News on Land

IIASA researchers announce a new citizen science campaign on human impact on forests for improving forest management maps and value estimations on biodiversity and carbon storage, within the Nature Map project.

New Delhi._ The 21st century is often projected as one of Urbanity. Some go to the extent of even saying that if the hallmark of 20th century was the rise of nation states (and of welfarism), the current one will be that of cities, urbanity and ecology, and defined by struggles of millions to claim urban spaces and redefine urbanity, generating enormous challenges.

• North America’s temperate rainforest extends some 2,500 miles from California to the Gulf of Alaska, providing important habitat for many species and playing a big role in global carbon sequestration. However, despite its uniqueness, there is no officially recognized name for the whole of the forest.

Nature-based solutions such as ecosystem restoration will play an indispensable role in addressing climate change, but a strong economic case will need to be made to convince policymakers, investors and business leaders to place them higher on the agenda.

ISLA JOVAI TEJU, Paraguay (Reuters) - Rumilda Fernández’s indigenous community has long tended its ancestral lands in Paraguay, marking boundaries with an ancient system of names for trees and streams. Now, squeezed by deforestation and farming, the community is going digital to defend itself.

Fernández, 28, is one of the group’s first technology-equipped forest monitors, traversing the narrow earthen tracks of the Isla Jovai Teju community’s land to map the area with a smartphone app and GPS.

A Geographical indication (GI) label is seen as a guarantee of authenticity, which is closely connected to the land itself and can be lucrative for producers

BANGKOK, May 22 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - Developing countries are increasingly using geographic labelling to boost the value of products ranging from carpets to rice, raising rural incomes and protecting farm land, according to agriculture experts and lawyers.

Background

In the second triennium of its current strategy (2016-2021), ILC is changing its approach to explore new sources of funding and strengthening the capacity of its members to leverage funds for ILC platforms at country level and on specific themes linked to our 10 commitments.

Despite efforts to protect them, tropical forests are dwindling at a near-record rate at a time when humanity needs them more than ever in the fight against climate change. In this interview with Eco-Business, World Resources Institute’s global forests director Rod Taylor argues that we need to rethink the balance between development and conservation.

MONROVIA –  The government of Liberia and major stakeholders in the forestland sector are developing guidelines for rural communities to accept and reject concessions targeted for their lands, a move advocates are hailing would curb land grab and strengthen the relationship between concessionaires and locals. 

Report by Mae Azango, New Narratives Correspondent

What are today’s greatest challenges to food security? Why is obesity an increasing symptom of malnutrition? How can famines be avoided?

Over the course of three weeks, students will delve into these and more questions by studying intensively theoretical aspects and debates combined with case studies and critical methods around the areas of:

1)     global food-, nutrition- and health-related challenges,

2)     globalised food systems and implications for nutrition and health and