Early-career researchers often fall into a “missing middle.” They have skills but little scaffolding, ideas but no networks, and research outputs that miss the very policy windows where evidence is most needed.
Our team spent a month in four rural Guatemalan communities to understand how climate extremes deepen existing hardships and shape decisions to migrate. These communities face some of the country’s highest rates of irregular migration to the U.S., compounded by climate risks and security challenges.
Climate change makes life incredibly difficult for smallholder farmers, but the programs meant to help them adapt, known as Locally Led Adaptation (LLA), often face a major hurdle: fairness. Too often, project benefits are ‘captured’ by powerful local figures or community elites, leaving the most vulnerable groups—like women, young men, and the poorest families—behind. This makes existing inequalities worse and
Author: Katherine Nelson At New York Climate Week September 21-28, 2025, the World Economic Forum’s First Movers Coalition for Food convened a session featuring global leaders from the agrifood industry, finance sectors, and public institutions. The conversation focused on the urgent transition needed to build resilient, low-emission, and climate-smart food systems. Bringing together multiple perspectives, the session highlighted breakthrough financing
More than 40% of the world’s cultivated land is degraded, affecting more than three billion people. Because 95% of our food depends directly on soils, restoring soil health is fast becoming one of the most powerful levers for climate action and resilient food systems, and a focal point for the upcoming UN Climate Change Conference (COP30) in Belém, Brazil. The
By Steve Leonard and Eliza J. Villarino Halting and reversing deforestation and forest degradation by 2030 is one of the world’s most urgent and measurable environmental goals. Forests are central to climate stability, biodiversity conservation, and food security. Yet despite more than a decade of global commitments, the world remains far off track. The promise and the gap Since the
The Global Imperative for Climate Adaptation Climate change is causing increasingly severe and widespread negative impacts, especially on food and water security and vulnerable, marginalized communities. With each fraction of a degree of warming, risks to agriculture and livelihoods escalate, underscoring that adapting our agrifood systems is both a moral and economic imperative. Extreme droughts, heatwaves, and floods are disrupting
As the world looks toward COP30 in Belém, a new movement is taking root — one that blends biology, business, and belief in the power of farmers. During the latest Road to COP30 webinar, CGIAR Climate Action and Multifunctional Landscapes, Embrapa, and Brazil’s Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock (MAPA) brought together leaders from across continents to ask a simple but