Blog for People, Food and Nature

On Wednesday the Landscapes Blog explored the role of forests in integrated agricultural landscape management. Trees become increasingly important features in a landscape when the needs of carbon sequestration for climate mitigation and increasing resilience to adapt enter the picture. A new project implemented by Madagascar’s Ministry of Environment and Forestry, and sup ...

An integrated landscape in the works, the World Bank’s Sustainable Production Systems and Biodiversity Project is trying to meld biodiversity conservation with agricultural production. Its goals are to conserve and protect nationally and globally significant biodiversity in Mexico by mainstreaming biodiversity-friendly management practices in productive landscapes in priority ...

Kathrin Trommler, Project Coordinator with the Ecosystem Services Research Group, Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences and Humanities, provides a look into one European agricultural landscape with deep historical roots. Representing a slightly different type of agrobiodiversity than the field crops usually discussed, this diversity of fruit trees characterizes the landsc ...

A landscape for water, food and nature in the heart of Kenya… The Landscapes Blog travels to East Africa this week, as we hone in on water issues this August. Guest authors, Dr. John Gathenya, Climate Change Research Fellow at the University of Reading, Walker Institute for Climate System Research and Dr. Sara Namirembe, Research […] ...

Continuing to look at certifications and more sustainable production of commodity crops in agricultural landscapes, the Landscapes Blog explores cocoa in West Africa today. Kassy Holmes, from the Climate Change Program of Rainforest Alliance, provides insight into an alternative production model that benefits both people and nature. Ghana’s cocoa farmers have a long, intertwi ...

By Dr. Emmanuel Torquebiau French Agricultural Research Centre for International Development (CIRAD) and Centre for Environmental Studies, University of Pretoria, South Africa The Usuthu Gorge area, to the North West of the KwaZulu-Natal Province, South Africa, is part of the Maputaland-Pondoland-Albany biodiversity hotspot. Part of the Lubombo Transfrontier Conservation Area ( ...

Regreening initiatives are striving to combat or even reverse land degradation in the arid Sahelian region of Africa. This tactic is reaching significant scale, with benefits not only to the environment, but also for agricultural production and the livelihoods of rural people. Tony Rinaudo, World Vision’s natural resource management advisor in Australia, and wife Liz [&hellip ...

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 ...

By Jady Smith, Program Director – Asia Live & Learn Environmental Education, Melbourne, Australia “For each village there is a different culture” This saying reflects the strong sense of pride in the cultural diversity and local heritage of Papua New Guinea (PNG). The country is also recognized as having some of the richest biodiversity on […] ...

Barilla Center for Food & Nutrition, Parma, Italy According to the USDA Economic Research Service, 1.2 million hectares of land in Italy is devoted to growing Durum wheat, the main variety used to produce pasta. Comprising around 8% of the agricultural land in Italy and over two-thirds the land area in wheat (FAOStat), durum wheat […] ...