The climate crisis is having a significant detrimental influence on livelihoods in developing countries. Climate variability and extremes can negatively impact climate-sensitive sectors such as agriculture and livestock which are a considerable source of employment and a key contributor to economic growth in developing countries (Burke, Hsiang, and Miguel 2015; Dell, Jones, and Olken 2014; 2012). The intensification of the climate crisis poses a threat to efforts aimed to eliminate poverty and food

In this study we investigate whether the increasing investment in smallholder oil palm plantations that contributes to deforestation is motivated by financial gains or other factors. We evaluate the financial viability of smallholder farmers selling fresh fruit bunches (FFBs) to intermediaries or agro-industrial companies with mills, or processing the FFBs in artisanal mills to produce palm oil. We use data collected in four oil palm production basins in Cameroon and carried out a life cycle assessment of oil palm cultivation and CPO production to understand financial gains.

Sustainable agricultural intensification (SAI) has the potential to increase food security without detrimental effects on ecosystem services. However, adoption of SAI practices across sub-Saharan Africa has not reached transformational numbers to date. It is often hampered by lack of context-specific practices, sub-optimal understanding of tradeoffs and synergies among stakeholders, and lack of approaches that bring diverse evidence sources together with stakeholders to collectively tackle complex problems.

Although agriculture is the backbone of the African economy, it has faced considerable challenges in the past sixty years. Africa has moved from being a self-sufficiency continent before the 1960s, to net food importers, with a handful of countries facing severe food shortages from drought, desertification, climate change and wars. In this article, we use the case of Northern Ghana to explore some of the salient dynamics that have resulted in the current crisis in the African agricultural sector over time.

The Participatory Vulnerability Analysis study was conducted in the 11 villages or barangays in Guinayangan Climate-Smart Village to provide a better understanding of the community and inform the project of the conditions and factors that affect their vulnerability to climate change impacts. This in turn will inform appropriate programs and actions that the community can carry out to prepare them cope with impacts and increase resiliency.

Guyana has densely populated coastal regions and relatively inaccessible Hinterland and is highly vulnerable to climate change and climate variability. The agriculture sector requires a transformation towards climate-resilient agriculture systems. In order to respond to this priority, the Alliance of Bioversity International and CIAT, the Ministry of Agriculture of the Government of Guyana and local partners, joined efforts to develop and implement a Caribbean Development Bank (CDB) financed project, ‘Development of a Framework for Prioritizing Climate-Smart Agriculture (CSA)’.

Shade grown cocoa systems have been credited with stocking high quantities of carbon and therefore possess the potential to mitigate climate change and help achieve targets of the United Nations Collaborative Program on Reduced Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD+). This study quantifies and compares carbon stored as well as estimated cocoa yields in two shade management types (i.e., shaded and full sun) across three agroecological zones: Dry Semi-Deciduous Fire Zone (DSFZ), Moist Evergreen Zone (MEZ) and Upland Evergreen Moist Zone (UEMZ) in Ghana.