July 16, 2015
Catalyzing the uptake of the Landscape Approach
This past April, a team of ecosystem management practitioners came together in Nairobi, Kenya. Their mission? To put the Ecosystem Management of Productive Landscapes project on the map. Demand for food, energy, and fiber is projected to increase 40-60%, a strain on industry and agriculture that will also be exacerbated by stresses from climate change. Considering the futur ...
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June 25, 2015
Rwandan Stakeholders Enact Plan to Facilitate Integrated Landscape Practices
David Kuria
KENVO
In an effort to combat ‘silo thinking’, stakeholders in Rwanda create a multifaceted approach targeting governance, research, investment and ground-level activities. The concept of Integrated Landscape Management (ILM) is gaining popularity across East Africa. Policy makers, development partners and field practitioners have begun to appreciate the fact that worki ...
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June 19, 2015
Finance Leaders Pioneer Investment Coordination for Sustainable Landscapes
Seth Shames
EcoAgriculture Partners
How can private investors help dairy farmers, mushroom growers, and AIDS orphans lift themselves out of poverty and protect their environment? In a sense, this question was at the center of two LPFN-organized events at the Global Landscapes Forum: the Investment Case event in London last week. Each of these groups, small-scale dairy farmers, mushroom growers, […] ...
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June 8, 2015
East African landscape leaders gather to launch new learning network
Isaiah Esipisu
A recent knowledge and experience exchange workshop in Nairobi, which brought together landscape leaders from 15 different landscapes in Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda and Ethiopia, laid the foundation for a regional landscape learning network. Despite some successes in East Africa with integrated approaches to landscape management, there are still many barriers and challenges ...
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May 4, 2015
Our Soil-ution: increasing important organic matter in soil
Rhiannon Davis
Soil Association
Soil is always at the forefront of the Soil Association’s work, but especially so during 2015’s International Year of Soils: a year designated by the United Nations to highlight how soil – full of life and frequently overlooked – is essential to all human life. The health of soil is being rapidly degraded, which will […] ...
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May 1, 2015
Technology to Help Us Deal with Drought
Dennis O’Brien
Agricultural Research Service
With droughts becoming more severe, water tables getting lower and an increasing demand for water from growing suburbs and cities, farmers know they need to use water more sparingly. That’s why recently patented technology developed by USDA’s Agricultural Research Service (ARS) scientists in Texas is so important. Editor’s Note: This post originally appeared on the [& ...
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April 29, 2015
Mapping Restoration Opportunities through Soil Surveying
Stephanie J. Connolly
USDA Forest Service
Recent collaborative research by West Virginia University (WVU), the USDA-NRCS and USDA-Forest Service has linked spodic soil properties to the historical range of red spruce (Picea rubens) in the Central Appalachians. The data collected has allowed researchers to map the occurrence of these properties to help project the historical extent of red spruce before railroad [&hellip ...
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April 24, 2015
An Old but Still Pertinent Soil-ution from West Sumatra
Carol J. Pierce Colfer
Cornell University
CIFOR
In 1983, our team (from the University of Hawaii, North Carolina State and the Indonesian Center for Soils Research) began a multi-year program in Sitiung, West Sumatra. We began our work using a Farming Systems approach, living in a village and working collaboratively with local farmers. The Indonesian policy at the time called for food […] ...
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April 22, 2015
The sustainable solutions at our feet: Top five reasons you should “root” for soil health farmers on Earth Day 2015
Ron Nichols
USDA – Natural Resources Conservation Service
To meet the growing sustainability challenges of the 21st Century, USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service is reminding people that many of the solutions are right at our feet — in the soil. Here are the top five reasons NRCS says why on Earth Day, you should “root” for soil health farmers: A lot of people […] ...
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April 18, 2015
A Multi-sectoral Approach is Key for a Sustainable Future
Marissa Sherman
EcoAgriculture Partners
This week, I had the pleasure to represent EcoAgriculture Partners (and livetweet) the Worldwatch Institute’s State of the World 2015: Confronting Hidden Threats to Sustainability. The event focused on the underreported consequences of an unsustainable global system. Along with presenting the most pressing problems the world faces, the event highlighted a possible solutio ...
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