Blog for People, Food and Nature

September 3, 2012

A Roadmap for Agriculture, Food Security, and Climate Change

Nearly two years ago, the first Global Conference on Agriculture, Food Security, and Climate Change Climate held in The Hague, Netherlands, charted a course to bring together the interests of the climate change, agriculture, and food security communities, seeking to achieve the same objectives of the Landscapes Initiative: enhance agricultural production, improve livelihoods, ...
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August 29, 2012

Landscapes and Land Grabs at World Water Week?

As World Water Week moves to conclude its fourth day, it is increasingly apparent that water concerns bring together a wide array of interests from different sectors. Going back to Monday, a high level panel tackled the issue of land acquisitions, or “land grabs”, and food and water security. The Landscapes Blog has explored this […] ...
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August 27, 2012

World Water Week Begins

Yesterday marked the beginning of World Water Week. Hosted by the Stockholm International Water Institute (SIWI), the annual event provides a forum to exchange views, experiences and practices between the scientific, business, policy and civic communities. It focuses on new thinking and positive action toward water-related challenges and their impact on the world’s enviro ...
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August 24, 2012

Water beyond Borders

As the Blog post on Tuesday noted, spatial arrangement of a landscape can have implications for the availability of water resources needed in agriculture. Another important consideration is that of transboundary water resources. This issue impacts 145 countries and nearly half of the Earth’s surface. One such example is the Colorado River in North America, […] ...
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August 21, 2012

Seeing the Forests for the Rain

Last week we had an eye toward the drought conditions impacting many people and places around the globe as World Water Week draws closer. The Centre for International Forestry Research (CIFOR) highlighted some past research on how forests . This research has implications for agriculture in that it illustrates how trees contribute to the hydrological […] ...
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August 17, 2012

Meeting the Drought Head-On

This week has been filled with discussions of drought -a critical concern in arid and semi-arid regions of the world, and expected to become more frequent and intense with climate change. A new grant from the African Water Facility is helping to address the impacts of drought and climate change on pastoral communities in Africa. The […] ...
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August 15, 2012

Your Morning Dozen

Building off of yesterday’s focus on drought in the United States, today the Blog hones in on the multiple actions likely needed to combat some of the challenges posed by climate change in terms of water availability. Recently, the Nourishing the Planet blog published twelve innovations that run the gamut, and can help combat the […] ...
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August 14, 2012

Drought, Climate Change, and Food Prices

  While yesterday’s blog post explored the importance of watershed-level management in maintaining water quality, specifically in an East African context, drought is the hot-button issue at present. And this time the United States is front and center. The United States Department of Agriculture’s Economic Research Service (USDA ERS) estimates that nearly 40% of ...
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August 10, 2012

Tradition for Water in Peru's Highlands

Yesterday the world celebrated the International Day of the World’s Indigenous Peoples. Many of the Indigenous communities around the globe rely upon agriculture, livestock, or forests for their livelihoods. As such, drought, water scarcity, and climate change are also critical issues these communities face. In Peru’s Altiplano region, rains are coming later and for ...
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August 9, 2012

Worms for Water in India

Examples of success from the field are not only due to good practices, but also partnerships that Published as part of Reuters’ Alertnet ‘Battle for Water’ news coverage, a video by the International Crop Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT) depicts an effort in India to improve soil fertility, water management, and rural livelihoods. Dungar ...
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