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This blog is part of the Agriculture and Ecosystems Blog’s month-long series on Restoring Landscapes.  Can Ecosystem Based Approaches help get Africa ahead of the food insecure pack under the changing climate? If most of the nearly 70 million smallholder families in sub-Saharan Africa fail within the next decade to adopt sustainable land and water management […]

This blog is part of the Agriculture and Ecosystems Blog’s month-long series on Restoring Landscapes.  In the 1980’s, Tony Rinaudo, now Natural Resource Advisor for World Vision Australia, was part of a team that relentlessly planted thousands of trees across the Sahel, but most of them died after just a few months.  Just when he thought […]

Lari, Kiambu County is in central Kenya, situated near the biologically rich southern Aberdare mountains, the rift valley and designated important bird areas (IBAs). Unfortunately these areas are threatened by charcoal production, the encroachment of agriculture and timber harvesting. Local youth, aware of these threats, have taken action by founding and managing a group which […]

Permaculture, with its remarkable ability to contribute to socioeconomic development at the household level, truly transforms lives. We at Kusamala Institute of Agriculture and Ecology have seen this firsthand, and continue to spread the benefits and practices of permaculture and agroecology in rural communities of Malawi. We strongly believe that communities should be given access […]

Beyond environmental conditions, it is the institutional setting that determines how landscapes are used. The institutional setting encompasses governance frameworks at multiple political levels including a multitude of public, private and societal actors. However, after years of recognizing the need for coordinated multilevel governance, we have failed. To move forward, we need to think about […]

In July 2012, major flooding in many parts of Nigeria caused severe erosion. Livelihoods were affected as land was washed away, properties were destroyed, lives were lost, and many people were displaced in the flooding. Environmental challenges have been part of daily life for many Nigerians, particularly in the last few years. In Northern Nigeria, […]