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By Kristi Foster. Originally published by World Agroforestry Centre.  Rural farmers in many parts of the world are already using ‘smart’ agricultural practices like intercropping, agroforestry and rainwater harvesting. But what if those practices benefitted the livelihoods and landscapes of millions more? Climate-smart agriculture, the raft of sustainable agricultural practices designed to help farmers overcome […]

By Timila Dhakhwa. Originally published by Yale Environment Review. Financial institutions like banks historically have played a critical role in the face of global challenges, from restructuring industry after World War II to the financing of the industrial revolutions. A new study argues that banks can play a similar role in helping society transition to […]

Martin Breed; Andrew Lowe; Nick Gellie, and Peter Mortimer, Chinese Academy of Sciences Earth is in a land degradation crisis. If we were to take the roughly one-third of the world’s land that has been degraded from its natural state and combine it into a single entity, these “Federated States of Degradia” would have a […]

Euan Ritchie, Deakin University and Adam Munn, UNSW Australia We may be what we eat, but our dietary choices also affect the health of the environment, and farmers’ back pockets. Energy and water use, native habitat cut down for crops and grazing, and emissions that exacerbate climate change, are just some of the profound effects […]

By Julianna White. Originally published by the CGIAR Research Program on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security. Current agricultural interventions will only deliver 21-40% of target, indicating need for transformative technical and policy options. The Paris Agreement, signed in 2016 by 177 countries and counting, indicates a global commitment to limiting climate change to 2°C. […]

Feature image: soy milk by mc559. By Sophie Smith with contributions from Christina MacFarquhar (Forest 500 – A Project of the Global Canopy Programme). Soya: a hot commodity The soya industry is booming across the world. Since April 2011 the global production of soya has risen 35% in response to widespread demand for the hardy, protein-rich bean. It […]