News

A new land-use study focuses on the agricultural and environmental impacts of fertilizer use in Africa. For the first time, researchers look at the problem at a continental scale. Farmers in Africa increasingly turn towards the cheaper, nitrogen-based products – with negative consequences for yields and environmental costs felt beyond the agricultural sector. The study […]

Agriculture is the sector that is hit hardest by climate change – and developing countries will be most vulnerable to these shocks. Three new papers published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences this week look at climate consequences for major crops, the availability of fresh water and what climate change means for […]

Farmers require financing to meet the growing demand for food. A new working paper identifies opportunities for investing in sustainable agriculture in ways that benefit smallholders. Smallholder agriculture and forestry is constrained by the high risk embedded in current approaches to providing capital for longer-term investments in sustainable practices.  Authors of the working paper Financing sustainable […]

Children living in areas of Africa with heavy tree cover tend to have more nutritious diets, adding credence to research showing that forests play a key role in food security, according to a new paper published in Global Environmental Change. Boosting production of such energy-rich crops as rice, maize and wheat is often seen as […]

At the Global Landscapes Forum in Warsaw, CCAFS’ West Africa Program Director Robert Zougmore spoke about the good, the bad and the ugly of climate change impacts on Africa. After the climate talks ended without conclusion on a possible work program for agriculture, Robert reflects on pressing adaptation needs in West Africa. He shows how […]

CIFOR Scientist Amy Duchelle talked about the challenges of complexity and climate science yo a group of 200 young land use researchers and practitioners at the Global Landscapes Forum. This story was first published on Forests Climate Change. Scientific discoveries of recent decades have generated a wealth of knowledge on forests and climate change that […]

LIMA, Peru (16 January 2014) — Left to itself, the Amazon forest is too damp to burn, but two severe fire seasons — one in 2005 and another just five years later, in 2010 – show how drought and human actions combined to wreak havoc on forests that scientists once considered virtually fireproof. Originally published […]