By Barbara Fraser, originally posted at Forests News Although land managers and policy makers increasingly talk about the use of landscapes for conserving biodiversity, and for reducing poverty and deforestation while ensuring an adequate food supply, preliminary results from a new study have turned up little hard evidence about whether that approach is effective. “Despite […]
By Kate Evans, originally posted at Forests News Jane Goodall is known worldwide for her decades of work with chimpanzees in the Gombe forest of Western Tanzania. It’s less well known that the NGO she founded, the Jane Goodall Institute (JGI), has been experimenting with how REDD+—touted as the next big idea for tackling climate […]
Forests are an important link in the food chain, especially for women and children and others at high risk of hunger and malnutrition, early results from ongoing research shows. But land rights are a crucial enabling factor in the food security of forest people, experts say. “Forests and trees alone will not achieve global food security, but […]
Climate-smart agriculture (CSA) aims to achieve both mitigation and adaptation goals. So far CSA has been an exercise that is focused on agriculture technologies, with the underlying assumption that higher yields take pressure of forests. However, this cannot be taken for granted and deserves a closer look from science, policy and investment perspectives. If implemented […]
Studies have confirmed shifting cultivation still plays an important role in providing livelihood and food security in many communities. It is the pivot around which annual work and ritual cycles revolve and thus an intricate part of their life and closely tied to their cultural identity. The case studies also showed that indigenous women perform […]
Governments can make better decisions if they are more aware how forest ecosystems contribute to their economy and employment, and how forests benefit human well-being. This information could provide all concerned ministries with the necessary knowledge to decide how tropical deforestation rates can be reduced as part of a transition to a green economy. This […]
It’s a unique, massive—and massively ambitious—research initiative, spanning nine landscapes across 20 countries on three continents. It involves scores of scientists and practitioners from 60 organizations, and employs a panoply of research methods from household surveys to soil sampling, from vegetation inventories to satellite imagery. And it’s all to answer an unusual, perhaps counterintuitive question: […]
By Javi Ros Rodriguez, originally published at GAEA blog I always liked arid landscapes – perhaps a childhood lived in Spain and Morocco has something to do with it –, so I really enjoyed my trip to Lima, and the over 30 hours on a bus that traversed the bald and endless desert that is […]
It’s coming soon. And it’s time to act now. Imminent climatic changes challenge planners and policy makers to forecast likely impacts and launch adaptation plans a decade or more before the worst effects are felt. With more (and better) data and tools for exploring future scenarios, planners can make land-management decisions, justify investments and map […]
From landscapes skeptic to communicating integrated solutions: CIAT’s Director of Communications, Nathan Russel, outlines his take on landscape approaches, highlighting some advantages but also clear limitations. In contexts where violence prevails, dialogue between land use stakeholders is futile, argues Russel. Interview led by Global Donor Platform for Rural Development
Originally posted at Forests News Paul Polman, Unilever’s CEO, said natural disasters – many linked to climate change – cost his multinational consumer-goods corporation $300 million annually, and that left unchecked “climate change has the potential to become a significant barrier to our growth.” “Deforestation is not one of the great challenges in the fight against […]
