Climate Change / Event / Food security / Nutrition (human) / PA

Hunger-nutrition-climate: Can the ‘centre’ hold? Is ‘climate-smart’ agriculture the answer?

Rain clouds over a farming village near Iringa, Tanzania (photo on Flickr by United Nations /Wolff.) A Hunger-Nutrition-Climate Justice Conference is in its second day of deliberations today (16 Apr) in Dublin. Lindiwe Majele Sibanda, head of the Food, Agriculture and Natural Resources Policy Analysis Network (FANRPAN), in southern Africa, and chair of the board of … Continue reading »

Africa / Biodiversity / Fodder / Forages / ILRI / PA / PLE / Seeds

New funding agreement to help maintain world’s genebanks–and save plant genetic diversity

Frank Rijsberman, CEO of the CGIAR Consortium, is given a tour of the ILRI Forage Genebank, located in Addis Ababa, by its manager, Alexandra Jorge, in January 2013 (photo credit: ILRI\Zerihun Sewunet). The Global Crop Diversity Trust and the CGIAR Consortium have announced a new agreement which will bring financial stability to 11 international genebanks of … Continue reading »

Agriculture / Event / PA / Research

The road back to Rio: USD1 billlion CGIAR work agenda presented for a food-secure future

Donut diagram by Oxfam’s Kate Raworth illustrating a safe and just space for humanity, inspired by Rockström’s 2009 diagram of nine planetary boundaries constituting an environmental ceiling, or ‘a safe operating space for humanity’ (source: ‘Can we live inside the doughnut?‘).  SciDevNet this week reports that ‘Beginning in 2013, CGIAR will pump an extra $US … Continue reading »

Agriculture / Food security / Interview / Knowledge & Information / PA / Research

At Rio+20 agriculture and environment must become ‘best friends’ – Frank Rijsberman

Farm landscape in Lalibela, northern Ethiopia (photo on Flickr by Philip Kromer). ‘In the run-up to RIO+20, the UN Conference on Sustainable Development (UNCSD), CGIAR, the global agricultural research partnership, issued a call-to-action. In this seven-point plan, CGIAR outlines how agricultural research for development can contribute to a more sustainable, food-secure future. ‘Bruce Campbell, Director … Continue reading »