Africa / Agriculture / Asia / Caribbean / CCAFS / CGIAR / Climate Change / Food Security / ILRI / Latin America

‘Lifeline’ food crops at risk of climate change: Major adaptation efforts needed, says CGIAR study

Rose Mnjemo with soya beans, a maize, soya and cassava farmer from Khulungira Village, in central Malawi (photo credit: ILRI/Stevie Mann). Agence France Presse reports on a 2012 international study that found that climate change is on track to disrupt lifeline food crops across large swathes of Africa and Asia already mired in chronic poverty. More … Continue reading

Africa / Agriculture / Asia / Caribbean / CCAFS / China / Climate Change / Food Security / ILRI / Latin America

Where survival is linked to fate of farm crops and animals, climate shifts can be disastrous – Polly Ericksen

ILRI’s Polly Erickson presents the results of her study, Mapping Hotspots of Climate Change and Food Insecurity in the Global Tropics, produced for the CGIAR Research Program on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS), at a seminar at the World Agroforestry Centre (photo credit: ILRI/MacMillan). The US News and World Report writes about a recent study … Continue reading

Africa / Agriculture / Asia / Caribbean / CCAFS / Climate Change / Food Security / ILRI / Latin America

Round-up of first news clippings on ILRI-CCAFS ‘hotspots’ of climate change and food insecurity study

Below is a round-up of some of the first news clippings generated by the 3 June 2011 launch of an ILRI-CCAFS report, Mapping hotspots of climate change and food insecurity in the global tropics, by Polly Ericksen, Philip Thornton, An Notenbaert, L Cramer, Peter Jones and Mario Herrero 2011. CCAFS Report no. 5 (advance copy). CGIAR Research Program … Continue reading

Africa / Agriculture / Asia / Caribbean / CCAFS / Climate Change / Food Security / ILRI / Latin America

Time Magazine and CGIAR say small poor farms + big climate change = ‘A PERFECT STORM’

Time Magazine‘s Bryan Walsh reports this week on report and series of maps detailing where climate change and hunger are likely to intersect in future, with possibly devastating results unless the world’s agricultural researchers manage to help small-scale farmers ‘climate-proof’ their crops and livestock in the coming (drying, flooding) decades. The study was led by scientists … Continue reading

Africa / Agriculture / Asia / Burkina Faso / Caribbean / CCAFS / CGIAR / Climate Change / Food Security / ILRI / Latin America / Mali / Niger / South Africa

Climate change threatens ability of the poorest people to feed themselves

Number of malnourished children per square km, from the advance copy of ‘Mapping Hotspots of Climate Change and Food Insecurity in the Global Tropics,’ by ILRI scientists Polly Ericksen et al., published on 3 June 2011 (map credit: ILRI/CCAFS). The BBC reports on a new study saying that some areas in the tropics face famine … Continue reading

Africa / Agriculture / Asia / Caribbean / CCAFS / Climate Change / Food Security / ILRI / Latin America

Guardian blogs about ILRI-CCAFS ‘hotspots’ study

The Guardian‘s Poverty Matters Blog writes today of a research study launched today that indicates that climate change in the tropics poses a food threat to the world’s poor. Blog writer John Vidal cites the report, developed by scientists at the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) and the CGIAR Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS) … Continue reading

CCAFS / CGIAR / Climate Change / Crop-Livestock / Drylands / DRYLANDSCRP / East Africa / Ethiopia / ILRI / Kenya / Somalia / Vulnerability

New initiative to support agro-pastoralists in Africa’s Horn

Coastweek and Xinhua have published accounts of a new East African dryland food production initiative. The initiative will work towards securing the agro-pastoral livelihoods of poor livestock keepers in the region. ‘Scientists have launched a new initiative to help boost smallholder farmers’ resilience to drought in the Horn of Africa’s drylands. ‘The new initiative supported by … Continue reading

Africa / Agriculture / Asia / CCAFS / Drylands / DRYLANDSCRP / ILRI / Impact Assessment / Latin America / LIVESTOCKFISH / Research

40 impacts of 40 years of CGIAR Research: 1971–2011–and an update

The Fund Office of the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR) recently produced two publications summing up past and current accomplishments in the CGIAR. What the CGIAR has accomplished in 4 decades First is a brochure celebrating, and listing, 40 impacts of 40 years of CGIAR Research: 1971–2011, which provides the following assessment. ‘The … Continue reading

Agriculture / CCAFS / Climate Change / Food Security / NRM / WLE

Some animals are more equal than others in their greenhouse gas emissions

The current essay published on the AgClim Letters blog of the ‘Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security’ Research Program this week praises the sensibleness of a recent background study for a Foresight report that ‘provides valuable insight into how our farming and food industry in the UK can contribute to the transition to a green … Continue reading

CCAFS / Climate Change / Ethiopia / ILRI

State of climate change work in Ethiopia assessed

An Ethiopian livestock herder in the rain (picture credit: ILRI/Habtamu). A one-day workshop on climate change in Ethiopia, organized by the Climate Change Forum-Ethiopia (CCF-E) and the Consultative Group on International Agriculture Research, was held at the Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, campus of International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI), yesterday (8 March 2011). At this workshop, the … Continue reading