June 24, 2013
Small Changes for Big Impacts: Wassa Amenfi West Landscape
The importance of landscape approaches within commodity production systems is gaining increasing recognition. While many of these commodities operate at large scales with few landowners, cocoa is still very much a smallholder crop. Earlier this month the World Cocoa Foundation hosted its Partnership Meeting & Roundtable Sessions for the international cocoa community, uniti ...
Read the Whole Story
June 5, 2013
Aligning Cocoa Farmers and Markets for a Sustainable Landscape: Rainforest Alliance’s New Data-Driven Approach
Jeffrey C. Milder
Rainforest Alliance
Across the humid tropics, cocoa farming has followed a “boom and bust” cycle, with production peaking in each country for a few decades before farms become susceptible to cocoa tree diseases and soil exhaustion. In Indonesia, cocoa is now booming: production is rising and the world’s largest traders, processors and chocolate companies are expanding operations. […] ...
Read the Whole Story
April 24, 2013
Now on Tap: How SABMiller is Brewing a Better Future in Bogota
Today marks the launch of the Landscapes Initiative’s “Reducing Risk: Landscapes Approaches to Sustainable Sourcing” report. The report aims to demonstrate how a landscape approach can benefit businesses and supply chains by mitigating risks. Best practices are highlighted in three case studies, each an example of a unique approach to proactively managing en ...
Read the Whole Story
March 15, 2013
Towards Sustainable Agricultural Landscapes in Suriname
By Dr Agnieszka Latawiec, the International Institute for Sustainability, Brazil On Wednesday we presented a vision from the Solutions from the Land initiative for a 21st century model of agriculture in the United States. Today, Dr. Agnieszka Latawiec of the International Institute for Sustainability provides insight into another example of agriculture in transition, offering u ...
Read the Whole Story
March 1, 2013
Landscape of the Week: Farmers of the Caribbean
Implementation of Sustainable Farming Practices in Trinidad’s Northern Range Communities In the hillsides of Trinidad’s Northern Range, smallholder subsistence farming systems dominate the landscape. Pushed to this frontier by escalating pressure on low-lying agriculture lands from more urban development and a rising population, farmers continue to rely on short-term cr ...
Read the Whole Story
February 22, 2013
It's Wild! Taking a Market Approach to Land Management
This week, the Landscapes Blog explored market approaches to promote integrated landscape management. Payment for ecosystem services and corporate commitments have served as ways to manage land and natural resources more sustainably. Today’s post looks at an example where the combination of different incentive mechanisms, including eco-labeling, market infrastructure, and ...
Read the Whole Story
February 11, 2013
Landscape of the Week: Traditional Farming in the Jeypore Tract
As mentioned on Friday, today is the first convening of the Indigenous Peoples Forum held at the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD). A wide range of landscapes globally are managed by indigenous people. In addition to the importance of recognizing these groups’ rights and unique perspectives, many traditional land management approaches can also help [& ...
Read the Whole Story
December 17, 2012
Landscape of the Week: Climate Change and Kericho-Mau
Rachel Friedman
University of Queensland
Striving for Climate-Smart in the Heart of Kenya’s Tea Landscape In the cool, fertile highlands of the Rift Valley Province in western Kenya, the landscape is dominated by tea. Kenya is the world’s third largest producer and the leading exporter of the caffeinated leaves, and the land around the township of Kericho and bordering the […] ...
Read the Whole Story
December 12, 2012
Finding the Agriculture-Conservation Nexus in the Democratic Republic of Congo
As the climate change negotiations continued in Doha, one of the overarching themes when including agriculture was how it is in fact possible to achieve synergies between food production and forest cover. This requires a landscape approach to consider how different land uses interact and complement each other. A prime example of how agriculture and […] ...
Read the Whole Story
November 30, 2012
Landscape of the Week: Restoration for Climate Resilience in the Tigray Region
Raffaela Kozar
EcoAgriculture Partners
Rachel Friedman
In the Tigray Region of Ethiopia, severe land degradation, population growth and immigration, and unsustainable agricultural practices and management have undermined food security and rural livelihoods. Increased and recurrent drought and unpredictable and variable rainfall since the 1970s have exacerbated these problems. Climate change is multiplying the threats. The World Fo ...
Read the Whole Story
