News Overview

BY EUGENIO DÍAZ-BONILLA International Monetary Fund (IMF) members and staff must be congratulated for the much-needed allocation of Special Drawing Rights ($650 billion), issued in August, to help individual countries and the global economy overcome impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic. IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva argued that it was crucial “that these SDRs are used as effectively as possible … and with

Photo credit: Staff Sgt Erik Cardenas Authors Frans Schapendonk, Giulia Caroli, Peter Laderach, Grazia Pacillo For millions across the globe, climate change has already brought very real security threats, such as food and livelihood insecurity, displacement, and health risks. African countries in particular are disproportionately vulnerable to these risks, as many are both highly exposed to climate extremes and at the same marked

Sweetpotato is a highly productive crop and orange-fleshed varieties are an excellent source of vitamin A, making it an important option for regions at a risk of food shortages and malnutrition. However, viruses that are spread by whiteflies and the vine cuttings farmers use as planting material can accumulate in plants and reduce the yields of many orange-fleshed varieties within

CGIAR, the world’s largest agricultural research and innovation network, marked its 50th year anniversary at a special event as part of the World Food Prize Borlaug Dialogue in Des Moines, Iowa. Read more

CGIAR Managing Director of Global Engagement and Innovation, Kundhavi Kadiresan, joined heads of state and global leaders on the UN Food Systems Summit (UNFSS) main stage to announce CGIAR’s commitment to UNFSS’s mission of leveraging food systems to help achieve the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals. “The Summit is a once in a lifetime opportunity to future-proof food systems, an opportunity to radically

With less than 10 years left to meet the targets set in the Paris Climate Agreement and to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), two of the legacies from my time as UN Secretary-General, I am calling for a new consensus with smallholder farmers that would drive a radical increase in financial aid, coherent policies, inclusive planning, technologies, and capacity-building

Mere weeks from now, commitments made at a United Nations Food Systems Summit in New York will help determine whether we can feed the world while also mitigating climate change. World leaders will convene to tackle the most pressing challenge of our time: How to nourish a rapidly growing global population in a way that is safe and sustainable. The Pre-Summit in Rome

BY QIYUN HUANG China faces ongoing challenges integrating the economies of its rural and urban areas as it seeks to build on the dynamism of cities to benefit the country’s large population of rural residents—who continue to face widespread poverty and other problems. A Sept. 24 workshop explored these issues in light of China’s “common prosperity” policies, COVID-19 impacts, and more. The