Land Use
First food: business of taste
Good Food is First Food. It is not junk food. It is the food that connects nature and nutrition with livelihoods. This food is good for our health; it comes from the rich biodiversity of our regions; it provides employment to people. Most importantly, cooking and eating give us pleasure. …Sustainable management of Great Lakes watersheds dominated by agricultural land use
Runoff of agricultural nutrients and sediments has led to re-eutrophication of lakes and impaired stream health in the Great Lakes Basin since around 2000 following earlier success in protecting water quality. Substantial investment in conservation actions has had insufficient impact, due in part to a limited basis for understanding the …Population exposure to hazardous air quality due to the 2015 fires in Equatorial Asia
Vegetation and peatland fires cause poor air quality and thousands of premature deaths across densely populated regions in Equatorial Asia. Strong El-Niño and positive Indian Ocean Dipole conditions are associated with an increase in the frequency and intensity of wildfires in Indonesia and Borneo, enhancing population exposure to hazardous concentrations …Africa's new climate economy: economic transformation and social and environmental change
Africa’s “Growth Miracle” in the 21st century has reversed a long standing narrative of pessimism about the region. It has emboldened hope for the future. GDP growth reached around 5% annually from 2001-2014. Rates of extreme poverty fell substantially. Yet big challenges remain. Growth slumped in 2015 and 2016. The …Smallholder dairy methodology: methodology for GHG emission reductions from smallholder dairy production systems
The dairy sector will soon be able to participate in international carbon credit markets thanks to a new methodology that lets farmers and project designers reliably document how they are reducing harmful greenhouse gas emissions - a step that will open up new sources of finance for the livestock industry …Future C loss in mid-latitude mineral soils: climate change exceeds land use mitigation potential in France
Many studies have highlighted significant interactions between soil C reservoir dynamics and global climate and environmental change. However, in order to estimate the future soil organic carbon sequestration potential and related ecosystem services well, more spatially detailed predictions are needed. The present study made detailed predictions of future spatial evolution …Integrated systems research for sustainable smallholder agriculture in the Central Mekong: achievements and challenges of implementing integrated systems research
This book summarizes the achievements as well as some of the challenges faced while implementing integrated systems research to support the sustainable development of smallholder farming in the uplands of the Mekong region. It describes how CGIAR centres and national and local partners collaborated to test options to increase farm …Climate change and agricultural policy options: a global-to-local approach
Climate change is a significant and growing threat to food security—already affecting vulnerable populations in many developing countries, and expected to affect ever more people in more places, unless action is taken beginning today. Current scenarios for business-as-usual farming under climate change project growing food security challenges by 2050. Worst …The dynamic trend of soil water content in artificial forests on the Loess Plateau, China
Extensive vegetation restoration projects have been widely implemented on the Loess Plateau, China, since 1998. In addition, increasing attention has been paid to the influence of revegetation on soil water. However, the response of the soil water content (SWC) to vegetation construction and management has not been adequately studied. In …Scale-dependent relationships between soil organic carbon stocks, land-use types and biophysical characteristics in a tropical montane landscape
Presently, the lack of data on soil organic carbon (SOC) in relation to land-use types and biophysical characteristics prevents reliable estimates of carbon stocks in montane landscapes of mainland SE Asia. Our study, conducted in a 10,000-hectare landscape in Xishuangbanna, SW China, aimed at assessing the spatial variability in SOC …Land matrix analytical report II: international land deals for agriculture
Around the world, 26.7 million hectares of agricultural land have been transferred into the hands of foreign investors since the year 2000. This means that these investors possess approximately 2 per cent of the arable land worldwide, or roughly the equivalent to the total area covered by United Kingdom and …The sustainable infrastructure imperative: financing for better growth and development – the 2016 new climate economy report
Investing in sustainable infrastructure is the growth story of the future and the global South will account for two thirds of global infrastructure investment (or about US$4 trillion per year). This new infrastructure offers a great opportunity to “leapfrog” the inefficient, sprawling and polluting systems of the past A new …The sustainable infrastructure imperative: financing for better growth and development – the 2016 new climate economy report
A new report from the Global Commission on the Economy and Climate calls on governments and finance institutions to scale up and shift investment for sustainable infrastructure as a fundamental strategy to spur growth. Investing in sustainable infrastructure is key to tackling the three central challenges facing the global community: …The sustainable infrastructure imperative: financing for better growth and development – the 2016 new climate economy report
A new report from the Global Commission on the Economy and Climate calls on governments and finance institutions to scale up and shift investment for sustainable infrastructure as a fundamental strategy to spur growth. Investing in sustainable infrastructure is key to tackling the three central challenges facing the global community: …Cocoa crops are destroying the forest reserves of the classified forest of Haut-Sassandra (Ivory Coast)
The aim of this study is to determine landscape dynamics in the classified forest of Haut-Sassandra (CFHS) during the periods of conflict in Ivory Coast (or Côte d’Ivoire). To achieve this, the land cover of this protected area was determined by classifying satellite images obtained before, during and after the …Methods for measuring greenhouse gas balances and evaluating mitigation options in smallholder agriculture
Agriculture in tropical developing countries produces about 7–9 % of annual anthropogenic greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and contributes to additional emissions through land-use change. At the same time, nearly 70 % of the technical mitigation potential in the agricultural sector occurs in these countries. Enabling farmers in tropical developing countries …State of Indian agriculture 2015-16
This report on the State of Indian Agriculture 2015-16 seeks to present a comprehensive analysis of the recent growth and performance of the agriculture and allied sectors and also to analyze the major emerging challenges. The multi-pronged strategy for agricultural development now comprises focussing on agricultural growth through sustainable use …Land carbon: no substitute for action on fossil fuels
Storing carbon in land is no substitute for reducing fossil fuel emissions. The report finds that while increasing carbon in land systems is important, Australia is muddying the waters by combining land carbon and fossil fuel reduction policies – which is giving an inaccurate picture of Australia’s progress in tackling …Land-use and climate change risks in the Amazon and the need of a novel sustainable development paradigm
The Amazonian tropical forests have been disappearing at a fast rate in the last 50 y due to deforestation to open areas for agriculture, posing high risks of irreversible changes to biodiversity and ecosystems. Climate change poses additional risks to the stability of the forests. Studies suggest “tipping points” not …Climate change means land use will need to change to keep up with global food demand, say scientists
A team of researchers led by the University of Birmingham warns that without significant improvements in technology, global crop yields are likely to fall in the areas currently used for production of the world's three major cereal crops, forcing production to move to new areas. With a worldwide population projected …Estimation of aboveground volume, carbon stocks and NPP using terrestrial and satellite data of Amhara region, Ethiopia
The interest in forest productivity estimation has increased in the last years as it is very important for forest management and the estimation of carbon stock, wood and non-wood products, etc. However, there are no estimates of productivity and stored volume and carbon of different forest cover types throughout the …