Landscapes Blog

You have probably read an article or two (or more) about how climate change is going to be the end of chocolate. Compounded by potential losses of our other favorite indulgences – coffee and wine – this is nothing short of tragic. But what these articles don’t really discuss is what happens to the farmers who […] ...

The starting point was logical: land. But, as with many of the complex and thorny issues discussed at the Global Landscapes Forum, addressing gender, natural resources, and rural livelihoods involves thinking outside that box. We started at square one: in rural areas of developing countries, women own less land, under less secure tenure. While the […] ...

It’s pretty easy to continue with accepted theories, among like-minded colleagues. Yet, a collegial discussion on managing forests for water and climate, hosted by WeForest at the Global Landscapes Forum, pushed boundaries a bit. In this talk, world leaders moved beyond mere mechanics of the water cycle to more fully embrace the complexity of integrated […] ...

‘Landscape’ and related phrases such as ‘landscape approach’ are increasingly emerging in international policy, practice, and research discussions. At the first ever Global Landscapes Forum this weekend, during the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC COP19) meeting in Warsaw, landscape concepts will be given a full airing before climate change ...

A long-standing contention in climate change negotiations, and more broadly in discussions of solutions, is often the explicit separation of mitigation and adaptation. Contributing nearly 15% of human-induced emissions, the livestock sector draws particular attention from the mitigation side. While a recent FAO report,  building on the findings in Livestock’s Long Shadow ...

As the UN Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) meets this week, the Landscapes Blog continues to turn its attention to integrated landscape management and activities. Resilience is a particularly critical topic in the drylands, where more variable climate and the increased frequency and intensity of drought events makes planning for stresses and uncertainty necessary. I ...