Climate and human-induced land degradation endangers the future survival of our planet. A new focus on achieving land degradation neutrality (LDN) seeks to spark and grow transformative efforts to avoid, reduce, and reverse land degradation through gender and socially equitable means. As of July…

In the first months of 2018 three studies recently published by the World Bank (WB),the Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO) and the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) prominently addressed the link between degradation of land, water stress…

Forests which regenerate naturally on previously deforested land are important for the conservation of biodiversity and the mitigation of, and adaptation to, climate change. In the context of the global restoration agenda, natural forest regrowth is increasingly being recognized as an important…

The report begins by reviewing the evidence to date focussing on the magnitude and geographical distribution of food losses. In the next sections the role of energy in post-harvest losses is discussed. Thereafter, the main entry points within the food value chain where lack of access to energy is…

The Brown to Green Report 2019 is the world’s most comprehensive review of G20 climate action. It provides concise and comparable information on G20 country mitigation action, finance and adaptation. Developed by experts from 14 research organisations and NGOs from the majority of the G20 countries…

The new GPFS strategy supports the development and implementation of international frameworks and promotes innovative scalable solutions to overcome food insecurity and malnutrition, and it addresses emerging issues

Struggling East African dairy farmers could benefit from new varieties of high-quality, drought-resistant forage grass known as Brachiaria that boosts milk production by 40 per cent, a report says. The forage grass could enable farmers to increase their incomes, according to experts at the Colombia…

Agriculture has a dominant role in rural land use in many countries, meaning that farmers control and manage much of the land, including its biodiversity and water resources. It is estimated that there are 570 million farms worldwide, of which 410 million are less than a hectare in size and 475…

This report presents the case for why we all must throw our weight behind a global restoration effort. Drawing on the latest scientific evidence, it explains the crucial role played by ecosystems from forests and farmland to rivers and oceans, and charts the losses that result from our poor…

Heat stress increasingly becoming an obstacle to economic activity. 80 million jobs will be lost by 2030, as it will be too hot to work, reports ILO, leading to expected financial loss up to US$2,400 billion

This report examines the link between water and migration, and the implications for economic development. The report is based on analysis of the largest data set on internal migration ever assembled, covering nearly half a billion people from 189 population censuses in 64 countries from 1960 to 2015…

FAO report calls for a more pro-active and long-term planning to become more resilient against droughts

Restoration has never been more important, with almost a third of the world’s land surface degraded. But what exactly is restoration? And how do we know if it works? Madelon Lohbeck continues our Special Feature series on Functional traits in agroecology. Read the full article, Trait-based…

A method for developing more cost-effective agri-environment schemes is outlined in a recent study. The procedure can be used over large areas, accounts for hundreds of management regimes and several different endangered species. The model is one of the first to account for the timing of measures…

Rising temperatures and more extreme, unpredictable climate events are making sustainable livelihoods tough for many people living in semi-arid regions of the world. To adapt, local communities, and especially farmers, use different strategies and responses. Research in India and Africa shows that…