When researchers and communities come together to draw a map, something powerful happens. The lines, colors, and symbols sketched on paper become more than geographical references; they turn into shared narratives of place, memory, and change. This is the essence of social cartography; a participatory qualitative methodology increasingly used to understand and transform rural and agricultural systems.
While Uzbekistan offers generous subsidies to tackle its water crisis, a hidden barrier remains: the power grid. Our research reveals why even 92% subsidies fail to convince many farmers when unreliable electricity and poor technical support make new technologies a risky bet.
Increasing river salinity is a rising threat in Bangladesh’s coastal Ganges-Brahmaputra-Meghna Delta, affecting agriculture, livelihoods, and drinking water. Under CGIAR Scaling for Impact, IWMI—together with IRRI and the Institute of Water Modelling—has developed an AI/ML-driven salinity forecasting and advisory system to help farmers and water managers time sluice gate operations around polders to reduce salinity risk. To move from pilot to wider adoption, the initiative is developing a stakeholder-led scaling pathway and roadmap that connects community-level action with institutional coordination and policy support. This includes regular salinity data updates, functioning water management groups, canal desiltation, financing for operations and maintenance, equitable water allocation, and stronger local governance. Regional and national consultations in 2025 (Khulna and Dhaka) helped identify practical, near-term steps—such as consolidating existing salinity datasets, mapping ongoing interventions, and integrating advisories into extension systems—to support coordinated salinity management across coastal Bangladesh.
Over the past five years, the Department of Cooperative and Rural Development (DCRD), under Vietnam’s Ministry of Agriculture and Environment, has collaborated closely with the Alliance of Bioversity International and CIAT and the National Institute of Nutrition (NIN) to advance the integration of nutrition-sensitive agri-food systems (NSAF) into national policy frameworks.
COP30’s compromise on adaptation indicators positions CGIAR as a vital partner, leveraging its research to transform cautious political agreements into measurable, financeable actions that strengthen global food, land, and nutrition systems against climate change.
A meeting was held recently held in Nairobi to advance the design and integration of on-farm verification trials (OFVT) as a core component of breeding pipelines going forward.
Improving crops has never been more relevant but funding is tighter while expectations are rising. How did CGIAR crop improvement Science Program, Breeding for Tomorrow, respond to this reality in 2025?
At COP30 in Belém, CGIAR Climate Action successfully shifted food and land systems from the sidelines to the center of the global climate agenda by embedding scientific research into ministerial policies and co-launching major restoration and finance initiatives designed for long-term delivery.