Climate change

The Issue: Agricultural expansion, deforestation, the draining of wetlands and other land-use changes are significant sources of greenhouse gases – some estimate that they contribute to up to a third of global emissions. At the same time the sectors are highly vulnerable to the impacts of climate change. As temperatures rise, droughts and extreme weather […]

In his keynote speech at the recent Forests Asia Summit, Peruvian environment minister and UNFCCC COP20 President calls for reframing the role of forests and landscapes in a new climate agreement. Forests and forested landscapes should not only be treated as means to an end based on their carbon mitigation services. He proposes looking at […]

Yes and no. Social networks provide men with more information about changing weather patterns. But there are also opportunities for women to decrease vulnerabilities. By Timothy Muthee Mburu, CCAFS Has climate change altered gender roles? A study by Martha Ngugi seeks to find out if climate change has turned around gender roles. Recent  changes in […]

By Angela Dewan, based on Rajendra Pachauri’s keynote speech held at the Forests Asia Summit. The agriculture and forestry sectors play a crucial role in climate change mitigation, the world’s top climate change expert said Tuesday, calling for action ahead of the next round of negotiations on a new agreement to replace the Kyoto Protocol. […]

Brazil may be able to curb up to 26% of global greenhouse gas emissions from deforestation by encouraging the intensification of its cattle production, according to a new study from researchers at the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA) and international collaborators. By Katherine Leitzell, IIASA The study, published in the journal Proceedings of […]

Nutrient-rich forests absorb more carbon The ability of forests to sequester carbon from the atmosphere depends on nutrients available in the forest soils, shows new research from an international team of researchers, including IIASA. The study, published in the journal Nature Climate Change, showed that forests growing in fertile soils with ample nutrients are able […]