Blog for People, Food and Nature

The use of the term ‘Landscape Approaches’ has grown substantially in the past few years, making its way into the parlance of major research organizations and development institutions. Of course, there is always the question of what is actually meant when using the term. As we saw in Wednesday’s blog post, lands…

Getting the forestry, agriculture, and food security people all in the same room and agreeing upon common goals and strategies is not a task to be taken lightly. Perceived trade-offs between each group's various interests often deter working together, and historical sector-based inertia is difficult to break. But in s…

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 & Roun…

As discussed Wednesday on the Landscapes Blog, this week began with the observance of World Day to Combat Desertification and the announcement of the Land for Life Awards by the UNCCD. Water scarcity and drought of course have serious implications for agricultural production and the livelihoods of many of those who dep…

"Don't Let Our Future Dry Up." These words tried to capture a sense of collective responsibility for sustainable use of land and water as Monday marked the 18th annual World Day to Combat Desertification. With 2013 designated by the United Nations as the International Year for Water Cooperation, and resilience to wate…

By Tim Benton, Professor of Population Ecology, University of Leeds Over the past couple of weeks, there has been a focus on the climate services (mitigation and adaptation) that agricultural landscapes provide. But one of the selling points for integrated landscape management is multifunctionality – not privileging …