Priorities for protecting ecosystem services must be identified to ensure future human well-being. Approaches to broad-scale spatial prioritization of ecosystem services are becoming increasingly popular and are a vital precursor to identifying locations where further detailed analyses of the management of ecosystem services is required (e.g., examining trade-offs among management actions).

This study of the evolution of AWM in the Volta Basin yielded key recommendations for research-for-development interventions and new concepts for research on water management. When promoting AWM strategies, projects should carefully study the available information on factors triggering adoption,

and play on these to ensure sustainable uptake of the technology. Local capacities and agendas should be better accounted for when promoting AWM strategies or low-cost irrigation technologies. Participatory

Rift Valley Fever (RVF) is a viral zoonosis and a mosquito-borne disease caused by a phlebovirus in the family Bunyaviridae. It affects livestock, humans and wildlife. Epidemic outbreaks of RVF in East Africa, which occur after heavy rainfalls in cycles of 5-15 years, have caused next to human morbidity and mortality considerable economic losses throughout the livestock production and market chain. Establishment of a pastoral livestock demographic model simulating alternating normal and drought periods (appropriate for the Sahel) and RVF epidemics.

This issue of Caravan describes the new program, and some of the research innovations it will build on. The issue begins with two ‘opinion pieces’ by scientists from partner organizations in the CRP. They share lessons learnt from past successes (and failures), and ideas that could be applied to dryland

2011 was the first year of operation of the CGIAR Research Program on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS). CCAFS brings together the work of all 15 international Centres in the CGIAR, and is a joint programme between the CGIAR and the Earth System Science Partnership (ESSP). 2011 was a start-up year in terms of introducing a new way of working across Centres, but it was also a year of considerable research effort. Work was initiated in the field at many sites, and baseline surveys were completed in three regions on two continents.

Poverty, food insecurity, natural resource degradation and climate change are global challenges; but they impact most severely on rural communities in dry areas. Addressing these challenges requires a combination of good science, integrated research-for-development approaches, and effective partnerships. As this report illustrates, all three elements are in place, resulting in new technologies and tangible benefits in more than 40 countries.