Blogs

By Gopal Bhatta

CGIAR Program on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS) launched Climate Smart Agriculture Learning Platform (CSALP) for South Asia this April. The platform aims to encourage communication between policymakers, political leaders, researchers, farmers and civil society. It provides a collective platform for policy advocacy and facilitates development of Climate Smart Agriculture Knowledge Bank.

His Excellency President of Nepal, Dr. Ram Baran Yadav launched the platform in Kathmandu and released the first issue of CSALP South Asia’s Quarterly newsletter. The program was attended by Jim Hansen, Theme 2 Leader, Pramod Aggarwal, Regional Program Leader-South Asia,  Gopal Bhatta, CCAFS’ South Asia Science Officer, former Minister of Science, Technology and Environment of Nepal, Mr. Ganesh Shah, Secretary of Nepal Federation of Journalists, Mr. Jagat Nepal, and Executive Director of The Communicator, a Nepalese organization, Mr. Chandra Adhikari. Read more »

Southeast Asia is often called the world's 'rice bowl', due to the region's important role in the world rice trade. In fact, agriculture is the backbone of most economies in the region. But rapid climate change, which is likely to intensify droughts and floods, could devastate Southeast Asia’s agriculture, threatening the livelihoods of millions of people across the region, not to mention global food security.

National Geographic has picked up on these messages, which we highlighted at last month's conference on Climate Smart Agriculture in Asia: Research and Development Priorities.

National Geographic published an interview with Bruce Campbell (program director for the CGIAR Research Program on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security - CCAFS) and Matthew McCartney (from the International Water Management Institute - IWMI) about the expected impact of climate change on the region, and what adaptation strategies will be needed to ensure future food security: Read more »

Of all the sectors contributing to anthropological greenhouse gas emissions, the livestock sector has been the most consistently difficult to pin down. How does one actually measure emissions from a living, changing animal? Do you count the CO2 they exhale with every breath? What about all the rainforest that’s been chopped down to accommodate pasture land, do you count that, too? With the wide range of estimates for livestock’s contribution to GHGs and the ongoing argument as to which production systems are the most sustainable, it’s no wonder livestock often gets left out of the mitigation discussion altogether. Read more »