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World Soil Day 2019

5 December 2019, Rome, Italy

The huge potential of agriculture to slow climate change

Soil’s contribution to climate change, through the oxidation of soil carbon, is important, and soils—and thus agriculture—can play a major role in mitigating climate change.

Menace & the Myths~I

The use of pesticides in agriculture has been increasing with time as the demand for food production increases with the increase in population. Historically, pesticides have been known as economic poison and can be categorized into insecticides, fungicides, herbicides and plant-growth-regulators ...

World Soil Day: Soil A Non-Renewable Resource

Soil is a finite resource, meaning its loss and degradation is not recoverable within a human lifespan.As a core component of land resources, agricultural development and ecological sustainability, it is the basis for food, feed, fuel, and fiber production and for many critical ecosystem services.

OPINION: Innovative financing of resilient food systems key to global security

Financing climate-smart rice production is key to global food security and urgently needed to avert social unrest

Crop Diversification - Way to Welcome Agricultural Sustainability by Mitigating Climatic Changes

The Indian economy is largely agrarian, with around 55% of the population dependent for their livelihoods on agriculture and allied sectors that generate 15% Gross Value Added (GVA) (GoI, 2017a).

Study measures impact of agriculture on diet of wild mammals

Margays (Leopardus wiedii), small wild cats living in forest areas fragmented by agriculture near Campinas and Botucatu in São Paulo State, Brazil, prey on animals inhabiting nearby sugarcane plantations, such as birds and small rodents.

Net Food Importer Turkey Grapples with Challenges of Food Self-sufficiency

Despite latest research showing Turkey lagging in overall food sustainability, progress in sustainable agriculture appears to be a bright spot in the country’s troubled agriculture industry.But local farming groups, NGOs and international bodies, while welcoming government efforts to promote sus ...

A century later, plant biodiversity struggles in wake of agricultural abandonment

Decades after farmland was abandoned, plant biodiversity and productivity struggle to recover, according to new University of Minnesota research.

Africa: Coping With Water Scarcity Requires Holistic Approaches

Coping with water scarcity is one of the fundamental global challenges we face in achieving sustainable development. This is not just a physical problem, it is also caused by institutional, economic, and infrastructure-related constraints and is linked to pressures that emanate from population g ...

Farming in South Africa is under threat from climate change. Here’s how

There’s an assumption in the agricultural industry that the yields and prices of crops will vary according to local conditions as well as supply and demand in local and international markets. As a result, farmers understand that not every year will be profitable but over the long run, all things ...

22 People and Organizations Working to Preserve Appalachia’s Biodiversity

This fall, Food Tank and The Crop Trust traveled throughout Appalachia to highlight and celebrate its unique food cultures and agricultural diversity. As part of a multi-year, multi-country #CropsInColor campaign, we focused on the role of apples, beans, corn, tomatoes, squash, and chili peppers ...

Wasps as an effective pest control for agriculture

Common wasp species could be valuable at sustainably managing crop pests, finds a new UCL-led experimental study in Brazil.The study, published in Proceedings of the Royal Society B, found that social wasps are effective predators that can manage pests on two high-value crops, maize and sugarcane.

Meet The 12-Year-Old Girl Who Documented Climate Change From Nicaragua

12-year-old Edelsin Linette Mendez lives with her siblings and parents on their small coffee farm in the beautiful highlands of Nicaragua. Coffee farming has supported the Mendez and thousands of other families for generations, with coffee accounting for 30% of the country’s exports.

To tackle the biodiversity, climate and farm income crises, we need to farm with nature

Policy decisions over the next 12 months are crucial for Ireland’s rural landscapes. The development of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) Strategic Plan for Ireland presents a rare opportunity to deliver high quality food outcomes and enhance farm livelihoods while mitigating our climate and ...

Wasps make effective agricultural pest control

Social wasps are effective predators that can manage pests on two high-value crops, maize and sugarcane, a new study published in Proceedings of the Royal Society B has found.

To feed the world, we have to protect the pollinators

Pollinators are responsible for the production of many crops grown for human consumption, but their numbers are declining. To ensure food security, world leaders and agriculture authorities must act now to save these crucial species, says the Food and Health Organization of the United Nations.

Agribusiness must reduce environmental impact. What role can banks and NGOs play?

Industrial farming has contributed to water pollution and loss of wildlife habitats. A promising project has helped improve salmon farming standards in Chile. How did ‘fundamentally different’ organisations make it work?

Climate crisis: the countryside could be our greatest ally – if we can reform farming

Around 20% of the UK’s farms account for 80% of the country’s total food production, and they do this on about half of all the farmed land there is. At least 80% of farms in the UK don’t produce very much at all.

Growing the apples of the future

Sophie Watts bites into an apple at a Nova Scotia orchard, then turns the fruit around to show off something unusual — its bright pink flesh. It is a Pink Pearl; "really crunchy," with "a great texture," and has been likened to "Jolly Ranchers and Lifesavers, a bit of a sweet candy taste," says ...

Big Food is Betting on Regenerative Agriculture to Thwart Climate Change

More than 20 years ago, Will Harris was a commodity cattle farmer who relied on common industrial tools like pesticides, synthetic fertilizers, and antibiotics. Today, his 2,500-acre ranch in Bluffton, Georgia, is a holistically managed, no-waste operation with 10 species of livestock rotated to ...

The future of tequila: How clones, bats and biodiversity will help agave survive

It’s no secret that Texans like tequila. In fact, it’s a point of pride. Between patio margaritas, rooftop palomas and late-night shots, we consumed a little more than 18 million liters of the agave-based spirit in 2018. That accounts for a respectable one-ninth of the entire country’s consumpti ...

World Food Day 2019

16 October 2019, Rome, Italy

This year, World Food Day calls for action across sectors to make healthy and sustainable diets affordable and accessible to everyone. It is a reminder that without healthy nature and biodiversity, we cannot have quality nutrition, and without quality nutrition we cannot have good health.

Statement by Dr. Cristiana Pașca Palmer, Executive Secretary of the Convention on Biological Diversity, on the occasion of the World Food Day 16 October 2019

Indigenous Terra Madre: The Role of Youth, Women, and Ancient Methods

On the third day of Indigenous Terra Madre Asia & Pan-Pacific in Ainu Mosir, the spotlight turned to the role of youth, women and ancient technologies in indigenous food systems.

Redefining productivity and efficiency of UK farming systems

While the current approach to UK agricultural economics focuses on a growth in outputs and optimising inputs, the report states that a change in assessing the economics of food production is key.

My beef with scapegoating meat in climate change conversation

The meat industry is a popular target to blame when we analyze the biggest contributors to global warming, but the belief that adopting a purely meatless diet to combat climate change may not be enough.

The nitrogen dilemma: can we reduce fertilisers and still feed the world?

When nitrogen-based fertiliser runs into water systems it can result in toxic algae blooms, leading to oxygen depletion and vast oceanic ‘dead zones’. Evidence suggests their use also contributes to air pollution, increased rates of cancer and reduced biodiversity, as well as emitting nitrous ox ...

A model of modern sustainable agriculture – with a nudge from Thomas Jefferson

A late, hot and dry growing season keeps Nat Ratchen busy in a one-acre vegetable garden in the shadow of Thomas Jefferson’s Monticello.

How the Global Food Supply Transition Is Like the Energy Transition

Consumers are buying more organic food, and that is adding yet another element of complexity within the food industry. Food companies are responding to the growing demand for simpler, safer ingredients in their branded products. However, they are bumping up against conventional agricultural prac ...

News analysis: Advancing food security through GMOs

For any country to advance its economic growth, Science, Technology and Innovation (STI), analysts say, it must be at the forefront of its key sectors such as environment, health, industry and agriculture.

Finance for a farming revolution

To reduce greenhouse gas emissions, clean up water supplies, prevent the loss of biodiversity, mitigate fire and flood risk and meet the nutritional requirements of a growing population the world must improve its regenerative and sustainable agricultural practices – new tools and support from th ...

Sowing the Seeds of the Climate Crisis in Odisha

“Everybody is doing it. So we are too,” said Rupa Pirikaka, somewhat uncertainly.It’ is genetically modified (GM) Bt cotton seeds, now easily bought at the local market, or even in one’s own village. ‘Everybody’ is countless other farmers like her in the village of and across the rest of south-w ...

Triggering morel fruiting

Morels are economically, culturally, and ecologically important fungi, widely prized as a culinary delicacy, but also because they influence geochemical cycling in forest ecosystems.

The key to food security in Africa lies in the treasure trove of global crop biodiversity

Global plant diversity could be a lifeline for food security in sub-Saharan Africa, finds a new study. The analysis reveals that replacing some at-risk African food crops with more resilient crops from other parts of the world, as well as tapping the huge genetic diversity of crop wild relatives ...

Shifting the needle on cocoa production practices worldwide

Did you know that, typically, less than 7 per cent of the price of your chocolate bar goes to cocoa producers? Or that large amounts of global cocoa production are associated with illegal deforestation and biodiversity losses?

Insects might soon be trained to protect crops

One of the biggest contemporary challenges for humanity is to safeguard food security for current and future generations. A growing demand and a steady increase of the world population—nearly 10 billion people are expected to inhabit Earth by 2050—requires that food production per area of cultiv ...

Scientists find ways to improve cassava, a 'crop of inequality' featured at Goalkeepers

Today, as world leaders gather for the UN General Assembly, hundreds of emerging leaders focused on fighting global inequality came together at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation's third annual Goalkeepers event in New York City. Among them, University of Illinois scientist Amanda De Souza high ...

The next agricultural revolution is here

As a growing population and climate change threaten food security, researchers around the world are working to overcome the challenges that threaten the dietary needs of humans and livestock. A pair of scientists is now making the case that the knowledge and tools exist to facilitate the next ag ...

We Need Biodiversity-Based Agriculture to Solve the Climate Crisis

The Earth is living, and also creates life. Over 4 billion years the Earth has evolved a rich biodiversity — an abundance of different living organisms and ecosystems — that can meet all our needs and sustain life.

The post-2020 CAP can play a crucial role in restoring nature

This autumn, European policymakers negotiating the post-2020 common agricultural policy must ensure that the final policy framework can reward farmers and landowners for nature restoration and the public goods that this provides. We know that global biodiversity loss is accelerating an unprecede ...

FROM THE FIELD: Balancing act for Philippines farmers

An effort to reverse land degradation in the Philippines and boost sustainable agriculture as well as the livelihoods of farmers, is being supported by the UN Development Programme (UNDP).

Should We Eat Less Rice?

“Your Bowl of Rice Is Hurting the Climate Too” reads a Bloomberg headline from June.

Feeding the future

Nearly one billion of the world's population go hungry, while two billion eat too much, using up the planet's precious resources.

Enriched environment in aquaculture enhances the survival of fish from bacterial disease

In enriched rearing method structures are added to rearing tanks to increase habitat complexity and resemblance to natural conditions

Is India on Track to Beat the Perfect Storm?

NEW DELHI, Aug 12 2019 (IPS) - “The Perfect Storm” was a dire prediction that by 2030 food shortages, scarce water and insufficient energy resources together with climate change would threaten to unleash public unrest, cross-border conflicts and mass migration from worst-affected regions.

Opportunities to provide inputs to the work of the Intergovernmental Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services

Reference: SCBD/OES/DC/AC/88272 (2019-067)
To: CBD National Focal Points, Cartagena Protocol National Focal Points, ABS National Focal Points, indigenous peoples and local communities, relevant organizations

Where are the bees? Tracking down which flowers they pollinate

Researchers at UEA and the Earlham Institute (EI) have developed a new method to rapidly identify the sources of bee pollen to understand which flowers are important for bees.

Help African farmers cope with climate change threats, UN food agency urges

In a statement released on Tuesday, at the conclusion of the high-level Africa Food Security Leadership Dialogue, in the Rwandan capital, Kigali, the FAO stated that building resilience is one of the agency’s priorities in Africa, and is key to meeting the challenge of feeding over two billion b ...