Going Direct2Farm
Carmen Thönnissen, Programme Manager from the Swiss Agency for Development and Coopertation, recently visited CABI’s Direct2Farm project with her colleagues in Meerut, India. Read Carmen's report on her visit and the impact of mobile technology on Agriculture. On 23 April 2013, we – from the Swiss Agency for Development and Coopertation (SDC) – had the pleasure to…
What’s the big deal about Open Access?
Specifically, what’s in it for the people who get involved? How can publishers, government bodies, academic institutions, researchers, and even the general public reap the benefits? Copyright: ©Gideon Burton CC BY-SA 2.0 The aim of open access is to improve the communication of knowledge and encourage advancements in research by allowing information to be freely…
Attack of the 340 million propagule timebomb! Stories of Phytophthora
Latest CABI Author focus out now - Kurt Lamour tells how the deadly nature of Phytophthora has been devastating crops since the Potato famine!
Managing floods and droughts for a changing climate
Extreme weather is becoming increasingly more common in the UK in recent years; for example, recent figures from the UK Environmental Agency (EA) showed that 1 in every 5 days saw flooding in 2012, but 1 in 4 days were in drought. The EA reported that rivers like the Tyne, Ouse and Tone went from their…
Open up! Open ways of dealing with invasive species
I recently attended a conference on the theme of ‘rigour and openness in 21st century science’. The conference focussed on perhaps the biggest buzzword in current science: open access. Specifically, how can open access be embraced without risking the standards and rigour that are so important to scientific enquiry?
Reducing hunger and undernutrition – how are we doing?
Hunger and undernutrition are amongst the most persistent global development challenges. Part of Millennium Development Goal 1 is to ‘Halve, between 1990 and 2015, the proportion of people who suffer from hunger’ (UN, 2012). With global numbers of undernourished people static at 870 million for the past 5 years and undernutrition contributing to the deaths…
Earth Day 2013 – The Face of Climate Change
Image courtesy of The Earth Day Network. Today is Earth Day, which this year is on the theme 'The Face of climate change'. The Earth Day Network is the organization that coordinates Earth Day around the world each year and their website www.earthday.org is encouraging people from around the world to share their stories on…
Arab world holds first public health conference
CABI is attending the First Arab World Congress on Public Health this week. Opening in Dubai tomorrow, the conference will be a forum for leaders in public health to exchange knowledge and develop best practice in the region. Speakers from Europe, the USA and Australia, will also bring an international perspective to the public health…
Multi-tasking plants for phytoremediation and bioenergy source
coppice willow photo courtesy of http://woodlands.co.uk Some metals, such as zinc (Zn) and copper (Cu) are micronutrients needed in small amounts by plants, animals and humans alike, for optimum health. Others, such as cadmium (Cd), aluminium (Al) and lead (Pb) are not needed and can be toxic to humans, animals and ecosystems. Thankfully, there are…
UN World Water Day 2013 – Water Cooperation
Recently, I attended a conference on the theme of environmental conservation and sustainability, and during the questions and discussion at the end of the presentations someone stated that ‘soil is the most important thing!’ I thought: no, water has got to be the most important thing, since without water there’s no life – look…