Large scale land acquisitions (LSLA), and Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and forest Degradation (REDD+) are both land based phenomena which when occurring in the same area, can compete with each other for land. A quantitative analysis of country characteristics revealed that land available for agriculture, accessibility, and political stability are key explanatory factors for a country being targeted for LSLA. Surprisingly LSLA occur in countries with lower accessibility.

This paper identifies sixteen cases of large-scale actions in the agriculture and forestry sectors that have adaptation and/or mitigation outcomes, and distils lessons from the cases. The cases cover policy and strategy development (including where climate-smart objectives were not the initial aim), climate risk management through insurance, weather information services and social protection, and agricultural initiatives that have a strong link to climate change adaptation and mitigation.

Key lessons learned include:

Changes in agricultural land use have important implications for environmental services. Previous studies of agricultural land-use futures have been published indicating large uncertainty due to different model assumptions and methodologies. In this article we present a first comprehensive comparison of global agro-economic models that have harmonized drivers of population, GDP, and biophysical yields. The comparison allows us to ask two research questions: (1) How much cropland will be used under different socioeconomic and climate change scenarios?

Although Climate-Smart Agricultural (CSA) practices are expected to boost adaptive capacity, food security and climate change mitigation in resource poor, smallholder farming systems, the barriers that can restrict their uptake are diverse. This study investigated the principal barriers hindering the adoption of CSA practices in the Upper West region of Ghana with the aim of inventorying existing uptake of CSA and providing recommendations to CCAFS as to practices with potential for further research or implementation on the farm level.

Although Climate-Smart Agricultural (CSA) practices are expected to boost adaptive capacity, food security and climate change mitigation in resource poor, smallholder farming systems, the barriers that can restrict its uptake are diverse. This study investigated the barriers hindering CSA practice adoption in the Santander department of Colombia as well as farmer perceptions of practice benefits and disadvantages.

Austral summer frosts in the Andean highlands are ubiquitous throughout the crop cycle, causing yield losses. In spite of the existing warming trend, climate change models forecast high variability, including freezing temperatures. As the potato center of origin, the region has a rich biodiversity which includes a set of frost resistant genotypes. Four contrasting potato genotypes –representing genetic variability- were considered in the present study: two species of frost resistant native potatoes (the bitter Solanum juzepczukii, var. Luki, and the non-bitter Solanum ajanhuiri, var.

This review was commissioned to undertake an evaluation of how the Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS) Theme by Region matrix is being managed to deliver on International Public Goods (IPGs) and development outcomes.

The International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) hosted a 3-day workshop sponsored by the