Blog for People, Food and Nature

March 10, 2017

Landscape leaders call for linking practice to policy

Chimere Diaw commands attention whenever he speaks. “Abako!” his voice booms over the crowded presentation hall. This initiates a Sudanese call-and-response to focus the audience’s attention. Infused with the energy he exudes, 140 conference participants stand up, answer back, and clap their hands in unison. A communal feeling fills the room as people look at […] ...
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March 9, 2017

The opening of the African Landscapes Dialogue highlights the importance of achieving long term sustainability

How do we make landscape approaches sustainable in the long term? This was the question posed by Dr. Gete Zeleke from the Center for Water and Land Resources in his opening key note speech of the African Landscapes Dialogue. The dialogue, taking place this week in Addis Ababa, includes 140 researchers, practitioners, policy makers, and […] ...
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March 8, 2017

ALD is a Tremendous Gathering of Talent, Ambition and Genuine Care: Minister Gemedo Dale

The Editors EcoAgriculture Partners

The African Landscapes Dialogue (ALD), which kicked off yesterday, 6 March 2017, in Addis Ababa, brought together more than 100 participants to discuss “integrated landscape management in practice.” H.E Dr. Gemedo Dale, Minister of Environment, Forestry and Climate Change, Ethiopia, officially opened the ALD in the presence of participants from various countries in Africa, ...
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March 7, 2017

The ingredients of integrated landscape management: exploring the benefits of watershed restoration in Aba Gerima

Soil erosion had been a source of conflict for the farmers of Aba Gerima. Rains would cause soil to wash downstream, from one farmer’s plot to others, each year and damage crops. When the treatment of Aba Gerima watershed in Ethiopia began in 2012 with construction of physical and biological conservation mechanisms, such as soil […] ...
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March 3, 2017

The ingredients of integrated landscape management: The case of Aba Gerima

I arrived in Aba Gerima just days before planting season began, during an unusual week of rest for the farming community. While my fortunate timing was unintentional, this afforded me the opportunity to speak with over 70 community members over the course of five days. I was in Aba Gerima to conduct research for my […] ...
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February 21, 2017

For all of us – the Yewol Mountains of Ethiopia

Joanna Kane-Potaka ICRISAT

In the highlands of northern Ethiopia, farming families often live a very basic subsistence lifestyle. In the drought years, which are common, food and water is scarce. Severe soil erosion plagues the Yewol watershed highlands and there are extreme dry periods each year. There was little water management in the past and so water is […] ...
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December 27, 2016

Recent innovations are closing the gap between conservation and finance sectors, potentially unlocking billions for nature

Baud Schoenmaeckers Synergos Communicatie

How to connect the worlds of finance and biodiversity for the good of nature and people? This was the theme around which the Netherlands Ministry of Economic Affairs organized two sessions in Cancun, named Greening finance & Financing Green. After the sessions, the gap is not closed but as one of the participants said, “there is […] ...
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December 19, 2016

Four unexplored big wins in agriculture: tackling climate change through landscape restoration

Georgina Smith, CIAT

At the Global Landscapes Forum in Marrakech in November, CIAT and the CGIAR Research Program on Water, Land and Ecosystems co-hosted a session titled, “Unexplored big wins for climate change through landscape restoration.” This blog post presents the key messages from that event. It originally appeared on the CIAT blog and we are re-publishing it here as […] ...
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December 16, 2016

Financing green: Bridging the gap between sustainable landscapes and investors

Louis Wertz EcoAgriculture Partners

Trillions of dollars are available in funds to stop deforestation, reverse degradation, and integrate agriculture in the landscape. ...
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October 16, 2016

Five resources to help you get climate-smart this World Food Day

A changing climate has put agricultural landscapes at risk, but integrated solutions hold the promise of adaptation and mitigation. These five resources are a great start to understanding what a climate-smart food system will look like. Share them using the hashtag #WFD2016. 1. The CSA Guide: Climate-smart agriculture 101 This beautifully-designed website provides a very compr ...
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