Agroecosystems and Sustainable Landscapes
Farmers become editors: what next?
We’ve found that participatory videos are a powerful way to include marginalized voices in development discourse. But we know what you’re thinking. What happens next? When we started out, our aim was to include farmers’ voices in land and soil management-related...
Paris climate agreement cannot be met without emissions reduction target for agriculture, new study suggests
This post is adapted from the CGIAR Research Program on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS) blog. Scientists have calculated, for the first time, the extent to which agricultural emissions must be reduced to limit warming to 2°C in 2100. And, they...
Context, conflict and climate change
In an area of Northern Uganda previously wracked by civil war, today communities in the area are fighting a different battle: Climate Change. But understanding deeply rooted socio-cultural dynamics within communities is vital to help them adapt.
Shifting sands: putting carbon back into soils
The world has a carbon problem, and we all know it. Tons of carbon dioxide are emitted into the atmosphere every day, contributing significantly to climate change. But slowing the rate of emissions will be no easy feat. In order to mitigate its effects, scientists are looking at alternative ways of dealing with the issue, such as carbon sequestration.
Identifying water sources for smallholder farmers with AGRI
AGRI (Alternatives of Water for Agriculture, by its Spanish acronym) is a geographic information system (GIS) tool that aim of providing support for decision making in identifying suitable water sources for small drip irrigation systems
Filming for change: When farmers get BEHIND the camera
Handing over a video camera and equipment may not be your first thought, but it is a fascinating possibility that leads to learning on many levels.
Two alliances working together on cocoa production in El Salvador
Two alliances acting for a sustainable increase of cocoa production in El Salvador. The Cacao Alliance, iniciative lead by Catholic Relief Services (CRS) and the inter-research area alliance between CIAT scientists from Soils Research Area and Ecosystem Services from DAPA are starting a new collaboration to develop a hydrological assessment and propose water secure management recommendations for three prioritized areas in El Salvador.
Farmers film their homegrown solutions
In an unused school classroom in the dry, dusty village of Sekoti, Ghana, 11 community members gathered to learn how to make a video. Many of them had never even used a camera before, much less operated a microphone. Participatory video is an empowering and creative...
Harvesting Results from the International Year of Soils
As 2015 draws to a close, so does the International Year of Soils. Research on soils is a critical pillar of CIAT’s work, as Center staff demonstrated throughout the year, in a global campaign that put soils at the forefront of issues ranging from food security and...
Not so dirt cheap
The coffee on your desk might never have arrived this morning. Deforestation rates in Ethiopia – one of the world’s top coffee exporters – are so high, records show, that forest is slashed from 40 to less than 3 percent of the country. As well as surviving...
Marcela Quintero
Director, Agroecosystems and Sustainable Landscapes (ASL) Research Area
M.quintero@cgiar.org