Blog

Landscapes and the complex, interlinked spatial units that comprise them are changing at an accelerating rate. Land use change, especially deforestation and forest degradation, are among the main contributors to global greenhouse emissions.

• 05/30/2019
• Ioana Bouvier, Silvia Petrova, Lovasoalalaina Parson

Cyclone Idai left more than 1,000 people dead and thousands more missing, potentially affecting millions in Southern Africa. As emergency response and recovery efforts continue, another disaster is likely unfolding elsewhere on the continent: Idai pulled precipitation South, away from Eastern Africa, resulting in persistent dry conditions affecting crops at the start of the main growing season. That’s where NASA Earth Observations come in.

• 05/29/2019
• Agrilinks Team

Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR), due to its all-weather capability and observational characteristics, is a vital tool for assessment of forest structure. Nonetheless, there has been a knowledge gap in the applied use of SAR technology for forestry applications.

• 05/28/2019
• Africa I. Flores-Anderson, Kelsey E. Herndon, Dr. Rajesh Bahadur Thapa, Leah Kucera

The Ferlo region of north-central Senegal is a vast expanse of dry savannah covering over a third of the country’s total area. With only a few small, scattered settlements, this region is almost exclusively reserved for pastoralism, both by tradition and government policy.

• 05/23/2019
• Agrilinks Team

According to the United Nations, close to 1.7 billion people – almost 25% of the world’s population - rely on forests for shelter, livelihoods, water, food, and fuel security. Forests renew our air supply, as they take in large amounts of carbon dioxide and release oxygen.

• 05/22/2019
• SERVIR Global

Water security is integral to the health and sustainability of our communities and ecosystems. Achieving water security, however, is challenging for several reasons including poor governance, resource competition and poorly-conceived economic development.

• 05/20/2019
• Basil Mahayni

In 2017, hurricanes Irma and Maria were forecast to hit the Dominican Republic. ClimaPlan, a USAID project working with the Dominican municipality of Las Terrenas, recognized that these hurricanes would provide an opportunity to identify the strengths and weaknesses of the city’s climate resilience and adaptation capacity.

• 05/16/2019
• Molly Hellmuth, Joanne Potter

Considered a hotspot for biodiversity, the Madre de Dios region of southeastern Peru is an exceptionally fertile landscape. Standing at the edge of the Amazon basin, Madre de Dios has a rich concentration of endemic species—plants and animals that are found nowhere else in the world. But their habitats are being threatened by human activity.

• 05/14/2019
• SERVIR Global

This month, Climatelinks is featuring geospatial tools and analysis. When it comes to climate change, geospatial tools and analysis provide innovative methods of visualizing drivers, threats and impacts. Emerging trends can also be identified and studied through geospatial analysis, which in turn allows for more strategic positioning of resources.

• 05/10/2019
• Stephan Hardeman

Transparencia y claridad en la medición, reporte y verificación (MRV) de las emisiones de gases de efecto invernadero (GEI) es esencial para vigilar y controlar el progreso global en la lucha contra el cambio climático.

• 05/09/2019
• Marian Van Pelt

Extreme heat is often referred to as a “silent killer.” Its impacts are not starkly visible like the destruction caused by a flood or hurricane, but it can be equally catastrophic. For example, a 2010 heat wave in Russia killed an estimated 55,000 people.

• 05/01/2019
• Joslin Isaacson

Finding ways to adapt to the effects of climate change is no longer optional for most communities - it is necessary. The question is, what are the range of strategies for adaptation? Ecosystem-based adaptation (EbA) is a nature-based and people-centered approach that emphasizes ecosystem integrity as crucial for human resilience to climate change.

• 04/30/2019
• Anila Jacob, Jennifer Kane, Christine Chumbler

“The water is pushing very hard on our islands and communities,” recounted the Bonthe Deputy Mayor, during a recent meeting with USAID staff in the southwestern district of Sierra Leone. His description captures the profound impacts that climate change is having on coastal communities.

• 04/29/2019
• Julia Bradley-Cook

Integrating biodiversity and sustainable landscapes objectives in development programming can increase the sustainability of interventions, amplify results and reduce costs. ‘Integrating Biodiversity and Sustainable Landscapes in USAID Programming’ highlights these and other key considerations for USAID staff and development practitioners interested in connections between biodiversity and sustainable landscapes priorities.

• 04/23/2019
• Catherine Wahlen, Jennifer Kane

This year’s Earth Day theme, Protect Our Species, highlights the roles of all living things and the importance of protecting endangered and threatened species, such as coral reefs, elephants, bees and other insects.

• 04/18/2019
• Isabela Barriga