News

View FAO’s new resources page on SDGs and the post-2015 development agenda The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) and the World Food Programme (WFP) have revealed common targets and indicators for sustainable agriculture, food security and nutrition. The targets and indicators are a critical piece in […]

By Georgina Smith, International Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT) When environmental organization Markets for Change released a picture of a wee possum in a liquidizer on Facebook, it went viral. It “portrays the danger to Australia’s precious wildlife posed by new woodchipping plans for industrial logging to feed bioenergy production”, according to the not-for-profit’s website. […]

Should we build more dams? – In reality things are not quite so black-and-white, because as long as we want to continue using energy, consuming food, and having water to wash, drink and use for agriculture, we will have to make difficult decisions about how we access, allocate and use water. This is particularly the […]

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 […]

Earth Day 2014 shifted attention towards the potential of sustainable cities. At the same time, new better data is needed to assess what the “urban millennium” holds for people and the environment. Published originally on the CIFOR Forests News blog. “Floating populations” make it difficult for researchers to determine the exact location of migrants who […]

Identifying indicators and targets on land at the global level is important in order to deliver on better land governance, tenure and land rights, particularly for beneficiaries and NGOs that are involved at the ground level.  Iris Krebber, Global Donor Platform focal point for DFID, explains takeaways, priorities, coordination efforts and a vision for land […]

Bioversity International is featured on Food Tank’s 2014 Earth Day list. For this year’s Earth Day, Food Tank highlights influential individuals and organizations who are working to promote urban agriculture and encourage investment in growing cities. Earth Day is an important opportunity to highlight solutions to some of the world’s most pressing environmental and social […]

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 […]