An adaptive collaborative management (ACM) project was implemented in Mafungautsi State Forest, in the Gokwe South District of Zimbabwe between 1999 and 2006. By 2005, significant collaborative momentum between local resource users and officialdom at various levels had been created. Over the same period, Zimbabwe experienced unprecedented changes associated with its land reforms, profoundly impacting natural resource management.

The global food system is responsible for 23 – 42% of total net anthropogenic emissions. The food systems of all countries need to be transformed to lower their emissions while producing sufficient, nutritious and healthy food. The Low-Emissions Food Systems (Mitigate+) Initiative aims to offer a comprehensive, evidence-based and holistic approach to reducing agrifood systems emissions. It explores possible pathways that reduce greenhouse gas emissions while enhancing food security and nutrition and livelihoods and preserving the environment.

Meet district participatory land use team member, Patrick – also known as the peacemaker – who helps communities implement CGIAR’s Joint Village Land Use Planning process. Learn how the process can help pastoral and farming communities mutually agree on how to use shared land so that everyone can manage and conserve resources peacefully, to achieve livelihood, biodiversity and environment outcomes. Created by and for the International Livestock Research Institute and the CGIAR initiative on Livestock and Climate.

In less than one year the Niger Basin Authority, an intergovernmental body tasked with the sustainable development of the Niger waters and associated resources, passed the first ever nexus policy in a transboundary river basin, contributing to a true acceleration of change for improved water and associated development in the Niger River Basin. The guidelines were developed in close collaboration with the nine basin countries and complemented by a large capacity building program.

While sparse testing methods have been proposed by researchers to improve the efficiency of genomic selection (GS) in breeding programs, there are several factors that can hinder this. In this research, we evaluated four methods (M1–M4) for sparse testing allocation of lines to environments under multi-environmental trails for genomic prediction of unobserved lines.

Cassava fresh root yield and dry matter content constitute major determinants of demand by end-users. Increased demand for the seeds of improved varieties will facilitate the development of a sustainable seed system. However, for wide acceptability, there is a need to continuously evaluate candidate varieties for stability across different agroecological zones. Participatory Demand Creation Trials (DCTs) were established to evaluate cassava varieties with farmers and processors utilizing the best agronomic practices.

The Sahel region of West Africa has experienced some of the most severe multidecadal rainfall variability over the past 50 years. Based on recollections of the past and observations of the present, local communities in the Sahel have developed extensive knowledge and understanding of their environment and climate that enables them to harness ecosystem services to support their livelihoods and survive environmental changes.

CONTEXT: Integration of farms into markets with adoption of maize as a cash crop can significantly increase income of farms of the developing world. However, in some cases, the income generated may still be very low and maize production may also have strong negative environmental and social impacts.

The International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) and partners are working to apply CRISPR technology to achieve a step-change in pearl millet seed product design: altering fatty acid metabolism to achieve the non-rancidity trait to create grain that when milled into flour has extended shelf life. Kenya is a country where the regulatory environment permits the introduction of gene-edited seed products when derived from site directed nuclease 1 and 2 derived technologies.

Unpredictable weather vagaries in the Asian tropics often increase the risk of a series of abiotic stresses in maize-growing areas, hindering the efforts to reach the projected demands. Breeding climate-resilient maize hybrids with a cross-tolerance to drought and waterlogging is necessary yet challenging because of the presence of genotype-by-environment interaction (GEI) and the lack of an efficient multi-trait-based selection technique.

In Nigeria, rice remains a major staple food source for the rapidly growing population of an estimated 210 million people. However, traditional rice production carried out in flooded soil is associated with greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, mainly anthropogenic methane (CH4) and nitrous oxide (N2O) in Nigeria. Both CH4 and N2O are harmful GHGs that raise the temperature of the planet by retaining heat in the atmosphere.