, processing and packaging for the market. In Madagascar’s Fandriana Vondrozo forest corridor, women who engage in small industries like basketry must often rely on men for raw materials, […] ...
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September 5, 2014
European Wood-Pastures as Cultural Landscapes
Tobias Plieninger
University of Copenhagen
Tibor Hartel
European landscapes are shaped by long-lasting, intensive and complex interactions between people and nature. This interaction has generated values that are appreciated by society, nowadays called “landscape values” or “ecosystem services,” but many of these cultural landscape values are in decline. Wood-pastures—combinations of grazing lands with scattered trees—ar ...
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September 3, 2014
Integrated Waterscape Management in Vietnam’s Central Highlands
Southeast Asia probably isn’t the first place you think of when it comes to coffee production, but trade liberalization has made Vietnam the world’s second largest exporter of our favorite morning pick-me-up. Along with pepper and (increasingly) cocoa, this commodity is contributing to the country’s economic development. Unfortunately, harmful agricultural practices and ...
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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 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 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 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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August 6, 2014
Partnership and Knowledge Exchange in Smallholder Dairying Systems
By Cath Milne and Mizeck Chagunda, Scotland’s Rural College (SRUC) Dairy Research and Innovation Centre In 2008, three major entities forged a partnership to strengthen the industrial fabric of smallholder dairy development in Malawi. The Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security’s Department of Animal Health and Livestock Development, Bunda College of the Lilongwe Uni ...
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