Tackling climate change and agriculture at COP21 – a look at the landscape approach
By Dr Trevor Nicholls, CEO, CABI At COP21 last week, the world’s leaders agreed on a way forward to manage climate change. Limiting global warming to less than two percent was undoubtedly a landmark decision and, for the first time, there was unanimous recognition that humans impact the climate and that humans must do something about…
What is a sustainable diet? – a vision from the FENS conference
Climate change may be on everyone’s lips, but we are only just beginning to see how our diets might need to change to help prevent it and deal with the challenges of a growing population. I heard more about the question of sustainable diets at a series of sessions at the FENS conference on nutrition…
The sugar industry and the World Health Organization – still at odds
I recently attended the International Sugar Organization’s annual conference in London, hoping to hear Dr. Francesco Branca of the World Health Organization explaining the rationale for the WHO’s recommendations on how much sugar people should eat, and see what response he got from the assembled sugar industry representatives and how he responded to that. As…
Ambitious landscape restoration target may be within reach
In September 2011, at a high-level meeting of world leaders, the Bonn Challenge was launched, with an ambitious goal to restore 150 million hectares of the world’s degraded and deforested land by 2020. This target was recently supplemented by the New York Declaration on Forests, which added an further 200 million hectares to be restored…
A look at development influences on traditional food systems in Nigeria
Bookie Ezeomah, marketing intern at CABI, talks about her studies in Nigeria and the UK focusing on agriculture and food security Food security, poverty, Africa and sustainable development are buzz words and phrases that punctuate most development discourse these days. I come from a developing country and was one of those who became so fatigued…
Misshapen fruit and ugly veg….is it time that retailers relaxed cosmetic specifications?
Would you eat a carrot with three roots or an overly curved cucumber? The contribution of "ugly" fruit and vegetables to food wastage is not a new problem but one that has moved in and out of the spotlight for several years. A new BBC production "Hugh’s War on Waste", fronted…
Global food and poverty issues on the table
Awareness on global food and poverty issues was raised last weekend as the World Food Day was observed on the 16th of October followed by the International Day for the Eradication of Poverty on the 17th. Both days were highly topical since eradicating poverty and improving food security were the first two goals listed in…
International Day of Rural Women, 15 October 2015
The first International Day of Rural Women was observed on 15 October 2008 and was established by the UN to recognize the vital role and contribution of rural women everywhere to agricultural and rural development and to improvements in food security and the alleviation of rural poverty. The theme continues to be of relevance today given that the…
The farmers behind your coffee: what challenges do they face?
1 October 2015 is the very first International Coffee Day. Today, I’ll be swapping my usual cup of tea for coffee and encouraging colleagues to do the same. Many of us can’t start the morning without a coffee. But as you’re drinking your first cup, spare a thought for where this important commodity crop comes…
New sustainable development goals for 2030
This past weekend world leaders gathered at a United Nations Global Summit in New York to make the world a better place to live by 2030. They signed the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and ratified 17 sustainable development goals (SDGs). The new goals will become applicable from January 2016 and are expected to influence…