News & Blogs

FAO State of the Forests Report: Use trees wisely, whether they be in forests or on farms, is the core message contained in the FAO's newly issued report, "The State of the World's Forests 2012'. Hundreds of millions depend on trees for food, fruit, fodder, medicine and soil fertility; billions more on the timber and fiber trees produce. And, argues the FAO, if trees are properly managed, they can provide all this and more while restoring land, capturing carbon and reversing biodiversity loss. Continue Reading

By Torben Timmermann for CCAFSJune 18, 2012“Re-greening of dry lands is not expensive and it is not technically difficult. In fact it is being done and it is fundamental to make smallholder farmers more productive, profitable and more resilient”. Continue Reading

By 2030, global food needs will grow by 50 per cent, water by 30 per cent and energy demand by 45 per cent, claiming more productive land.But every year, 12 million hectares of land is lost through desertification and drought alone. This is an area half the size of United Kingdom and could produce 20 million tonnes of grain per year. Globally, about 75 billion tonnes of fertile soil is lost forever each year. Overall, about 1.5 billion people live off degrading land, of whom 74 per cent are the poor. Continue Reading

From persuading Brazilians to eat less beef and more tilapia fish, to getting Malawi’s farmers to lay down their hoes, agriculture needs to be a major part of a shift towards a more environmentally sustainable future.Click here to read more. Continue Reading

Combined with carbon sequestration programs and forest preservation, the approach of integrating climate resilient investments within farming is part of a growing suite of policies and practices known as Climate Smart Agriculture.The Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations (FAO) has defined Climate Smart Agriculture as “agriculture that sustainably increases productivity, resilience (adaptation), reduces/removes greenhouse gases (mitigation) while enhancing the achievement of national food security and development goals.” Continue Reading

With forests and fish stocks declining, water demand rising and lack of action on climate change, humanity's path is anything but sustainable, the UN warns.The Global Environmental Outlook says significant progress is seen on only four out of 90 environmental goals.Click here to read more. Continue Reading