News Overview

BY BRIAN MCNAMARA OPEN ACCESS | CC-BY-4.0 Climate change poses serious challenges for food systems around the world. Over the coming decades they must produce more food to sustain the growing global population—while reducing carbon emissions and becoming more resilient to climate impacts such as extreme weather events and increased droughts. What are the most effective ways to bring

BY MARY GRACE BARBACIAS OPEN ACCESS | CC-BY-4.0 The challenges posed by geopolitical conflicts, extreme weather events, and economic shocks are not to be underestimated. Around the world, hundreds of millions of people struggle with inadequate access to food, and tens of millions are forcibly displaced, and these numbers have been on the rise. Meanwhile, it’s crucial to recognize

BY MARY GRACE BARBACIAS OPEN ACCESS | CC-BY-4.0 Globally, five out of six farms are operated by smallholders who produce around one third of the world’s food. These farms provide a wide range of additional ecosystem services, such as carbon storage, pollination, and cultural and supporting services. Yet smallholder households face continued and often growing challenges to making a

This year marks the 20th anniversary of the HarvestPlus program, which is leading a global movement to rapidly scale up production and consumption of nutrient-enriched staple seeds, grains, and foods. It coordinates the nutritional improvement of staple crops and the distribution of these improved crops to consumers on farms and in the marketplace.

BY SHALINI GUPTA AND DEVESH ROY OPEN ACCESS | CC-BY-4.0 Nepal and India share a porous open border of about 1850 km with 27 customs offices. Local citizens from either side are allowed to cross, usually without even having to produce identity papers, purchase items and return home. The economies in the border towns are highly dependent on these consumers—more

BY MUZNA ALVI, CLAUDIA RINGLER, AND ELIZABETH BRYAN OPEN ACCESS | CC-BY-4.0 We cannot overcome the multiple crises facing our world, including the climate crisis, the lingering impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, and the ongoing food and energy price crisis linked to the Russia- Ukraine war, without integrating a gender perspective into resilience interventions, particularly in the agrifood sector

BY CHANNING ARNDT OPEN ACCESS | CC-BY-4.0 A caricature of the situation in climate finance, particularly regarding Africa, is a classic vicious circle: Climate finance is not flowing because of the lack of bankable investment plans; the lack of investment plans is due to a lack of faith that climate finance will flow. Like any caricature, this one misses

BY THOMAS FALK, RICHU SANIL, RUTH MEINZEN-DICK, AND PRATITI PRIYADARSHINI OPEN ACCESS | CC-BY-4.0 Daku Bai Gayatri lives in the village of Rawaliya Khurd Panchayat in Udaipur, Rajasthan state, India. She reports that residents there face water shortages every summer. Despite groundwater depletion, community members believe that every farmer requires a borewell. Gayatri sees the need for rules over