Creating fertile ground for innovation in agricultural water management

The European Court of Auditors published its work programme for 2018. As well as giving details of the special reports which the EU Auditors intend to publish in 2018, the programme provides information on the institution’s annual reports and the work programming process. All in all, the auditors…

Focus on Migration: Moving backward, moving forward? – Editorial Anna Knoll, Head of Migration Programme and Noemi Cascone, Junior Policy Officer, ECDPM The migration situation has monopolized the agenda of European leaders during past years. The EU’s external policies have been focusing on…

FAO and WFP provided an update on the food security situation in countries affected by conflict to the UN Security Council. In half of the 16 countries monitored, more than one quarter of the population faces emergency or crisis levels of food insecurity. In most countries food security continues to…

The Journal of Agribusiness in Developing and Emerging Economies publishes double-blind peer-reviewed research on issues relevant to agriculture and food value chain in emerging economies in Asia, Africa, Latin America and Eastern Europe. The journal welcomes original research, particularly…

The new report from global Water Initiative- West Africa GWI – West Africa titled Irrigation, food security and poverty – Lessons from three large dams in West Africa. This report summarises the results of four years of research on three existing dam and rice field sites: Sélingué in Mali, Bagré in…

There is a growing awareness to the role that natural resources, such as water, land, forests and environmental amenities, play in our lives. There are many competing uses for natural resources, and society is challenged to manage them for improving social well-being. Furthermore, there may be dire…

Food-insecure households in many countries depend on international aid to alleviate acute shocks and chronic shortages. Some food security programmes (including Ethiopia’s Productive Safety Net Program–PSNP – which provides a case study for this article) have integrated aid in exchange for labour on…

WOCAT has just published a new book called ‘Where people and their land are safer - A Compendium of Good Practices in Disaster Risk Reduction’. It focuses on land-based solutions in Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) and showcases and analyses 44 practices from 12 countries around the globe that were…

Agribusiness has a major role to play in transforming the agriculture sector in Africa. Increasing demand for high-value food products around the world, the production and export of these goods represents an opportunity to increase both income and employment. To capture the benefits of this trend…

Climate change is a potential threat to achieving food security, particularly in the most food insecure regions. However, interpreting climate change projections to better understand the potential impacts of a changing climate on food security outcomes is challenging. This paper addresses this…

Regenerating Urban Land draws on the experience of eight case studies from around the world. The case studies outline various policy and financial instruments to attract private sector investment in urban regeneration of underutilized and unutilized areas and the requisite infrastructure…

Access, in reference to Ecosystem services (ES), is defined as the capacity to gain benefits from the environment. There has been a global shift in natural resource governance, particularly increased co-management of protected areas (PAs). Yet there has been little research on how this change may be…

Promoting inclusive and sustainable economic and social development whilst simultaneously adapting to climate change impacts and mitigating greenhouse gas emissions – Climate Compatible Development (CCD) – requires coherent policy approaches that span multiple sectors. This paper develops and…

The resurgence of violent conflict in recent years has caused immense human suffering, at enormous social and economic cost. Violent conflicts today have become complex and protracted, involving more non-state groups and regional and international actors, often linked to global challenges from…

Erratic rains and rising cereals prices intensify hunger risks around Eastern Africa

In a recent review, FAO identified that 41 out of 54 countries in Africa included at least one policy or measure on more sustainable use of bioenergy in their Intended Nationally Determined Contributions (INDCs). Considering the critical role of sustainable bioenergy in sub-Saharan Africa, FAO’s…

Soil erosion costs European countries €1.25 billion in annual agricultural productivity loss and €155 million in the gross domestic product (GDP) loss, according to a JRC new study. Soil erosion is the biggest threat to soil fertility and productivity, but the consequences do not stop there. A…

Responding to consumer concerns about food quality and fraudulent practices concerning food, on 13 March 2018, the European Commission is launching a Knowledge Centre for Food Fraud and Quality, operated by the JRC.

Asia hardest hit region, says report on the burden borne by poor farmers due to natural disasters

The newly released World Bank report, Groundswell: Preparing for Internal Climate Migration, analyzes this recent phenomenon and projects forward to 2050. Focusing on three regions — Sub-Saharan Africa, South Asia, and Latin America – the report warns that unless urgent climate and development…

FuturePolicy.org is an online database designed for forward-thinking policy-makers, to simplify the sharing of existing and proven policy solutions to tackle the world’s most fundamental and urgent problems. Grown from the conviction that solutions exist for the most essential challenges to humanity…

The 2018 Global Report on Food Crises provides the latest estimates of severe hunger in the world. An estimated 124 million people in 51 countries are currently facing Crisis food insecurity or worse (the equivalent of IPC/CH Phase 3 or above). Conflict and insecurity continued to be the primary…

The Second International Symposium on Agroecology was held 3-5 April 2018 in Rome, Italy. Participants discussed how Agroecology can be scaled up so that it delivers benefits for multiple SDGs. They launched the 'Scaling up Agroecology Initiative' as a framework for concerted action and partnerships…

In the context of the global refugee crisis, trans-Saharan and trans-Mediterranean (irregular) migration from Africa to Europe has recently received huge public and political attention, particularly within Europe. Calls for reducing and containing irregular migrant flows and addressing the “root…