In Africa, where most agriculture is rainfed, crop growth is limited by water availability. Rainfall variability during a growing season generally translates into variability in crop production. While the seasonality of rainfall in the drier rangelands can play a significant role in productivity, rain-use efficiency (RUE)—the amount of biomass produced (in kilograms of dry matter per hectare) per millimeter of rainfall—also drives production.

A large number of governance interventions are being developed in order to reduce deforestation and enhance the sustainability of commodity

supply chains across the tropics. The extent to which individual agricultural commodity supply chain interventions can achieve scale, and

environmental or social objectives, depends in part on the ways in which those interventions interact with other interventions. We use a casestudy

of the new Sustainable Agriculture Network (SAN) cattle certification program in Brazil to explore the different ways in which governance

A general overview and technical details of natural treatment systems (NTS) including constructed wetlands (CWs), waste stabilization ponds (WSPs), duckweed ponds (DPs), water hyacinth ponds and polishing ponds have been provided in Chapters 8 and 10. As outlined in Starkl et al. (2013), often assessment studies focus on technical aspects only, with no or little consideration of the non-technical aspects. It has been argued that the non-technical aspects do influence the long-term sustainability of technologies and therefore their critical assessment is of importance.

An analysis of the effects of climate change on 22 critical agricultural commodities and three important natural resources in the developing world reveals a number of cross-cutting themes: The world’s agricultural systems face an uphill struggle in feeding a projected nine to ten billion people by 2050. Climate change introduces a significant hurdle in this struggle.
- Securing and maintaining necessary levels of calories, protein and nutrients for populations around the world will be an exceptional challenge.

Reducing emissions from deforestation and degradation (REDD ) should focus on places where such emissions occur. Protected Areas (PAs) are, in theory, protected and hence, should have no emissions associated with land use/land cover change. In practice rotection is incomplete. Can PAs be included in REDD schemes? Can 'paper parks' be included that exist on paper rather than in reality? How concrete should threats be before we call carbon (C) protection 'additional'? The dilemma may be more manageable if protected areas are included in a broader landscape approach to REDD.

Recycling and reuse of treated wastewater are an important part of the sanitation cycle and critical in an environment such as urban India with decreasing freshwater availability and increasing costs for delivering acceptable quality water, often from far distance. This report has been developed as a possible guidance document for the Indian government and gives substantial focus to the financial and economic benefits of wastewater recycling from the perspective of public spending.

Recycling and reuse of treated wastewater are an important part of the sanitation cycle and critical in an environment such as urban India with decreasing freshwater availability and increasing costs for delivering acceptable quality water, often from far distance. This report has been developed as a possible guidance document for the Indian government and gives substantial focus to the financial and economic benefits of wastewater recycling from the perspective of public spending.

Rangeland resources are among the most important – and almost certainly the most neglected – agro ecosystem component in dry areas. They are the largest land-use category, home to the poorest segment of the population, and crucial for millions of small-scale livestock producers. The availability of grazing resources for livestock in the world’s drylands is low and erratic due to the recurrent droughts in which animals can often fall victim.

The CGIAR Water, Land and Ecosystems research project on Targeting Agricultural Innovations and Ecosystem Services in the northern Volta basin (TAI) is a two year project (2014-2016) led by Bioversity International in collaboration with 11 institutes: CIAT, CIRAD, International Water Management Institute (IWMI), King’s College London (KCL), SNV World Burkina Faso (SNV), Stanford University, Stockholm Resilience Centre (SRC), University of Development Studies Ghana (UDS), University of Minnesota, University of Washington, and the World Agroforestry Institute.

The agricultural development project Resilience and Economic Growth in Arid Lands – Accelerated Growth (REGAL-AG) has promoted improved livestock management that resulted in a decrease in net emissions of 10%. Since emissions from livestock account for the majority of Kenya’s agricultural emissions (95%), reduction of emissions in the livestock sector has high potential impact.