Agroecology in the Gobi Desert (online)

Agroecology in Extensive Rangeland Pastoralism in the Gobi Desert of Mongolia

Only 1% of the arable land in Mongolia is cultivated with crops. The agriculture sector remains heavily focused on nomadic animal husbandry with 75% of the land allocated to pasture. Dundgobi province is located in the middle part of the Gobi Desert and is a vast dryland steppe with sparsely grown but highly nutritious grass such as wild leek and saxaul. The local community is actively involved in projects for planting trees such as elm and seabuckthorn, bushes and vegetables. The community is a good example of surviving under challenging climate conditions. Their initiatives involve building relationships between herding livestock in a traditional way and planting trees to cope with sand movement and land degradation and putting efforts into spring water conservation.

The Land/water/energy nexus (report)

The Land-Water-Energy Nexus

This report contributes to the discussion of interconnections between scarce resources by highlighting the nexus between land, water and energy. It focuses on a dynamic, integrated, and disaggregated analysis of how land, water and energy interact in the biophysical and economic systems. The report provides projections for the biophysical and economic consequences of nexus bottlenecks until 2060. The analysis is based on coupling a gridded biophysical systems model with a multi-regional, multi-sectoral dynamic general equilibrium modelling assessment. Numerical insights are provided by investigating a carefully selected set of scenarios that are designed to illustrate the key bottlenecks.

Earth, A Tenant's Manual (book)

Earth: a Tenant's Manual

Frank H. T. Rhodes, President Emeritus of Cornell University, provides a sweeping, accessible, and deeply informed guide to the home we all share. Rhodes begins by setting the scene for our active planet and explaining how its location and composition determine how the Earth works and why it teems with life. He emphasizes the changes that are of concern to us today, from earthquakes to climate change and the clashes over the energy resources needed for the Earth’s exploding population. He concludes with an extended exploration of humanity’s prospects on a complex, protean, and ultimately finite world. Only new resources, new priorities, new policies and, most of all, new knowledge, can reverse the damage that humanity is doing to our home—and ourselves. A sustainable human future, Rhodes concludes in this eloquent, sobering, but ultimately optimistic book, will require a sense of responsible stewardship, for we are not owners of this planet; we are tenants.

New Scientist article on sustainable diets (#journal)

The real clean food: How to eat well for yourself and the planet

 It's possible to have a diet that's both healthy and eco-friendly, but would you really want to eat it? Forget the fads, the answer is more straightforward than you think.

Agrobiodiversity essential to sustainable food (book)

Mainstreaming Agrobiodiversity in Sustainable Food Systems

A new book which summarizes the most recent evidence on how to use agrobiodiversity to provide nutritious foods through harnessing natural processes. “With a host of case studies, facts and figures about this growing area of research, this is a must-read for anyone interested in how we can use all our biodiversity resources for more nutritious food while reducing damage to the planet.”
HE Prof. Ameenah Gurib-Fakim, President of Mauritius

Dietary diversity, health, and agrodiversity (#journal)

Critical review of the emerging research evidence on agricultural biodiversity, diet diversity, and nutritional status in low- and middle-income countries

The declining diversity of agricultural production and food supplies worldwide may have important implications for global diets. The primary objective of this review is to assess the nature and magnitude of the associations of agricultural biodiversity with diet quality and anthropometric outcomes in low- and middle-income countries. Agricultural biodiversity has a small but consistent association with more diverse household- and individual-level diets, although the magnitude of this association varies with the extent of existing diversification of farms. Greater on-farm crop species richness is also associated with small, positive increments in young child linear stature. Agricultural diversification may contribute to diversified diets through both subsistence- and income-generating pathways and may be an important strategy for improving diets and nutrition outcomes in low- and middle-income countries.

FAO forestry twitter feed (online)

FAO Forestry twitter feed

The Forestry Department of the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization helps nations manage forests in a sustainable way. There's an impressive list of links to reports, videos, events and information on their twitter feed.