Freshwater, constituting a mere 2.5% of Earth's total water, is a critical resource facing escalating competition due to an anticipated global population surge to 9.7 billion by 2050. Southern Africa is characterized by uneven water distribution and quality challenges which exacerbates these issues. Environmental flow (E-flow) management is a crucial approach that quantifies water requirements for maintaining ecological integrity, aiming to balance human and environmental water needs.

Rising from mountains of food waste to soil and water contamination, and a changing climate, the perils loom large. Global food security and sustainability are hanging by a delicate thread that commands attention.
For sustainable Agri-Food Systems, the black soldier fly larvae (BSF) technology has emerged as a transformative force and a potential game-changer in waste management, soil health enhancement, animal feed production, water savings, carbon mitigation, agricultural and environmental sustainability.

Sri Lanka experiences distinct monsoon seasons, the Southwest and Northeast monsoons, contributing to the risk of flooding and landslides in different regions. The Nuwara Eliya district, facing elevated threats of landslides and floods, underscores the importance of proactive measures such as Anticipatory Action (AA). AA empowers communities by enabling precautionary measures, and a collaborative three-day simulation, involving World Vision Lanka, the International Water Management Institute (IWMI), and government partners, sought to enhance community resilience comprehensively.

The workshop addressed how Anticipatory Action (AA) strengthens the disaster preparedness in Sri Lanka's vulnerable community for flood and landslide disasters, especially during monsoon seasons. World Vision Lanka, with support from stakeholders like the Disaster Management Centre and the National Building Research Organization, is implementing an Anticipatory Action for Disaster Mitigation Project in Nuwara Eliya.

With limited arable land and increasing
population, India faces a unique challenge in
ensuring food and nutrition security, especially
as climate change intensifies. Access to high
quality seeds of improved crop varieties is
critical for enhancing agricultural production
and productivity and ensuring food security.
But as access to such quality seeds from
the formal sector is limited, many of the
smallholder farmers are forced to rely on
farmer-saved seeds. The Government of India

Wheat productivity in Ethiopia is low compared to countries potential yield. This is due to lack of context-specific good crop management practices. Using machine learning techniques, Alliance of Bioversity International and CIAT (ABC) and its partners, developed season-smart and site-specific fertilizer recommendation (SSFR) that can be used to improve wheat productivity in Ethiopia. ABC and Digital Green co-piloted to assess the performance of the SSFR on farmers field in 2022/23 main crop season in Amhara, Oromia and SSNP regions in Ethiopia.

A two-day advanced training session on semen cooling technique was conducted at the Doyogena
CBBP site in Ethiopia. The training specifically targeted researchers involved in implementing sheep
and goat CBBPs. In Ethiopia, ICARDA and its partners, under the previous CRP program, established
ten low-cost reproductive technology laboratories across different regions. These laboratories are
equipped with mobile equipment for semen collection, evaluation, and insemination for sheep and
goats. More information about these labs can be found at

Climate change has intensified food security challenges, especially in Africa, where a significant portion of produce is reliant on smallholder farmers in rainfed conditions. Prolonged flooding and droughts, driven by erratic weather patterns, have significantly elevated the risk of food scarcity. Floods, in particular, have been responsible for severe crop losses, raising concerns about increasing import costs if this issue is not mitigated. Africa is actively working to mitigate the impacts of flooding and enhance food security, although progress has been gradual.