Knowledge Portal

This paper in the Science of the Total Environment journal assesses the impact of urban expansion on the CNPP in China from 1992 to 2015 in a spatially explicit manner. The authors concluded that rapid urban expansion from 1992 to 2015 caused stress to China’s food security. It is still vital for China to effectively protect cropland to improve the urbanization level to 60% by 2020. »

This article in the Ghana Journal of Science, Technology and Development, highlights the role of innovation platforms for resilience thinking. In this paper, the concept of resilience is approached from the perspective of socio-ecological systems dynamics. In particular, the study examined the contribution of farmers to research towards enhanced resilience of traditional African vegetable production systems in northern Ghana. An Innovation Platform was set up as a ‘knowledge space’ that provided an enabling environment for the interaction between farmers’ indigenous and researchers’ scientific knowledge in agricultural research. »

This report by WWF Germany argues that sustainable managing of fishing is needed to answer to the increasing global demand for protein in the coming decades. If the situation doesn’t improve, millions of people may no longer be able to afford fish by 2050, particularly those in developing coastal countries. According to the projections made by this study, it will on the one hand be possible to fish approximately 112 million tons of fish around the world in 2050 if the current moderate level of fishery management effectiveness remains the same. »

This book by the World Bank presents emerging findings on the importance of moving beyond single-sector interventions to embrace integrated landscape approaches in Sub-Saharan Africa. This includes landscape management that takes into account the health of the ecosystems that support human livelihoods and contribute to the resilience of rural communities. Integrated landscape management is particularly important for these drylands because people depend on production systems that are frequently disrupted by exogenous shocks such as drought. »

This project paper by IFPRI describes what it will take to achieve a level of irrigation investment that supports sustainable agriculture for improved food security and nutrition. Climate change and all the resulting uncertainties are sparking new interest in raising investments in irrigation to enable more stable food production. The authors conclude that irrigation has an important role to play in enhancing future food security and the time for targeted investments is now. »

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. »