Blog for People, Food and Nature

March 10, 2015

Learning from experience: Connecting Landscape Leaders in Ethiopia

At first impression, the Amhara region of Ethiopia may seem drab and barren. Knowing of the degradation that happened to these landscapes, I didn’t expect to see much more than scrubland. A recent visit to the Aba Gerima watershed, however, showed me a much greener picture, where a team from the Water and Land Resource Centre (WLRC) […] ...
Read the Whole Story
March 4, 2015

Forests a Food Security Blanket for Communities in India

Salome Yesudas Rukmini Rao Gramya Resource Centre for Women Debal Deb Kavitha Kuruganti

Countries like India, which claim to have reduced poverty yet have had no reductions in hunger and malnutrition, present quite a paradox that must be addressed. The food sovereignty framework, introduced by the Sustainable Development Goals debate, is promising because it addresses the fact that hunger and malnutrition are not just a supply problem, but […] ...
Read the Whole Story
February 25, 2015

Changing the face of agriculture

Kevi Mace University of California, Berkeley Lauren Ponisio

Agricultural landscapes in the United States, from the Central Valley of California to the Corn Belt of the Midwest, are largely similar in that the lands encompass expanses of single crops. Whether it is almonds or grapes or tomatoes or a fallow field, the one thing they have in common is their imposing homogeneity. This […] ...
Read the Whole Story
February 5, 2015

Linking Food Security, Climate Adaptation and Carbon Management: A Case Study from Indonesia

Jonatan A. Lassa Nanyang Technological University Yulius P. K. Suni

Farmers in North Central Timor face local environmental degradation such as soil erosion, water stress, recurrent droughts and erratic climate. These environmental problems are likely to be more intensive and extensive in the context of Timor Island. Failure to address these environmental problems will leave this vulnerable region less resilient in the face of future […] ...
Read the Whole Story
February 2, 2015

Traditional Markets are an Important Part of Nutrition-sensitive Landscapes in Morocco

Abderrahim Ouarghidi Global Diversity Foundation Bronwen Powell

Winter has arrived here in Morocco. From December to March, there is a lot of rain (more than the rest of the year) – and widespread availability of wild vegetables. Although wild foods, especially wild vegetables, have held an important place in Moroccan culinary practice for generations, up until recently, they have been largely overlooked […] ...
Read the Whole Story
December 5, 2014

Can large-scale landscape restoration initiatives fulfill their promises: a resounding “YES” from northern Ethiopia

Lulseged Tamene International Centre for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT) Frank Van Steenbergen Kifle Woldearegay

The arid to semi-arid environments of Ethiopia, particularly the Tigray region in northern part of the country, is a typical example which demonstrates that large-scale interventions can fulfill their promises in enhancing food security, ensuring environmental sustainability and creating landscapes resilient to climate and weather variability. Before the years 1994/1995, land ...
Read the Whole Story
November 7, 2014

Preserving Evolutionary History Alongside Tropical Agriculture

Daniel Karp University of California, Berkeley The Nature Conservancy Luke Owen Frishkoff

How to feed an ever-growing human population while simultaneously preserving Earth’s biodiversity is a major global challenge. Accomplishing both of these goals requires that we understand the potential for agricultural landscapes to harbor biodiversity. In tropical Costa Rica, where we do the majority of our fieldwork, landscapes are extremely heterogeneous. Agriculture can ...
Read the Whole Story
November 1, 2014

Taking a Look at a Landscape (Approach) Portrait of Africa

Editor’s note: In a recently published article in the journal World Development, researchers at the World Agroforestry Centre and EcoAgriculture Partners surveyed 87 integrated landscape initiatives in sub-Saharan Africa to answer questions like what motivates land managers to start ILIs, which stakeholders are most likely to be involved, and what are the most comm ...
Read the Whole Story