ecologically sustainable food systems

Land governance and water governance tend to address similar challenge with regard to the equitable distribution of resources. This handbook focuses on water governance and provides practical guidance on aquaculture spatial planning and management. »

This report by IFAD shows how IFAD-supported projects are working with smallholder farmers to protect biodiversity in five countries. Poor rural people depend on natural resources for their livelihoods, relying on a range of natural assets from their ecosystems and biodiversity for food, fuel and much else. Productive and sustainable agricultural systems need clean water, healthy soil, and a variety of genetic resources and ecological processes. »

TThis book by the World Bank argues that the drylands in Africa have the potential to make a significant contribution to reducing vulnerability and increasing resilience. Improved farming technologies that can increase and stabilize the production of millet, sorghum, maize, and other leading staples are available. Yet many of these opportunities have not been exploited on a large scale, for reasons that include lack of farmer knowledge, nonavailability of inputs, unfavorable price incentives, high levels of production risk, and high cost. »

This paper by CCAFS brings together and highlights research and gaps in the literature about climate effects on smallholder coffee agroecosystems. The authors seek to inspire future scholarship, inform policy and help direct development interventions. Although this paper primarily focuses on Central American coffee production, many of the examples and lessons are broadly applicable to smallholder coffee producers worldwide. The authors hope this researchbrief will benefit multiple stakeholders including coffee cooperatives, development practitioners, industry agents, researchers and policy-makers. »

This report by NewForesight and Commonland presents the complex challenges we face in our current food system, and highlights opportunities to forge a path towards a more sustainable future. The authors sketch an initial outline of holistic approaches that offer long term solutions while capturing net positive business opportunities with multiple returns. The main aim of this paper is to trigger decision makers in business, government, and society to form coalitions, apply such holistic approaches and drive systemic change in our food systems at scale using an ecosystem approach. »

This article, published in Global Food Security journal, illustrates an approach to examine trade-offs and synergies among the multiple objectives on sustainable agriculure for monsoon cereal crops in central India. These objectives include efficient use of land to produce nutrients for human consumption, climate resilience, and income for farmers. understanding which crops, or combinations of crops, are most suitable requires identifying household-, community-, and region-specific priorities coupled with empirical analysis that considers multiple objectives. »