See below a selection of some of the blogs and ne ws articles that attendants of the 2014 Global Landscapes Forum published on other websites. We will continue to collect voices from the Forum for landscapes.org.
Climate Change Creates New Geography of Food
By Fabiola Ortíz, IPS (Tierramérica)
The magnitude of the climate changes brought about by global warming and the alterations in rainfall patterns are modifying the geography of food production in the tropics, warned participants at the climate summit in the Peruvian capital. That was the main concern among experts in food security taking part in the 20th session of the Conference of the Parties (COP20) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), held Dec. 1-12 in Lima. They are worried about rising food prices if tropical countries fail to take prompt action to adapt. The International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI estimates that climate change will trigger food price hikes of up to 30 percent. The countryside is the first sector directly affected by climate change, said Andy Jarvis, a researcher at the International Centre for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT) who specialises in low-carbon farming in the CGIAR Research Programme for Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security. “Climate and agriculture go hand in hand and it’s the climate that defines whether a crop will do well or poorly. The geography of where crops grow is going to change, and the impacts can be extremely negative if nothing is done,” Jarvis told Tierramérica during the Global Landscapes Forum, the biggest parallel event to the COP20….
Copenhagen to Lima: An Observer’s Take on Why the Lima Call to Action Matters
By Genna Gammie, Forest Trends, originally posted at Huffington Post
…And the environmental economics message that has emerged this year–bolstered by real examples, from reducing deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon to making urban transport and energy systems more efficient–is that action on climate change and economic development can, and must, be fully complementary. At a Forest Trends conference that was co-hosted by the Peruvian government and held in Lima ahead of the COP, Carlos Gustavo Cano, co-director of the Bank of the Republic of Colombia, even suggested that capitalism itself was at risk of failure if it could not appropriately account for environmental costs and benefits. During the COP in Lima, at the Global Landscapes Forum, former President of Mexico Felipe Calderon explained, “We do not need to choose between fighting poverty and fighting climate change.”…
Forest and farming families speaking out at the Global Landscapes Forum, Lima
Tropenbos International, the AgriCultures Network and the Forest and Farm Facility, created a space so voices from the fields and forests could be heard at the Global Landscapes Forum, Lima, Peru, on 6-7th December 2014. And they spoke. Booths from the three organizations surrounded a lively area that made up one of the pavilions, called the Forest and Farming Families Living Landscape Lounge. A busy weekend programme of presentations, debates and various discussions meant that there was a continual flow of people, also taking publications away with them, and leaving their views on the graffiti wall and in the voting box….
World leaders come together to discuss the interconnection of landscapes, agriculture and climate
by FoodTank (also at World Agroforestry Centre)
Recently—while taking a break from the global Conference of the Parties (COP) Climate Change Conference—government officials, policymakers, researchers, industry leaders, non-profit organization heads, and indigenous representatives met for the 2014 Global Landscapes Forum in Lima, Peru, sponsored by the Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR). This year—the second for the Forum since the 2013 Forum in Warsaw—brought together thousands of influential leaders as a cross-sectoral approach to addressing the role of sustainable landscapes in climate and development. What undergirded the discussion was what is at the heart of all effective work on climate change: accountability and engagement….
