Proceedings of the 8th World Congress on Conservation Agriculture

Under the banner: The Future of Farming – Profitable and Sustainable Farming with Conservation Agriculture, the 8WCCA highlighted the global contribution of Conservation Agriculture towards achieving these outcomes. It also explored how CA land use can help to address humankind’s major global challenges of climate change, environmental degradation and food security while safeguarding the livelihoods of small and large-scale farmers. The proven benefits of CA in terms of erosion control, carbon sequestration, biodiversity regeneration, and improved water and nutrient cycling are all contributing to the achievement of the manifold objectives of the international conventions and agreements including the Sustainable Development Goals, European Green Deal and F2F Strategy

ILRI medium-term plan 2008-2010. Livestock: a pathway out of poverty

This document summarizes the content of ILRI’s Medium Term Plan (MTP) 2008-10. The key components are: 1. ILRI’s strategic directions 2. What are the main changes proposed, compared to the previous MTP (2006)? 3. What are the drivers of these changes and the rationale for new approaches? 4. How does ILRI’s 2008-2010 research portfolio align with the CGIAR system priorities? 5. highlights of the 2008 -2010 research portfolio. ILRI’s strategy is to make livestock a pathway out of poverty. It aims to achieve three outcomes: Securing assets to reduce vulnerability; increasing productivity to improve livelihoods; increasing incomes by enhancing market competitiveness and access. To implement this strategy, ILRI has organized its research program around four inter-related and output-focused themes (MTP Projects), which are: ‘Targeting and Innovation’ (identifying opportunities, setting priorities, understanding innovation systems); ‘Market Opportunities’ (enhancing market success of the poor); ‘Biotechnology’ (biosciences and bioinformatics for animal health and genetics); ‘People, Livestock and the Environment’ (natural resource solutions in livestock systems). ILRI also coordinates the CGIAR Systemwide Livestock Program (SLP) and the emerging plans for collective action by the Alliance of CGIAR centers and their partners in eastern and southern Africa. ILRI also brings a livestock perspective to several other CGIAR system initiatives. Other topics of discussions include; key global livestock issues; livestock and human health; vaccines and diagnostics; livestock genetics and breeding; research services; and ILRI ICRAF alignment in corporate services. The last section looks into lessons learned 2006–07; EPMR recommendations and ILRI’s responses to the recommendations; programmatic achievements and lessons learned in implementing the strategy; and key operating principles and practices

Scaling Success: Lessons from Adaptation Pilots in the Rainfed Regions of India

"Scaling Success" examines how agricultural communities are adapting to the challenges posed by climate change through the lens of India's rainfed agriculture regions. Rainfed agriculture currently occupies 58 percent of India's cultivated land and accounts for up to 40 percent of its total food production. However, these regions face potential production losses of more than $200 billion USD in rice, wheat, and maize by 2050 due to the effects of climate change. Unless action is taken soon at a large scale, farmers will see sharp decreases in revenue and yields.Rainfed regions across the globe have been an important focus for the first generation of adaptation projects, but to date, few have achieved a scale that can be truly transformational. Drawing on lessons learnt from 21 case studies of rainfed agriculture interventions, the report provides guidance on how to design, fund and support adaptation projects that can achieve scale

The Global Risks Report 2016, 11th Edition

Now in its 11th edition, The Global Risks Report 2016 draws attention to ways that global risks could evolve and interact in the next decade. The year 2016 marks a forceful departure from past findings, as the risks about which the Report has been warning over the past decade are starting to manifest themselves in new, sometimes unexpected ways and harm people, institutions and economies. Warming climate is likely to raise this year's temperature to 1° Celsius above the pre-industrial era, 60 million people, equivalent to the world's 24th largest country and largest number in recent history, are forcibly displaced, and crimes in cyberspace cost the global economy an estimated US$445 billion, higher than many economies' national incomes. In this context, the Reportcalls for action to build resilience – the "resilience imperative" – and identifies practical examples of how it could be done.The Report also steps back and explores how emerging global risks and major trends, such as climate change, the rise of cyber dependence and income and wealth disparity are impacting already-strained societies by highlighting three clusters of risks as Risks in Focus. As resilience building is helped by the ability to analyse global risks from the perspective of specific stakeholders, the Report also analyses the significance of global risks to the business community at a regional and country-level

IWMI medium term plan 2007-2009

Research institutes / Research priorities / Research projects / Strategy planning / Irrigation management / Water management / Agricultural research

International Livestock Research Institute. Medium-term plan 2009-11

This strategy takes into account the new market opportunities being created for small-scale livestock producers by increasing local and global demand for high-quality livestock products (termed the Livestock Revolution) and the many pathways by which livestock has traditionally reduced poverty. Specific research programs address: 1 the vulnerability of livestock producers to income loss when their livestock assets are lost to disease or inadequate forage and water as well as their vulnerability to zoonotic diseases; 2 the challenge of sustainable intensification of smallholder livestock systems for increased productivity; and 3 the potential for sustainable increases in income from expanding markets for safe, high-quality, and affordable livestock products. In addition to coordinating the CGIAR Systemwide Livestock Research program, which enables all centres to collaborate in research on a range of cross-cutting livestock problems, ILRI pursues its research agenda through four inter-related projects relating to the outcomes. Project 1. Targeting and Innovation. Project 2. Improving Market Opportunities. Project 3. Biotechnology - Biosciences and bioinformatics for animal health and genetics. Project 4. People, Livestock and the Environment. Within each theme, research is implemented in three operating projects that focus on research outcomes in the medium term (58 years). These operating projects are further elaborated. Since its preparation of the 2008-2010 MTP, ILRI has continued to implement important initiatives that were highlighted in that MTP: establishment of the Biosciences east and central Africa (BecA) platform, alignment with ICRAF in corporate and research support services, expanded human resource capacity development; and others. Drawing on recommendations from the External Program Management Review (EPMR), partners, the Board of Trustees, and various Center-Commissioned External Reviews (CCERs), ILRI has, since the 2008-2010 MTP: sharpened the focus of Projects 1 and 4; reshaped its vaccine program; expanded its efforts in West and southern Africa and South/Southeast Asia; and closed research activities in Latin America, redefining its role in that region to support of programs led by others. The major changes in ILRI's portfolio since the 2008-2010 MTP are also highlighted. Changes from previous MTP Outputs are also summerised

Reaching more farmers: Innovative approaches to scaling up climate-smart agriculture

The purpose of this working paper is to provide insight into how we can use novel approaches to scale up research findings on climate-smart agriculture (CSA) to meaningfully address the challenges of poverty and climate change. The approaches described include those based on value chains and private sector involvement, policy engagement, and information and communication technologies and agro-advisory services. The paper draws on 11 case studies to exemplify these new approaches to scaling up. These are synthesised using a simple conceptual framework that draws on a review of the most important challenges to scaling up. This provides the material for a discussion around how particular scaling up approaches can help to address some of the challenges of scaling up. The analysis offers insights into scaling approaches, challenges and some opportunities for scaling CSA practices and technologies. We conclude that multi-stakeholder platforms and policy making networks are key to effective upscaling, especially if paired with capacity enhancement, learning, and innovative approaches to support decision making of farmers. Projects that aim to intervene upstream at higher leverage points can be highly efficient and probably offer cost-effective dissemination strategies that reach across scales and include new and more diverse partnerships. However, these novel approaches still face challenges of promoting uptake, which remain contextualized and thus require a certain level of local engagement, while continuously paying attention to farmer’s needs and their own situations

Globalisation challenges and knowledge transfer from the Indian scientific diaspora

This chapter looks at the opportunities and uncertainties of globalisation in terms of the production of world knowledge, with an emphasis on the factors that limit the distribution and fair use of this knowledge for the benefit of less advanced countries. We show how existing disparities between developed countries and emerging and developing countries relating to the level of higher education, the resources available for research and access to technologies and innovation, have made scientific cooperation an indispensable mechanism for advancement. Having established this context, we then turn our attention to the transfer of knowledge for the benefit of developing countries, as promoted by the scientific diaspora. Taking the case of India and its relationship with Europe as an example, we present a qualitative analysis based on interviews held with Indian students and researchers who are either living in Europe or who have returned to India, together with interviews with some other key informants. India is a paradigmatic case in terms of knowledge, science and technology insofar as the country is a source of skilled personnel for many developed countries, including the European countries that have become popular as new destinations for skilled Indians. We look at three determinants for channelling knowledge transfer: institutional mechanisms for bilateral cooperation, transnational collaboration and the affective capital of migrants. We observe how these channels foster scientific cooperation and strengthen the critical mass in the country of origin. While our findings point to a trend whereby scientific diasporas become carriers of knowledge for their countries of origin in the South, there is a need for further studies to examine the specific level of impact that these forms of knowledge transfer generate in the Indian context and to see whether the local society obtains actual benefits from them