Land blog posts

How can we secure sufficient food and nutrition for growing cities? A recent study implies that relying on urban farming is not the only answer.

Did you receive roses for Valentine's Day? If so, they may have come from the Kenya, the 4th largest supplier of cut flowers in the world. Originally from the CIAT Blog, this piece looks at work done in the Tana Basin to ensure good management of land and water resources make sure this industry can continue.

On a global scale, the EU's consumption of agricultural products is perhaps the single largest driver of deforestation. This may change, with the EU's new Action Plan on Deforestation, but whether or not this plan will protect the livelihoods of smallholder farmers remains to be seen.

Received wisdom on forest conservation tells us that working forests are bad for the environment: good forests are "pristine." However, there is no such thing as a pristine forest, and would-be conservationists have much to learn from those who have lived and worked in productive forests.

A recent research publication covering two similar catchments in upland Laos and upland Vietnam found a striking different hydrological situation in each place. What accounts for the difference, and what are the implications for forest management policy?

Debates on the best way to sustainably intensify agriculture have thus far focused on the constraints to adopting new farming technologies. Refocusing research on the actions of farmers could provide a clearer picture of the complex, context-dependent preconditions for sustainable intensification in specific places.

Ecomodernism embraces agricultural intensification as one of the primary means of decoupling humanity from the environment. However, ecomodernism relies on some problematic assumptions about the division between humanity and nature and the nature of human use of rural spaces.

Agriculture has changed significantly in the last few decades, making farmers' lives easier and allowing massive increases in production. However, these changes have come at environmental and social costs: collaborating directly with farmers must be a prerequisite for sustainable intensification.

Landscape restoration is in urgent need of private capital, as identified at the GLF—The Investment Case meeting in London. What are the barriers to business investment in landscape restoration, and how might organizations like CGIAR play a role in overcoming those barriers?