A lesson in ‘resilience’: realities and misconceptions
Resilience is about changing in response to a disturbance; changing the ways parts of the “system” are connected, emphasizing some and de-emphasizing others. It’s the capacity to absorb disturbance and re-organize to keep functioning in the same way.
The Climate Battleground: Grassland or Forest
Nostalgia The title of Tom Jones’ album, ‘The Green, Green Grass of Home’ released in 1967, still rouses powerful nostalgia for the rural landscape of Britain. Similar sentiments are experienced by other nationalities, but grass is particularly relevant in Britain. It ranges in type from lush lowland meadows through upland pastures and heath to open…
CABI Confronting the Climate Crisis
The impacts of climate change will not just be experienced by our grandchildren in decades to come. For the 800 million of smallholder farmers across Africa, Asia and Latin America, the hazards being driven by climate change are already threatening their lives, incomes, and yields. CABI is working across its centres and with its partners…
Butterflies and climate change
This article was originally posted on Ray Cannon’s Nature Notes. We have heard a great deal about climate change in the last year, with protests by Extinction Rebellion activists in London and the incredible teenager, Greta Thunberg reading the riot act to delegates at the UN, condemning world leaders for failing to act on global…
Providing for bees in forest regeneration projects
Restoring pollinator populations should be prioritised for long-term effectiveness in forest restoration programmes According to the World Bank, 1.3 million km2 of forest was lost to human activities between 1990 and 2016, and deforestation rates have been increasing. With the threat of massive biodiversity losses and mounting evidence of the importance of forests in combatting climate change, efforts…
African scientists call for urgent action to control use of neonicotinoid pesticides
African scientists are calling for urgent action to control the use of toxic neonicotinoid pesticides, which are already banned in Europe, for fear of them having an adverse effect on biodiversity and food security in Africa. SciDev.Net reports that Enock Dankyi, a member of the Ghana Academy of Arts and Sciences and a lecturer at…
Field trials of biocontrol product are paving way for aflatoxins control in Pakistan
By Dr Sabyan Faris Honey, CABI, and Deborah Hamilton, USDA CABI as lead implementing partner along with its technical partner, Pakistan Agricultural Research Council (PARC) is working on a public-private partnership program led by U.S. company, Ingredion and its Pakistani subsidiary, Rafhan Maize to protect health and nutrition of Pakistan’s citizens by keeping food supply…
From Islamabad to Egham: Sharing quarantine best practice to fight Parthenium weed in Pakistan
Biocontrol Research Officer Dr Kazam Ali from Islamabad has undergone an intensive week-long quarantine management course delivered by CABI colleagues in Egham, UK, as part of a joint focus on fighting the highly invasive and destructive Parthenium weed in Pakistan. Dr Ali, who works at a new quarantine facility built to create greater capacity for…
Embracing change – how family farmers can face the future
This year opens the Decade of Family Farming, which aims to improve the life of family farmers around the world. In an earnest discussion, two leaders in the global agriculture community reflect on the challenges facing family farmers, the promises of high- and low-tech solutions, and their hopes for the future. A conversation between Dr…
Scientists release new allies in the battle against invasive yellow toadflax in the Rocky Mountains
A team of international scientists are collaborating to fight the noxious weed yellow toadflax (Linaria vulgaris) in Montana’s world-famous Rocky Mountains with the help of a tiny insect – the shoot-galling weevil Rhinusa pilosa. Yellow toadflax, first introduced from Wales in the late 1600s as an ornamental and medicinal plant and to make textile dyes,…