Head north from nairobi toward Mount Kenya and almost invariably you’ll hit weather. Fog, rain, hail, even snow, all unusual for the equator but a blessing for Mount Kenya’s farmers, who export coffee, roses, green beans and peas to Europe. Once you pass the mountain and descend onto the dusty Samburu plain, however, the weather … Continue reading
Category Archives: Climate Change
Africa / Agriculture / CCAFS / Climate Change / Food Security / ILRI
‘Africa will be hardest hit by climate change’–experts
Farmer Celeste Sitoe tends to her maize and chickens on her subsistence farm in Lhate Village, Chokwe, Mozambique (photo credit: ILRI/Mann). ‘Africa will be amongst the hardest hit regions of the world as the climate heats up, threatening the continent’s food security, experts agree. If global temperatures rise 2.0 degrees C, southern Africa will warm … Continue reading
New consortium to quantify Latin American cattle greenhouse gas emissions
Some of Latin America’s major cattle-producing countries will begin working as a team in 2011 to quantify the greenhouse gas emissions from their bovine industry—and to come up with options for reducing them. The planned consortium, made up of scientists from Argentina, Chile, Colombia, Dominican Republic and Uruguay, was selected to receive financing from FONTAGRO … Continue reading
Food prices likely to rise with temperatures
‘If average global temperatures keep rising prices for vital food resources could rise by more than 130 percent, an analysis released in Mexico finds. . . . ‘A study by the International Livestock Research Institute concludes that if temperatures continue to rise, maize prices could increase by 131 percent within the next 40 years. ‘Philip … Continue reading
Africa / Climate Change / ILRI
‘We’re heading for a four-degree rise in temperature by end century’–ILRI systems analyst Philip Thornton
ARDD branding at Agriculture and Rural Development Day 2010, a side event held on 4 December 2010 at the COP16 United Nations climate change conference in Cancun, Mexico (photo credit: Neil Palmer/CIAT). ‘Taking steps to control global temperatures is a key issue at the UN talks on climate change in Cancun. Within the next four … Continue reading
Africa / Agriculture / Asia / CCAFS / Climate Change / East Africa / South Asia / West Africa
Researchers worldwide unite in multi-million dollar initiative to fight climate change in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia
Inger Andersen, chair of the Fund Council of the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR) and vice president of Sustainable Development at the World Bank during her opening speech at Agriculture and Rural Development Day, a side event at the United Nations climate change conference (COP16), being held in Cancún, Mexico (photo credit: Neil … Continue reading
Climate, food security, and growth: Ethiopia’s complex relationship with livestock
In a recent report, New York-based public policy action tank Brighter Green questions whether Ethiopia is not in fact constraining its chances of coping with expected increases in drought and erratic weather as a result of global warming by expanding its livestock population and intensive animal-agriculture sector. Brighter Green’s research examines whether Ethiopia can industrialize … Continue reading
Can spicing up livestock help save the world’s climate?
The greenhouse gases that come from livestock are silent but deadly. Conventional wisdom, originating in a 2006 UN Food and Agriculture Organization report, says that livestock are responsible for 18 percent of global emissions, though a 2009 article by Robert Goodland and Jeff Anhang in World Watch magazine puts the number as high as 51 … Continue reading
‘Gloomy’ future for agriculture in a much warmer world–climate change researcher Gerald Nelson
Farmer Celeste Sitoe with her maize harvest in Lhate Village, outside Chokwe, in Gaza Province, southern Mozambique (photo credit: ILRI/Mann). The Associated Press today broke a story that researchers are predicting a ‘gloomy’ future for agriculture in the face of greater and faster warming of the world than expected. ‘. . . [O]n our current … Continue reading
Africa / Asia / CCAFS / CGIAR / Climate Change / Food Security / Latin America
‘Globe faces daunting task’–Climate change researcher Bruce Campbell
Science News reports this week that the prices of global food prices are rising along with global temperatures and that global warming may have already begun outpacing the ability of farmers to adapt. ‘Since summer, signs of severe food insecurity—droughts, food riots, five- to tenfold increases in produce costs—have erupted around the globe. Several new … Continue reading
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