Biodiversity in all its dimensions is being threatened by climate change and the impact of human activities. Genetic diversity is a key dimension of biodiversity underlying adapta- tion to global changes. Here we assess the impact of climate change on plant genetic diver- sity in a region located in the southernmost portion of Argentina and Chile range. We com- piled available published research on population genetics of 22 plant species from forests, monte and steppe ecoregions and modelled the impact of future climates on their suitability distributions.

Plant diversity has long been linked to an increase in ecosystem productivity and function, but concrete examples in which ecosystem services are linked to diversity at the scale at which management decisions are taken are rare. We specifically tested for a correlation between plant diversity and provisioning ecosystem services estimated via the potential to produce meat and wool. We also tested whether higher levels of plant diversity conferred higher levels of ecosystem resistance to global change drivers, measured as the ability to sustain productivity across time.

Work package 4 maps rice areas using remote sensing, geographic information system (GIS), and crop modeling. This work builds on the Remote sensingbased Information and Insurance for Crops in Emerging economies (RIICE, http://www.riice.org/) co-developed by IRRI and implemented in South and Southeast Asian countries. RIICE technology is being introduced across Africa to enhance its rice monitoring system. A set of field protocols and forms was developed for seasonal field data collection.

AICCRA project provides pre-season and in-season advisories to farmers in the drylands through the Intelligent Systems Advisory Tool (iSAT). Leveraging historical climate trends and current/future weather conditions, iSAT develops weather advisories delivered via short message service (SMS) directly to farmers' mobile phones. This innovative approach empowers farmers with timely information, covering land preparation, crop selection, planting, weeding, and real-time pest and disease control and management updates.

Sustainable intensification practices suitable for smallholders in southern Africa will be needed to counteract the impact of future climate change and soil fertility decline in the region. Diversification of maize-based farming systems with grain legumes could play a key role. Here, we compared the performance of different maize-legume diversification strategies (single-row intercropping, strip cropping, and crop rotation) with sole cropped maize under conventional ploughing and Conservation Agriculture in four Zambian districts in the Eastern and Southern Provinces.

Work package 4 maps rice areas using remote sensing, geographic information system (GIS), and crop modeling. This work builds on the Remote sensing-based Information and Insurance for Crops in Emerging economies (RIICE, http://www.riice.org/) co-developed by IRRI and implemented in South and Southeast Asian countries. RIICE technology is being introduced across Africa to enhance its rice monitoring system. A set of field protocols and forms was developed for seasonal field data collection.

Picture-Based Insurance is a new, innovative way of delivering affordable, comprehensive, and easy-to-understand crop insurance. By relying on visible crop characteristics derived from farmers’ own smartphone pictures, it aims to minimize the costs of loss verification and detect damage at the plot level, making crop insurance more attractive and accessible to small farmers.

Future climate models indicate an enhanced severity of regional drought and frequent rewetting events, which may cause cascading impacts on soil nitrogen cycle and nitrous oxide (N2O) emissions, but the underlying microbial mechanism remains largely unknown. Here we report an incubation study that examined the impacts of soil moisture status and nitrification inhibitor (DCD) on the N2O-producers and N2O-reducers following the application of urea and composted swine manure in an acid soil.

Undesirable changes in surface water and groundwater resources and land quality for biophysical and institutional reasons will further endanger the livelihoods of people in Central Asia. The farmers' understanding of these problems and the adaptation and solution strategies they opt for are the critical variables in devising relevant policies. Our findings captured significant disparities between farmer-perceived water shortages and officially documented water availability, as well as soil salinity discrepancies.