This working paper examines the development of regional socioeconomic scenarios for West Africa’s development, agriculture, food security and climate impacts. We present four globally consistent regional scenarios framed and outlined by regional experts who crafted narratives and determined key drivers of change. Stakeholders identified the type of actors driving change and the timeline of strategic planning as the most uncertain and most relevant factors of change affecting food security, livelihoods and environments in the region.

Reliance on rainfall for agriculture and increased climate change and variability pose growing production risks in developing countries. Agriculture in Sub-Saharan Africa is dominated by smallholder farmers who depend mainly on rain-fed agriculture, putting food security at both household and national levels at risk, especially in the event of drought. Investment in smallholder irrigation becomes a priority in developing countries if food security and national development goals are to be met, as their economies are agro-based.

Much of the effort to include communities in conservation of large

landscapes has been driven by interests outside the savannas, either by national

governments, NGOs, or foreign conservationists (Neumann 2002,

Brockington et al. 2008). Once included in conservation planning only as

an afterthought, local communities are now major stakeholders. However,

initiatives driven, led, and managed by local leaders, communities, and institutions

to meet the needs of both wildlife and people remain rare. The

It is widely acknowledged that goats in developing countries fulfill multiple functions and can contribute to improved livelihoods of smallholders. The multi-functionality of goats in rural Mozambique however is fairly unknown. The objective of the paper is therefore to identify and create a deeper understanding of the multiple functions goats currently play in the smallholders sector in Mozambique. The paper takes a sociological approach by advancing the thinking that the functions of goats are socially and culturally constructed, and not ‘given’.

Background: ‘Climate-smart agriculture’ (CSA)—agriculture and food systems that

sustainably increase food production, improve resilience (or adaptive capacity) of farming

systems, and mitigate climate change when possible—has quickly been integrated into the

global development agenda. However, the empirical evidence base for CSA has not been

assembled, complicating the transition from CSA concept to concrete actions, and

contributing to ideological disagreement among development practitioners. Thus, there is an

A number of studies have suggested that addressing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from agricultural

production, or ‘supply-side emissions’, will be insufficient to reduce agri-food sector GHG emissions to limit

the increase of global temperatures to well below 2o

C. Recent studies have also suggested that ‘demandside

measures’ related to food consumption, food value chains, and food loss and waste, will be necessary

to reduce emissions and may have a larger technical mitigation potential than supply-side measures.

Sustainable development of pastoral and agro-pastoral systems, dominated by collective and/or tribal ownership of rangelands, is a key issue for the West Asia and North Africa region. These two systems are located in arid and semi-arid areas and are increasingly threatened by desertification process. The policy responses to tackle this complexity have been a sectorial and fragmented, “top-down” approach, putting forward technical solutions and neglecting the social context.

The yield gap has arisen again as a focus for agricultural research to ensure food security and economic growth for farmers around the world. To examine this renewed interest, we carried out a review of key literature in the field of yield gap analysis to identify important gaps in research and analysis. In so doing, both the complexities in yield gap studies emerged along with some significant omissions. Much of the literature and research on the yield gap has been framed by larger concerns and initiatives to raise agricultural productivity.

Phosphorus (P) is a critical, geographically concentrated, nonrenewable resource necessary to support global food production. In excess (e.g., due to runoff or wastewater discharges), P is also a primary cause of eutrophication. To reconcile the simultaneous shortage and overabundance of P, lost P flows must be recovered and reused, alongside improvements in P-use efficiency. While this motivation is increasingly being recognized, little P recovery is practiced today, as recovered P generally cannot compete with the relatively low cost of mined P.