Blog for People, Food and Nature

Jessica Fanzo, PhD, Monitoring and Evaluations Officer UN REACH Initiative, World Food Programme, Rome, Italy When we think of food production, ecosystem health, and human wellbeing, one crucial element is often not mentioned: nutrition. Nutrition is everyone’s business and no one’s responsibility, as the saying goes. But we know that one of the world’s greatest [… ...

The international consortium of agricultural research facilities – the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR) – recently launched their newest research program on Water, Land and Ecosystems. CRP5, as it is known, is devoting an initial US$75 million to research on how agricultural intensification can go hand-in-hand with the protection of ...

By Lee Gross, Project Manager for Markets and Biodiversity EcoAgriculture Partners, Washington DC, USA How do we know we are having an impact? This is a critical question posed by resource managers, businesses, and policy-makers worldwide. Fundamental to answering this question is an effective system for monitoring and evaluation. Since 2008 EcoAgriculture Partners has provided ...

It’s all about the soil. And a recent Nature news article postures soil fertility as vital to food security and poverty alleviation in Africa. Soil in many parts of Africa is deficient in organic matter, as well as key nutrients like nitrogen and phosphorous. Crop yields are the lowest in the world, and synthetic inputs […] ...

Protecting the Pigs By Srdjan Stojanovic & Milan Ivankovic, Advisors Ministry of Agriculture, Trade, Forestry and Water Management, Department for Rural Development, Republic of Serbia If you were to fly over Serbia, you would see two types of animal production systems: a highly specialized, high-input production system and an extensive low-input production system based on ...

In support of a recent book published on Integrated Natural Resource Management in the Highlands of Eastern African, Ethiopian scientist Tilahun Amede discusses lessons from the working on natural resources management in the region. Dr. Amede, who has a joint appointment with the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI), International Water Management Institute (IWMI), ...

One of the challenges inherent in something as multi-faceted as the Landscapes for People, Food and Nature Initiative, is developing a common language for communicating the various messages and ideas around integrated landscape approaches. We began the discussion on this topic looking at the terminology surrounding “landscapes for people, food and nature.” The Lexic ...

What do trees, and goats have in common? Researchers at Cornell University are advocating for a move toward livestock grazing in woodlands. Through properly managed grazing rotations in forests, these silvopastoral systems have the potential to benefit the productivity of timber stands, provide shade and improved feed for livestock, and now qualifies for tax credits in New [& ...

A recent article from the Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR) presents the complexity of the land use choice between multi-functional agro-ecosystems and agricultural intensification plus land preservation. Traditionally, there has been little or no middle ground between the dichotomous “land sharing” and “land sparing” camps. But this art ...

One Acre Fund is an organization that “helps East African farmers grow their way out of hunger.” So why a smallholder agricultural development organization on the Landscapes Blog? There is no discussion of multiple ecosystem services, or  the role of trees and wildlife habitat in a landscape. But the organization’s projects address issues of credit, [… ...