The critical interlinkages among the food, land, and water (FLW) systems are complex and context-specific. There has been limited research on how policies governing one resource have deep implications for the other linked resources. Further, the process of developing policies is highly complex, and each evolves differently. In addition, policy changes are implemented in response to socio-cultural, economic, environmental, and political changes. Thus, individual policies may develop conflicting priorities and effects.

In 2016, Indigenous communities began to gain access to land rights in Indonesia’s vast state forests. The Kajang community of Sulawesi was the first to achieve such legal land status. Kajang also gained attention for its use of PAR to gain consensus across stakeholder groups in securing recognition. The jointly produced local regulation became symbolic for its ability to convene activists and local government, with Kajang Indigenous leaders at the center.

To promote the sustainable use of native biodiversity, the Regional Government of Ucayali in Peru formed a Regional Technical Commission on BioTrade to develop a Regional Strategic Plan following an agroecological approach. The Alliance, together with the NGO Terra Nuova, supported the development of the strategy and its action plan. The plan aims to raise awareness on Amazonian native products, strengthen farmer organizations and institutions, and support local businesses.

This Briefing Note proposes a framework for status assessment and performance evaluation of social ecological landscapes. Two important application of this framework is envisaged: (a) It can facilitate inclusive decision-making by multiple stakeholders working in the same landscape by explaining interactions, synergies, and trade-offs among SEL goals and landscape components; and (b) When SEL related bundles of innovations are successful (or otherwise), the framework can help document same, reinforcing the case for (not) adopting and scaling up/out.

Smallholder farmers constitute the largest group of economic actors in Malawi and there is increasing recognition that the small scale at which they operate does not offer for most a pathway out of poverty, let alone to prosperity.

On 16 October, scientists, politicians and world leaders gathered from around the world to celebrate World Food Day. Organized by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, the annual event urged global action to ‘start managing water wisely’ in the race for zero hunger. Stressing the connections between water and food production, this year’s World Food Day served as an important reminder that food and nutrition security can only be achieved with sufficient water of adequate quality, quantity, and reliability.

The International Conference on Eco-Health Nexus (ICEN 2023) aimed to promote interdisciplinary dialogues and solutions surrounding cascade ecology and human well-being. Cascade ecology refers to the study of ecological interactions in connected networks of tanks, streams and wetlands that exchange water, nutrients, and organisms.

Indigenous Peoples’ lands (IPL) cover at least 38 million km2 (28.1%) of the global terrestrial surface. These lands can be important for biodiversity conservation. Around 20.7% of IPL intersect areas protected by government (PAs). Many sites of importance for biodiversity within IPL could make a substantial but hitherto unquantified contribution to Global site-based conservation targets. Key Biodiversity Areas (KBAs) represent the largest global network of systematically identified sites of high importance for biodiversity.

While water-energy-food (WEF) Nexus is one of the most important, and widely investigated, environmental topics of our time, previous stock taking efforts possess notable limitations, namely (i) their focus is restricted to research articles, and (ii) there is less focus on nexus permutations that begin with energy and food. This paper assembled more than 900 documents and systematically categorized them according to more than 10 key parameters (e.g. scale, methods, limitations), to characterize approaches, achieved outcomes and presence of variables likely to support on-the-ground change.

The polders in coastal zones of Bangladesh are vulnerable to climate risks resulting in low agricultural productivity and low incomes for the communities dependent on agriculture-based livelihoods in these regions. Bangladesh adopted a participatory approach to water governance in the 1980s to improve the equitable and sustainable use of water resources. With men migrating away for better income opportunities, women are more involved in agricultural production and dependent on water resources.