Cocoa is an important commodity crop and source of income for millions of small-holder farmers. Nonetheless, questions on cocoa tree functioning, best management practices and climate change responses remain. Modelling is a powerful tool to address these questions, complementing experimental work that is expensive and time consuming due to the long productive cycle of the cocoa system. However, compared to other crops, cocoa modelling has not received as much attention.

Standard tools that can quantitatively track the impacts of higher global demand for animal-sourced food to their local environmental effects in developing countries are largely missing. This paper presents a novel integrated assessment framework that links a model of the global agricultural and food system, a landscape-level environmental impact assessment model, and an ecosystem services simulation model.

This submission is made in accordance with paragraph 18 of decision 3/CP.27 on operationalization of the online portal referred to in paragraph 16 of the above decision for consideration by the Subsidiary Bodies at their fifty-eighth sessions (June 2023).

This series of socio-legal reviews summarizes the legal and policy documents related to women’s land tenure in seven countries: Kyrgyzstan, Uganda, The Gambia, Ethiopia, Niger, Bangladesh, and Colombia. These synthesis documents, part of the IFAD Initiative on Women’s Resource Rights, are designed for researchers and policymakers seeking to improve women’s land and resource rights in these target countries.

The current global road network expansion scenario poses a conflict of interest between Sustainable Development Goals of human well-being and biosphere, which could be mitigated through strengthening of the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) process. Here, we propose the integration in EIAs of a method focusing on landscape-level connectivity for wildlife, based on easily accessible satellite imagery and basic species data that need not be site-specific.

Even an approximate estimate of the amount of investment required globally to reconfigure food systems for resilience and sustainability in the face of climate change could help to catalyse the urgent action that is needed. A report published in 2020 set out eleven actions that were identified as being needed to reconfigure food systems. Here we estimate the annual cost of implementing these eleven actions to be USD 1.3 ± 0.1 trillion.

To leverage agriculture's potential to better benefit both people and nature, policymakers need clear messages about which farming practices positively impact biodiversity and yields, and when trade-offs arise. Existing reviews analyse effects of different agricultural practices on either biodiversity or yield, without considering interactions.

This submission is made in accordance with paragraph 17 of decision 3/CP.27 on elements of the joint work referred to in paragraphs 14–15 of the above decision for consideration by the Subsidiary Bodies at their fifty-eighth sessions (June 2023).

There is global debate whether to diversify agricultural production. A study was conducted in 2016 and 2017 in Lilongwe district, Malawi, to determine effects of agricultural diversity on income, wealth, diets and nutrition. A cross-sectional design was used in surveys on agriculture, income, assets, and nutrition coupled with anthropometric measurements targeting children, men, and women in 424 households. Using an agricultural diversity index constituting crop livestock and fruit diversity, level of agricultural diversity was 28.22%).

Voluntary Sustainability Systems (VSS) can play an important role in reducing persistent gender inequalities and supporting women’s empowerment to achieve more just and resilient agri-food systems. However, research indicates that gender equality impacts have been minimal given few VSS have taken a strategic approach to addressing gender equality and there has been a failure to address the structural causes of gender equality in global supply chains.

An insightful session on the topic “Decentralized Solutions for Water Management” was organized at India Water Week on 3rd November 2022 under CGIAR Initiative on National Policies & Strategies (NPS). The session was chaired by Dr. Anu Garg, Additional Chief Secretary, Department of Water Resources, Odisha and Ms. Archana Verma, Mission Director, National Water Mission. The session emphasized the need to identify decentralized solutions for managing water through appropriate technologies and new ideas.