Blog for People, Food and Nature

February 27, 2013

Opening a Dialogue in 2013

Dialogue, discussion, partnership, coordination, collaboration. Regardless of how it is framed, this notion of crossing sectors, disciplines, and interest groups has been a recurring theme in the spheres of sustainable land management, environmental conservation, food security, and rural development these first two months of 2013. Perhaps this elevated level of discussion stems ...
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February 25, 2013

Diversified Farming Systems for Ecosystem Services

One of the primary objectives in landscape approaches to management is the protection of multiple ecosystem services. Last week researchers from the World Agroforestry Centre provided lessons on how adopting a landscape scale can improve incentives to manage land for a spectrum of ecosystem services. But a better understanding of how agricultural systems themselves provide [&he ...
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February 22, 2013

It's Wild! Taking a Market Approach to Land Management

This week, the Landscapes Blog explored market approaches to promote integrated landscape management. Payment for ecosystem services and corporate commitments have served as ways to manage land and natural resources more sustainably. Today’s post looks at an example where the combination of different incentive mechanisms, including eco-labeling, market infrastructure, and ...
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February 20, 2013

Does Asia Pulp & Paper's Promise Signal a New Business Environment?

On Monday, the Landscapes Blog highlighted one market innovation, payment for ecosystem services, that when employed at a landscape scale can yield significant benefits to people, food, and nature, particularly in the case of small-scale farmers. But what about the larger producers of food, fuel, and fiber? There is growing movement among these keys actors […] ...
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February 18, 2013

Project-Level Insights for Landscape Level PES

Landscapes can provide a range of natural benefits, from clean water to carbon sequestration, but often people don’t have the right incentives to manage their lands to maintain these services. Gabrielle Kissinger (Lexeme Consulting) and Henry Neufeldt (World Agroforestry Centre) recount some of the lessons learned on incentives for these environmental benefits in a new [&hell ...
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February 15, 2013

Choosing Short-Cut Development Over Rights and Equality?

Clear land tenure and rights to natural resources are generally prerequisites to successfully implementing integrated landscape approaches, in which these structures enable a long-term view of managing land to sustain people and nature. As the week comes to a close, Alexandre Corriveau-Bourque and Madiha Qureshi (Rights and Resources Initiative) discuss this topic, which is of ...
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February 13, 2013

Buen Vivir: An Indigenous Approach To Modern Development

The first Indigenous Peoples Forum held at the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) concluded yesterday, with goals of strengthening the participation of indigenous peoples in achieving poverty alleviation and sustainable development goals at local, national, and international levels. As this conversation on the role of indigenous people and traditional knowl ...
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February 11, 2013

Landscape of the Week: Traditional Farming in the Jeypore Tract

As mentioned on Friday, today is the first convening of the Indigenous Peoples Forum held at the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD). A wide range of landscapes globally are managed by indigenous people. In addition to the importance of recognizing these groups’ rights and unique perspectives, many traditional land management approaches can also help [& ...
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February 8, 2013

A Meeting of Indigenous Knowledge

Increasing recognition of the importance of traditional knowledge in the management of land and natural resources has prompted various gatherings of indigenous peoples from around the world at high-level meetings and international conferences. Next week, the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) is hosting the first global meeting of the Indigenous Peoples For ...
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February 6, 2013

World Wide Wetlands: Making the Case for Landscape Management

World Wetlands Day was celebrated around the world this past Saturday. Started in 1997, the day is meant to both commemorate the February 2nd 1971 signing of the Ramsar Convention – an international treaty for the conservation and sustainable utilization of wetlands – and to raise awareness of sustainable wetlands use worldwide. Historically, wetlands have […] ...
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