Story maps: visualizing multimedia development communications

Teddy SearightLeave a comment
SILT map
SILT project story map

The famous statistician, Hans Rosling, used to say the aim is to go from numbers to information to understanding.  This is the essence of how data should be used, shared and presented.

Data can be presented in many different ways but maps are perhaps the best way of visualizing spatial information. As technology has progressed since the early Turin Papyrus Map produced by the ancient Egyptians in 1160 BCE, humans have been developing and refining how we model our environment to improve our understanding of complex information. Continue reading →

Taking action on invasives and youth unemployment in Zambia

Teddy Searight1 Comment
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Tibonge Mfune sampling fall armyworm larvae to survey for natural enemies in Zambia.

Youth unemployment is a significant economic and social burden for Zambia. So too is the impact of invasive species on agricultural production and the natural environment.

Are these mutually exclusive challenges, or can youth unemployment and tackling agricultural challenges, such as invasive species, be effectively positioned together to deliver jobs, food security and sustainable agriculture?

 

 

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Trichogramma evanescens, a biocontrol agent to control apple codling moth in apple orchards – first record from Pakistan

Wayne ColesLeave a comment

orchard

Apple codling moth and apple spider mites are one of most serious pests of different fruits, especially its deleterious effects on apple trees, which poses economic threat to apple production in the region. Codling moth was recorded as the most serious insect pest of the apple industry in Balochistan when the project conducted a baseline survey in 2015.

The USAID-funded Phytosanitary Risk Management Programme (PRMP), in collaboration with Agriculture Research Institute (ARI) Quetta, initiated activities to develop and deploy a biological control program for apple codling moth. The aim is to provide safe and healthy apple fruits for human consumption and to develop biological control techniques to control apple codling moth in apple orchards of Balochistan.

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Growing agriculture: nutrition community points the way to achieving SDG2 by 2030

Leigh BardLeave a comment

By Shenggen Fan, Sivan Yosef, and Rajul Pandya-Lorch

The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) have launched a race to transform our world for the better little more than a decade from now. The goals are idealistic, setting a high bar for every aspect of quality of life, from health and education to gender equality and climate action. SDG2 seeks to eliminate global hunger by 2030. But as we move closer to that deadline, achieving SDG2 seems further away. Recent years have been particularly disheartening, with the number of undernourished people continuing to rise annually. In 2015, there were 784 million hungry people in the world; in 2016, 804 million; and in 2017, the most recent year for which data was available, that number reached 821 million people. Adult obesity also continues to worsen in rich and poor countries alike: More than 1 in 8 adults, or 672 million people around the world, are now considered obese.

Chapter 9
A woman examines and sorts iron beans in Rwanda. Nutrition-sensitive agricultural programs, such as biofortification or homestead food production systems, may be well suited for increasing people’s consumption of high-quality diets. Photo courtesy of IFPRI (Mel Oluoch/HarvestPlus)

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When a Hollywood star came to CABI

Teddy SearightLeave a comment

 

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Left: Harry Evans, CABI, Right: Kal Penn, Hollywood actor and presenter

The online market place goliath, and newly emerging leader in film and TV programme production, Amazon, visited CABI’s centre in Egham, UK to shoot footage for a new Amazon Prime Original series called This Giant Beast that is the Global Economy.

The globe-spanning docuseries brings the smart, stylized storytelling of Adam McKay’s The Big Short to a quirky and compelling exploration of the global economy.

With comedian and actor Will Ferrell as Executive Producer the eight part docuseries takes a deep dive into the murky, worrying and, at times, funny side of our interconnected world. During the third episode dedicated to the rubber industry, CABI’s expertise on rubber leaf blight is featured to explain how a little fungus could possibly bring down the global economy.

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Why a global insect decline affects us all

David SimpsonLeave a comment

Insects crucial for ecosystem functioning and food production

insectcollection

A comprehensive review of insect declines around the world gives a stark picture of the scale of the declines and the consequences both for ecology and human welfare. The paper, published in Biological Conservation, warns that 40% of the world’s insect species could become extinct within a few decades under current trends. And the loss of this diversity could lead to dramatic increases in pest insects which harm food production and human health.

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