Blog

Back in 2015, the international community committed to a shared global vision towards sustainable development – the 2030 Agenda – including 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The Goals identify the areas in which resources are most needed. But with the realization that meeting the Goals by 2030 would require filling an annual financing gap of 2.5 trillion dollars, the Addis Ababa Action Agenda (AAAA) called upon a broader mobilization of resources, including private ones.

• 09/30/2020
• Marketlinks

Planners at USAID and in host country governments need to choose how to invest funds to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from land. Should they focus on establishing or strengthening protected areas in the east? Restoring mangroves in the north? Improving timber harvesting practices in the south? In each country, there are many choices.

• 09/28/2020
• Tim Holland

Although half of global mangrove deforestation since 2000 has been in Indonesia, Bintuni Bay and Mimika District have some of the largest intact areas of mangroves in the world. These two areas are also home to many indigenous groups and have special autonomous governance status and exceptional biodiversity.

• 09/24/2020
• Dr. Eric Hyman

In Central Malawi, nestled below Chipata Mountain and slightly to the west of Lake Malawi, lies Nkhotakota Wildlife Reserve, Malawi’s largest remaining wild landscape and oldest wildlife reserve. The reserve was home to 1,500 elephants in the 1990s. By 2015, there were fewer than 100 left.

• 09/23/2020
• John Kerkering, Katie Moulton

The ways we use land—for instance, agriculture, forestry, urban development, or ecosystem protection—has long-term impacts on global climate change. Approximately one quarter of net global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions come directly from land use (like agriculture) and land use change (like deforestation).

• 09/22/2020
• Noel Gurwick, Isabela Barriga, Julia Bradley-Cook

We are in a time of crisis and great uncertainty. Faced with the current situation, we need to support Latin American countries so the food security of the population is not at risk. Ensuring production, mobility, and distribution of food is one of many current challenges.

• 09/15/2020
• Agrilinks

Tanzania’s Rufiji River Delta hosts the largest mangrove forest in Eastern Africa, a critical coastal ecosystem that provides habitat for migratory birds and diverse marine life, stabilizes the shoreline, and traps sediment and nutrients washing downstream in the Rufiji River. Unfortunately, overexploitation and degradation of these mangrove forests present a persistent challenge.

• 09/10/2020
• Olivia Freeman, Dr. Mwita Mangora

Forests cover 69 million hectares in Peru, representing nearly 60 percent of the country (MINAM 2014). Loreto and Ucayali are the two largest Amazon regions in Peru and are traditionally occupied and protected by Indigenous Peoples. These communities have ancestral ties to Amazon forests in Peru and are important allies in supporting sustainable forest management.

• 09/09/2020
• Isabela Barriga

Los bosques cubren 69 millones de hectáreas en Perú, y representan casi un 60% del país (MINAM 2014). Las Regiones Loreto y Ucayali son las dos regiones amazónicas más grandes del Perú y están tradicionalmente ocupadas y protegidas por Pueblos Indígenas, asentados en comunidades nativas.

• 09/09/2020
• Isabela Barriga

This post is written by Arely Valdivia, Communications Coordinator for CIAT Nicaragua, and was originally published on the CCAFS website. The women of the municipality of Namasigue, Honduras, have found empowerment in the Local Technical Agroclimatic Committee (LTAC) of the municipality of Choluteca.

• 09/03/2020
• Agrilinks

With climate change exacerbating the number and intensity of weather-related natural disasters like typhoons and floods, it is important that communities prepare for when a disaster hits. We need to think through what to do during an emergency, and how to reduce its negative long-term impacts.

• 09/02/2020
• Christine Chumbler

While at first glance the relationship between education and climate change may not be clear, a number of challenges and opportunities become apparent when the two are considered together. Climate change education is highly relevant to youth, who will grapple with the impacts of climate change for decades to come.

• 09/01/2020
• Stephan Hardeman

Smallholder rubber plantations represent a threat and an opportunity for carbon stock and biodiversity in Indonesia. A threat because poor agriculture and forestry practices lead to overuse of pesticides and fertilizers, water and river pollution and deforestation; and an opportunity because smallholder rubber plots hold a much higher biodiversity and carbon stock than their most common alternative: palm oil monoculture.

• 08/28/2020
• USAID Green Invest Asia 

South Africa—the third most biodiverse country in the world—is home to more than 95,000 known species and a diverse range of biomes, from forests to deserts to river delta systems and more. The rich biodiversity of these natural areas plays an important role in the South African Government’s progressive green economy agenda, as it recognizes that those areas provide a wide range of ecosystem services for its people, including food, water, clean air, medicine, resources for livelihoods, recreation, and energy to power daily life and industry.

• 08/27/2020
• Mona Khadr

There is great value in pushing for youth education in climate change action. Designing projects that focus on issues youth care about can lead to unexpected, positive outcomes. And engaging youth as active participants with the autonomy and agency to act can have lasting effects long after a development project ends.

• 08/25/2020
• Mike Thayer