The outcome of the Madrid High-Level Meeting on Food Security can be considered a victory for those who want to see the multilateral governance of the global food and agriculture system improved and strengthened, and conducted within the Right to Adequate Food framework.
The importance of forests for climate change mitigation and species conservation, as water stores and oxygen producers, soil protectors and humus providers, is well known. However, over 13 million hectares of forest are lost each year, mainly in the tropics.
Establishing a rational forest policy is a difficult task for many countries. One of the reasons for this is that different policy sectors - such as energy policy, foreign trade policy, are closely linked to forest policy and the interests of a multitude of actors need to be accommodated. Moreover, the unregulated exploitation of forests promises large profits.
Certification is viewed as one of the most effective ways of curbing unregulated logging and conserving natural forests in the tropics. In the meantime, there are several dozen certifying organisations. Among these, the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) and the Programme for the Endorsement of Forest Certification (PEFC) lead the field worldwide.
The Congo Basin Forest Partnership aims to reconcile forest conservation with forest use. This article explains what a “policy network” of this sort can achieve and where its limits lie.
Against the backdrop of increasing deforestation in Natural Protected Areas due to illegal logging and shifting agriculture, the Peruvian association DRIS has implemented a programme in three districts of the country. The goal is to involve the families in forest protection activities while simultaneously providing them with income opportunities
In rural areas of many developing countries fuelwood constitutes the only energy source – often with negative impacts on humans and the environment. Wise management and modern technology can guarantee a sustainable use of this valuable resource, as some examples from Latin America demonstrate.
The number of woodfuel consumers in Africa is projected to increase from around 2.5 billion in 2004 to 2.7 billion by 2030, with sub-Saharan Africa accounting for the highest increase. Rwanda and Kenya are two good examples of countries in which woodfuel plays a key role in energy provision, poverty alleviation and economic development.
Every year, 13 million hectares of forest are lost worldwide; that is an area the size of Austria and Switzerland combined. 90 percent of this deforestation involves tropical forests. Forest loss has devastating effects on the climate and is the source of between 15 and 20 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions.
On November 18th 2010, the European Union Commissioner for Agriculture and Rural Development, Dacian Ciolo?, o? cially submitted a communiqué proposing a reorientation of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) to the EU Parliament, the EU Council and the public. What does the proposal imply for global agricultural markets and international food matters? Some re? ections.
Zambia’s small-scale farmers are even poorer today than they were 40 years ago. According to the 2010 Human Development Report, Zambia is one of just three nations whose development has fallen behind 1970 levels. And yet Zambia is one of Africa’s “lion states” with annual economic growth rates of more than 5 percent.
Carbon labels for food are a new strategy of industrialised countries to reduce climate change-relevant gas emissions in agriculture. However, not every label includes the measurement of all emissions and may disadvantage and even exclude exporting farmers from developing countries. Policy-makers should reconsider this approach or at least focus on fair and non-discriminatory labels.