May 21, 2014
Indigenous Knowledge Spurs Local Biocultural Recovery in Ethiopian Community
By Pernilla Malmer, Stockholm Resilience Centre and Million Belay, MELCA-Ethiopia Food production is at the centre of Earth’s biological and cultural – or “biocultural” – diversity. The Telecho community in Ethiopia is just one out of millions of communities worldwide where cultivated crops and animal breeds have been nurtured and adapted to local conditions ov ...
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May 16, 2014
Why Commitments Are Not Enough – The Case of Sustainable Cocoa
Kedar Mankad
The 25th World Cocoa Foundation Partnership Meeting, and the 6th Indonesian International Cocoa Conference wrap up today in Bali, Indonesia. These meetings marked an important moment for the cocoa industry. Unlike other major commodity sectors, market demand for sustainably sourced cocoa isn’t in question. Mars, Ferrero, and Hershey have all committed to sourcing 100% sus ...
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May 14, 2014
They’re Not All Win-Win Situations
Margie Miller
EcoAgriculture Partners
The Landscapes for People, Food and Nature initiative spends a lot of time trying to show the private sector that it is in their own self-interest to practice, support and finance integrated landscape management. If we focus so much on self-interest as a motivation for good behavior, it is because we have learned that is […] ...
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May 12, 2014
Sand Rice: A Potential Food Crop for Climate Change Impacted Landscapes?
By Dr. Guoxiong Chen, Senior Researcher, Cold and Arid Regions Environmental and Engineering Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Sciences Sand rice (Agriophyllum squarrosum) is an annual psammophyte found mostly on mobile sand dunes in the arid and semi-arid regions of Central Asia. It has evolved a number of physiological and morphological adaptations that allow it [&hellip ...
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May 10, 2014
Resilience: Are We Just Buying Time?
It’s time to ask hard questions as we lead up to the 2014 International Science and Policy Conference on the resilience of social and ecological systems. Just as this event calls on us to mobilize for transformation of development to include resiliency, our agricultural experts are exploring these ideas in the palm oil, soy and […] ...
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May 9, 2014
What is the Potential for Responsible Soy Production?
Kedar Mankad
This year’s 9th annual Roundtable on Responsible Soy (RTRS) conference (May 7th-8th) took place at a critically important time for the industry. With relatively high prices, increasing overall demand from China, and another year of drought in palm oil production areas, the emphasis on increasing production is strong. The question then for participants at the RTRS […] ...
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May 5, 2014
Sustainable Agricultural Land Management is Paying off for Kenyan Farmers
Farmers are wearing a lot of hats these days, as they try to increase yields, reduce soil degradation, adapt to climate change, and mitigate it at the same time. Investors, research organizations, and NGOs are teaming up to help farmers receive additional funding for these noble efforts via the carbon market. A few years ago, […] ...
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April 22, 2014
A Day for Green Cities: Naivasha, Kenya
Eleanor Greene
EcoAgriculture Partners
The theme of Earth Day 2014 is Green Cities, and as the cities of the world gear up for a day, a year, a future of more climate- and Earth-friendly practices and activities, we want to bring focus to a city region that is making an effort toward a sustainable agriculture future. Naivasha is a […] ...
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April 21, 2014
Conservation Incentive Program Shows Payoffs in Brazil
Barbara Fraser
Editor’s Note: A new study on a program called Bolsa Floresta (which translates to “forest allowance”) pays families and small farmers to participate in conservation programming, and its positive results point to opportunities to expand similar financing programs. This post was originally published on ForestsNews, the blog of The Center for International Fore ...
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April 15, 2014
Why Palm Oil Isn't the Enemy
This post was written by John Buchanan and originally published on Conservation International‘s blog, Human Nature. It is in response to the premiere episode of Showtime’s new documentary series, Years of Living Dangerously, which addressed the problems of palm oil agriculture in Indonesia and the impacts the industry has on climate change. If you watched Sunday’ ...
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