Topic: agriculture

ADVISORY: WRI's Stories to Watch 2013

James Anderson — Thu, 20 Dec 2012 14:03:26 -0500

WRI will host its 10th annual Stories to Watch event on Tuesday, January 15, 2013, at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C. Dr. Andrew Steer, WRI’s President & CEO, will present insights into the big environmental and international development trends and events that will affect people and the planet in 2013.

Topics will likely include: What will the Obama Administration do to address climate and energy? How will China’s new leadership advance its goal of “ecological progress”? What countries will emerge on the forefront of sustainability? And, how will financial constraints impact businesses seeking to shift to a more sustainable pathway?

A continental breakfast will be served.

WHAT
World Resources Institute’s Stories to Watch 2013

WHO
Dr. Andrew Steer, President & CEO, World Resources Institute.

Dr. Steer is a leading expert on economic development and environmental issues. He has three decades of experience working on international development and on the front lines in Asia and Africa, and at a senior level in international policy roles.

WHERE
National Press Club
Holeman Lounge
529 14th Street, NW
Washington, D.C. 20045

CALL-IN INFO
USA (Toll Free): (866) 803-2143
International (Toll): + 1 (210) 795-1098

Access code: “WRI”

WHEN
Tuesday, January 15, 2013
9:00 - 10:30 a.m. ET

Use #STW2013 on Twitter.

RSVP required to press@wri.org

ADVISORY: WRI Experts to Speak at Annual Conference on Ecosystem Services in Ft Lauderdale

James Anderson — Mon, 10 Dec 2012 17:11:03 -0500

Experts from the World Resources Institute will be joining leaders from business, government, and environment communities at the annual ACES and Ecosystems Markets 2012 Summit. The summit will take place from December 10 – 14 in Ft. Lauderdale, FL.

The goal of the summit is advance ecosystem services science and practice in conservation, restoration, resource management, and development decisions. It is being organized by the University of Florida and sponsored by the U.S. EPA, U.S. Forest Service, American Forest Foundation, World Resources Institute, and others.

WRI experts will discuss ecosystems-for-water programs, coastal ecosystem evaluations in the Caribbean, and processes for incorporating ecosystem services into public and private decision making.

Ecosystem goods and services – like freshwater, fiber, food, flood control, water purification and waste treatment – provide important benefits to business and society. Improving how ecosystem services are incorporated into decision making impacts ecosystems and the quantity, quality and profitability of the benefits they provide.

Full Agenda: http://www.conference.ifas.ufl.edu/aces/glance.html

WRI Experts available for interviews:

Craig Hanson, Director, People and Ecosystems Program

Janet Ranganathan, Vice President, Science and Research

Lauretta Burke, Senior Associate, Coral Reefs Initiative

Todd Gartner, Senior Associate, Conservation Incentives and Markets

For more information, please contact:
James Anderson, Press Officer, World Resources Institute, janderson@wri.org, (202) 729-7608

RELEASE: Two New Online Mapping Applications Launched to Support Sustainable Palm Oil in Indonesia

James Anderson — Mon, 29 Oct 2012 11:08:26 -0400

Forest Cover Analyzer and Suitability Mapper to be used by business and government to reduce deforestation

The World Resources Institute (WRI) is launching two powerful online mapping applications that offer unprecedented capabilities to support industry and government efforts to achieve more sustainable palm oil production in Indonesia. WRI developed these web tools in consultation with the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) and many of its members.

The Suitability Mapper empowers companies and government planners to use a standard, easily replicable method to find potential sites for sustainable palm oil production and plan field assessments for further investigation. The Forest Cover Analyzer provides a unique set of monitoring tools to help buyers, investors, and governments strengthen incentives for avoiding deforestation when developing new plantations.

“Palm oil holds tremendous opportunities for people and business in Indonesia—and should be produced in a way that avoids destruction of vibrant lands and forests,” said Andrew Steer, President of WRI. “These dynamic new online tools will enable companies to better identify the best places for palm oil production and assess deforestation and other factors that are critical for long-term sustainability of this industry.”

Palm oil is the world’s most traded vegetable oil and a major agricultural product of Indonesia, the world’s leading producer. Last year, Indonesia exported 23.5 million tons of crude palm oil, worth about US$19.7 billion. The rapid expansion of oil palm plantations has contributed in places to the loss of Indonesia’s biodiversity and carbon-rich natural forests. At the same time, Indonesia has become the world’s leading producer of RSPO-certified sustainable palm oil, which is produced according to a set of principles and criteria that include avoiding forest loss.

The RSPO was formed in 2004 with the objective of promoting the growth and use of sustainable palm oil products through credible global standards and engagement of stakeholders. The RSPO aims to transform markets to make sustainable palm oil the norm.

“Development of technology and tools such as WRI’s Suitability Mapper and the Forest Cover Analyzer enables RSPO members to practice sustainable oil palm production in a more credible way by identifying the land areas with the least impact to the environment,” said Darrel Webber, Secretary General of the RSPO.

“These two websites make it quick and easy to answer questions that we hear over and over again from industry and government officials” said Beth Gingold, POTICO Research Lead, WRI.

The Suitability Mapper helps users find potential sites for sustainable palm oil production, using a customizable map. The Forest Cover Analyzer allows users to view change in forest cover over time in areas of their choice, using up-to-date satellite data.

Both applications currently cover Kalimantan, the Indonesian portion of the island of Borneo, and will expand to other areas in the months to come.

The following are examples of data derived from the new applications:

There are more than 14 million hectares of potentially suitable land for sustainable palm oil in Kalimantan.
Kalimantan experienced more than 2 million hectares of forest cover loss from 2005 (the RSPO cut-off date for primary forest clearing) to 2010.
There are more than 33 million hectares of high conservation value forest and wetland in Kalimantan with high likelihood of containing high carbon stocks and levels of biodiversity.

The applications were developed in partnership with Sekala, Rainforest Alliance, SarVision, University of Maryland, South Dakota State University, and Puter Foundation. They were designed with Blue Raster and are powered by ESRI.

This project has received generous support from: The United Kingdom Climate Change Unit Indonesia, Johnson & Johnson Family of Consumer Companies, NewPage Corporation, Walmart, The Netherlands Ministry of Foreign Affairs, The Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency, and the International Finance Corporation - Biodiversity and Agricultural Commodities Program. (The International Finance Corporation is not responsible for the implementation or administration of this project).

Visit the website http://www.wri.org/project/potico for more information and to access the web tools.

Watch a video preview of the two tools here.

# # # #

Case Study: Applying Information for Adapting the Agriculture Sector in Bundelkhand, India

Sarah Parsons — Tue, 04 Sep 2012 16:25:44 -0400

This case study examines two projects implemented by Development Alternatives to highlight the multiplicity of data sources involved in adaptation decision making, provide an analysis of how information was used, and explore the challenges associated with information use for adaptation decision making in the agricultural sector.

This case study is part of a series under the World Resources Institute project, Information for Climate Adaptation in South Asia: Identifying User Needs. Each of the case studies in this set explores an aspect of information use in adaptation decision making. The goals of this series are two-fold:

Provide insights into how information (such as climate projections, stakeholder interviews, and environmental monitoring) can be used to support adaptation decisions; and
Guide investments by national governments and their development partners in information systems that can inform decision making around risks related to climate change.

This case study series was supported by the UK Department for International Development. Case study authors used the same framework of guiding questions for their research, which consisted of literature reviews and interviews.

STATEMENT: Project Launches to Measure and Manage GHG Emissions for Agriculture in Brazil

Michael Oko — Sat, 16 Jun 2012 23:35:54 -0400

The World Resources Institute (WRI) and the British Embassy are launching a two year partnership to measure corporate and farm-level emissions in Brazil. Agricultural emissions account for nearly 20 percent of Brazil’s emissions, with agricultural production on the rise. The project, based on the Greenhouse Gas Protocol, will develop GHG Accounting Guidance for Brazilian Agriculture, filling an important gap, since Brazil does not presently have a methodology for corporate and farm-level accounting, reporting, and monitoring. This project will support Brazil in meeting its targets set in the National Plan on Climate Change, including measuring agricultural emissions, both up and down the value chain, and from land use.

“It is an honor to announce the launch of a new project that marks the continuation of a fruitful partnership between the World Resources Institute, the UK government, and Brazil, which has been contributing to measuring, reporting and managing Brazilian greenhouse gas emissions,” said British Ambassador to Brazil, Alan Charlton. “The UK Government is glad to have contributed to this initiative, which is part of an effort to establish a low-carbon economy worldwide.”

The announcement was made during an event at Rio+20 on the Green Economy: Driving Business Value and Competitiveness, hosted by WRI, which will bring together business experts, national policy makers, and global policy specialists to discuss strategic opportunities in the green economy, including tools for companies and policymakers to measure and manage their emissions impact.

Currently, more than 90 Brazilian companies voluntarily report their corporate emissions through the Brazilian GHG Protocol Program, created by Fundação Getúlio Vargas (FGV), WRI, the Federal Ministry of Environment, and the Brazilian Corporate Council for Sustainable Development (CEBDS). During 2010 and 2011, WRI and FGV conducted a series of scoping workshops with participating Brazilian companies to better understand the need for agriculture-specific guidance.

“Brazil is one of the most important countries when it comes to sustainable development, with agriculture playing a major role in its economy as well as its emissions,” said Manish Bapna, Interim President, WRI. “By measuring and controlling their emissions, Brazilian companies can help lower their environmental impact, while identifying new opportunities for economic growth and cost savings.”

The event will feature a keynote address by Carlos Klink, National Secretary on Climate Change and Environmental Quality, Ministry of the Environment, Brazil.

“Today’s announcement marks an important step forward in helping Brazil to meet its emissions goals,” said Secretary Klink. “Agriculture forms the backbone of our economy, and we will continue to work with Brazilian businesses to move toward healthy, robust and sustainable future.”

The objectives of the agricultural guidance project are to:

Establish nationally-recognized methodologies for the measurement and management of agricultural GHG emissions at the farm- and corporate-level;
Build capacity among Brazilian businesses and provide methodologies to develop emissions reduction strategies for agriculture; and
Integrate methodologies for agriculture into the GHG Protocol Brazil Program and emerging mandatory (e.g., Amapá, Pará, Pernambuco, and Mato Grosso) and voluntary (e.g., Minas Gerais, Rio Grande do Sul, and Paraná) GHG emissions registries and reporting programs.

Over the next year, GHG Protocol experts will work closely with Brazilian businesses to adapt international guidance to address Brazil-specific emissions issues.

Companies interested in conducting a GHG inventory and developing and pilot testing the agricultural guidance are invited to contact GHG Protocol’s Stephen Russell: srussell@wri.org.

Threats to Village Land in Tanzania: Implications for REDD+ Benefit- Sharing Arrangements

Peter Veit — Fri, 13 Jan 2012 13:28:02 -0500

This piece originally appeared in Lessons About Land Tenure, Forest Governance and REDD+: Case Studies from Africa, Asia and Latin America.¹ The full text of the article is available here.

Abstract

REDD+ presents an important opportunity for Tanzania to leverage its forest resources to bring in new capital flows, promote forest management and provide benefits to communities. With a legal framework designed to promote decentralization and more than a decade of experience with Participatory Forest Management, the country appears ready to capitalize on REDD+.

On closer examination, however, villagers face multiple obstacles in securing rights over land and realizing forest benefits. This paper examines five challenges—classification of General Land; recognition of Village Land; recognition of village government; transfer of Village Land to General or Reserved Land; and Participatory Forest Management procedures. Legal ambiguities and contradictions coupled with inconsistent implementation and governance structures pose unique threats to the success of REDD+ in Tanzania. With REDD+ infrastructure yet to be developed, however, opportunities exist for these challenges to be addressed. The current legal and institutional framework needs clarification and strengthening to make REDD+ a success for all Tanzanians.

Read the full article

Naughton-Treves, L. and C. Day. eds. 2012. Lessons about Land Tenure, Forest Governance and REDD+. Case Studies from Africa, Asia and Latin America. Madison, Wisconsin: UW-Madison Land Tenure Center. ↩

Forest and Landscape Restoration

Susan Minnemeyer — Wed, 14 Dec 2011 11:03:52 -0500

Mapping of Forest and Landscape Restoration Opportunities

Worldwide, enormous areas that once supported forests have become deforested or degraded. About 30 percent of the world’s potential forest cover has been completely cleared and a further 20 percent has been degraded. Yet more than two billion hectares of deforested and degraded forest land worldwide may have the potential to be restored.

Forest and Landscape Restoration is about more than just planting trees. It goes beyond afforestation, reforestation, and ecological restoration to improve both human livelihoods and ecological integrity.

A restored landscape can accommodate a mosaic of land uses such as agriculture, protected reserves, ecological corridors, regenerating forests, well-managed plantations, agroforestry systems, and riparian plantings to protect waterways.

As a contribution to the Global Partnership of Forest and Landscape Restoration, The World Resources Institute is partnering with the University of Maryland and IUCN to map opportunities for forest and landscape restoration – where they can be found and how big they are.

Making Forest and Landscape Restoration a Force for Change

View more presentations from World Resources Institute (WRI)

Restoration By Region

Download these brochures for more information on Forest and Landscape Restoration opportunities:

Global (PDF, 2.4 Mb)
Africa (PDF, 680 Kb)
Asia (PDF, 729 Kb)
Latin America (PDF, 678 Kb)

Interactive Map of Forest and Landscape Restoration

Click on the map below to open up our Interactive Atlas of Forest and Landscape Restoration Opportunities.

Click to open the Atlas

Photo: Mosaic restoration could improve the functionality of this landscape in Uganda. Credit: Flickr/weesam2010.

Inside Stories on Climate Compatible Development: Niger

Kevin Lustig — Tue, 13 Dec 2011 09:42:26 -0500

Key messages

Farmer Managed Natural Regeneration brings increased crop yields, income and food security to impoverished rural communities in Niger. It also holds climate change mitigation potential.
Honouring local wisdom is key to the success of Farmer Managed Natural Regeneration – farmers can play a central role in experimenting, innovating, communicating potential benefits, and advocating behaviour change.
Winning the support of opinion leaders and authorities is important in tackling farmers’ initial resistance

Inside Stories on Climate Compatible Development: Zambia

Kevin Lustig — Tue, 13 Dec 2011 09:26:40 -0500

Key messages

Production of staple crops, such as maize, is under increasing risk in Africa because of climate change and depleting soil fertility. The potential consequences for food security are dire. Climate change and food security must be tackled together.
Modern methods of agroforestry and “conservation agriculture with trees” are employing age-old indigenous practices of natural fertilisation with dramatic effects. Field studies show that growing maize under “fertiliser trees” can more than triple the yields.
“Evergreen agriculture” practices (where trees are intercropped in annual food crop and livestock systems) help retain water in soils during droughts and prevent landslides and erosion during heavy rain, so reduce vulnerability to climate extremes.
The capacity for these practices to also retain and store carbon in soils means that the potential climate change mitigation benefits of wide-scale evergreen agriculture in Africa are large and globally significant – potentially up to 50 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide over 50 years.
The challenge of spreading the knowledge and uptake of evergreen agriculture and other “climate-smart” agriculture practices is being taken on as a priority by regional governance bodies in Africa.
Payments for ecosystem and social impact services may be one means to fund the practical on-farm research, testing and knowledge transfer needed for adoption on a wide scale. Carbon funds, from biocarbon projects, are one possible source of finance, but uptake is still at very low levels.
The costs of measurement, reporting and verification can be prohibitive and new methods are needed.
Supported NAMAs (nationally appropriate mitigation actions) programs of evergreen agriculture could be a new approach and play a key role in Africa low carbon development strategies.

MEDIA ADVISORY: 4th Annual Ecosystem Markets Conference - Making Ecosystems Work

Lauren Zelin — Mon, 27 Jun 2011 14:18:28 -0400

Experts and innovators meet to chart the future of ecosystem conservation

The World Resources Institute (WRI) and the American Forest Foundation (AFF) co-host the 4th annual Ecosystem Markets Conference in Madison, Wisconsin, June 29 – July 1, 2011. Hundreds of experts, innovators, land owners, government officials, investors and academics will discuss how to make ecosystem markets work to conserve natural resources; followed by a field trip through Aldo Leopold’s backyard to see ecosystem services in action.

At a time when state and federal budgets for conservation are dwindling, ecosystems are being degraded and threats to natural resources are increasing, more market-driven solutions are necessary to open the next chapter in conservation. Through ecosystem markets, the many benefits that well-managed lands provide, such as clean water and wildlife habitat, are assigned a value that results in payments to landowners for providing these services. This win-win for the public and landowners is necessary to protect the planet’s natural resources.

The 2011 conference theme “Ecosystem Markets: Making Them Work” underscores the need for innovative thinking to bridge the gap between ecosystem market potential and reality. Participants will gather for two days of open-format meetings on topics including payments to landowners, policy and ethics, private investment, water quality, bioenergy, and more.

The conference will open with a video address by Harris Sherman, Under Secretary for Natural Resources and Environment, U.S. Department of Agriculture. Senior representatives from the host organizations along with ecosystem services experts from around the world will participate in the conference and will be available for interviews.

What:
4th Annual Ecosystem Markets Conference. Website: http://ecomarketconference.com/

When:
June 29-30, 2011, conference sessions
July 1, 2011, field trip to working ecosystems and Aldo Leopold’s shack

Where:
The Madison Concourse Hotel and Governor’s Club
1 W. Dayton Street, Madison, WI
(Free parking is provided for our conference group)

Media Highlights:

Wednesday, June 29, 2011
* 8:15 a.m. – Welcome and video address by Harris Sherman, Under Secretary for Natural Resources and Environment, U.S. Department of Agriculture
* 8:35 a.m. – Plenary Session 1: The Current State of Ecosystem Markets
* 10:20 a.m. – Plenary Session 2: Policies to Support Ecosystem Services and Markets
* 12:40 p.m. – Lunch and preview of Green Fire documentary, hosted by the Aldo Leopold Foundation and followed by a Q&A session

Friday, July 1, 2011
* 8:00 a.m. – Field trip; See below for details. * Experts available for interviews during the tour

For the full conference agenda, visit http://ecomarketconference.com/agenda/.

RSVP and Media Requests:

Amanda Cooke | AFF | ACooke@forestfoundation.org | 202-463-2731
Lauren Cole | WRI | LCole@wri.org | 202-729-7736

Follow the Twitter conversation - #ecomarkets2011

Field Trip Information - PHOTO OPPORTUNITY

What:
Tour the Leopold family shack and farm, and see sites conserved for ecosystem services through public/private partnerships, including the Leopold Waterfowl Production Area, Baraboo Oak Street dam removal site, and the Leopold Memorial Reserve constructed wetland. Detailed agenda: http://ecomarketconference.com/field-trip/.

When:
July 1, 2011 from 8:00 a.m.-3:30 p.m.

Where:
Meet at the Madison Concourse Hotel for bus departure.

Who:
Experts from WRI, AFF and other conference attendees will be available for interviews and photo opportunities during the Field Trip. Please contact Amanda Cooke or Lauren Cole to RSVP.

Thanks to the Aldo Leopold Foundation and the Sand County Foundation for their generous assistance in hosting and organizing the field trip.

Climate Science Research Review Answers Climate Change Questions

Kevin Lustig — Fri, 17 Jun 2011 06:32:44 -0400

Update [10/17/2011]: WRI has released the latest edition of Climate Science. After you check out the resources below, take a look at our Q&A with the authors on WRI Insights or read the full report.

With wildfires, floods, tornadoes, and other dramatic weather events making front page news around the world, many people are asking questions about the signs and impacts of a changing climate. Climate Science is the World Resources Institute’s periodic review of the state of play of the science of climate change. With summaries and explanations of recent peer-reviewed research from a host of scientific journals, Climate Science is a window into what scientists are discovering about how climate change affects the living things and complex systems of our planet.

The latest edition, Climate Science 2009-2010 will be released later this year. In the meantime, we have assembled a preview of some of the research covered in the report. Take a look at our slideshow detailing the huge variety of impacts we are already seeing from warming global temperatures, including insights into sea-level rise, human migration, weather extremes, and the shrinking habitats of wildlife. Then, use our interactive map to learn more about the regional consequences of climate change around the United States.

Slideshow:

Climate change impacts around the world

» Explore all of WRI’s work on solutions to the climate challenge.

The Global Impacts of Climate Change

Use the arrows above to explore a preview of the research from WRI’s upcoming release of Climate Science 2009-2010 and a small selection of the changes facing our warming world.

WRI is working on solutions to the challenges illustrated in this slideshow. Click here to learn more about our work on climate and energy.

Photo Credit: flickr/NASA Goddard Photo and Video

Uneven global sea level rise

Researchers estimate a global sea level rise of approximately 3.26m resulting from the instantaneous melting of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet. Notably, they find that the impacts of the sea level rise would not be uniform around the globe. Because of perturbations in Earth’s rotation and shoreline migration, the impacts are predicted to be most pronounced on the Pacific and Atlantic coasts of the United States, where sea level rise could be 25% higher than the global mean.

Source(s): Bamber, J.L.; Riva, R.E.M.; Vermeersen, B.L.A.; and A.M. LeBrocq. (2009). Reassessment of the potential sea-level rise from a collapse of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet. Science. 324 (901), doi: 10.1126/science.1169335

Photo Credit: flickr/NOAA Photo Library

Changing patterns for wildfires

Increases in both the frequency and extent of wildfire are salient examples of the effects of climate change that can have immediate and significant impacts on human communities. However, there is variation in this trend. Different regions of the world can expect increases or decreases in wildfire distribution from climate change, largely mediated by regionally-specific vegetation and precipitation changes. Notably, the increases in wildfire extent are projected to be in the United States and Canada, Europe and western China. Decreases in wildfire extent are predicted for parts of East Asia, Africa and Australia.

Source(s): Krawchuk MA; Moritz MA; Parisien M-A; Van Dorn J; and K. Hayhoe. (2009) Global Pyrogeography: the Current and Future Distribution of Wildfire. PLoS ONE 4(4): e5102. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0005102.

Balshi, M.S.; McGuire, A.D.; Duffy, P.; Flannigan,M; Kicklighter, D.W.; and J. Melillo. (2009). Vulnerability of carbon storage in North American boreal forests to wildfires during the 21st century. Global Change Biology. 15: 1491-1510.

Flannigan, M.; Stocks, B.; Turetsky, M.; and M. Wotton. (2009). Impacts of climate change on fire activity and fire management in the circumboreal forest. Global Change Biology. 15: 549-560.

Photo Credit: flickr/slworking2

Growing unpredictability in India’s monsoons

A century’s worth of weather data show that summer monsoon rains are becoming less predictable. Agriculture and flood control in India have relied on the predictability of the monsoon over centuries to millennia. A reduction of the predictability of these events has profound implications for the region’s agriculture and communities’ ability to prepare for oncoming extreme events.

Source(s): Mani, N. J.; Suhas,E; and B. N. Goswami (2009), Can global warming make Indian monsoon weather less predictable? Geophysical Research Letters. 36, L08811, doi:10.1029/2009GL037989.

Photo Credit: flickr/Carlo_it

Extreme heat and the loss of land suitable for human habitation

Human metabolism cannot handle extremely high temperatures well, and a global temperature increase of 7°C, which is the upper limit of current projections, would make ~~large~~ some portions of the world uninhabitable. A global temperature increase of 12°C, which could occur solely from the combustion of all fossil fuel reserves, would render much of the globe uninhabitable by humans. In exploring this possibility, researchers point out that current economic models treat a 10°C rise in temperature as having an equivalent economic effect to a major recession, when it might actually render half the planet uninhabitable.

Source(s): Sherwood, SC and M Huber. (2010). An adaptability limit to climate change due to heat stress. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 107 (21): 9552-9555.

Photo Credit: flickr/coda

Great Barrier Reef coral bleaching

As atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO₂) concentrations rise, the concentration of dissolved CO₂ in the oceans has increased as a result, increasing the acidity of ocean water. Acidification can cause great harm to calcifying organisms, such as corals, as their calcium carbonate shells cannot form and, in some cases, dissolve. Research shows that the predicted impacts of ocean acidification are already occurring on the Great Barrier Reef, impacting the health of the reef ecosystem and the livelihoods that depend on such ecosystems.

Source(s): De’ath, G.;, Lough, J.M.; and K.E. Fabricius. (2009). Declining coral calcification on the Great Barrier Reef. Science. 323: 116-119.

Photo Credit: flickr/babasteve

Billions in losses for U.S. fishing industry

Researchers set out to assess the economic effects of ocean acidification using a simple model which links projected declines in mollusk populations from ocean acidification to projected declines in the U.S. commercial mollusk harvest. Using the 2007 harvest as a baseline, the authors calculated potential future losses under different emissions scenarios. Even a modest estimate of 10-25% aggregate decrease in U.S. mollusk harvests could cause anywhere from $1.7 billion to $10 billion in losses to the U.S. fishing industry by 2060.

Source(s): Cooley, S. and S. Doney. (2009). Anticipating ocean acidification’s economic consequences for commercial fisheries. Environmental Research Letters. 4: 024007.

Photo Credit: flickr/marbla123

A later start to a shorter rainy season in the dry Sahel

In the Sahel region of North Africa, climate-induced alterations of rainfall will have profound impacts on agriculture and the resilience and adaptability of human communities. Recent research demonstrates that, by the end of this century, under a mid-range warming scenario, the rainy season will start later by 3-4 days and have a shorter duration by 5 days in the Sahel. These delays and shortenings, while seemingly small, are likely to reduce anticipated crop yields with profound consequences for agricultural production in the region.

Source(s): Biasutti, M.; and A. H. Sobel (2009), Delayed Sahel rainfall and global seasonal cycle in a warmer climate, Geophys. Res. Lett., 36, L23707, doi:10.1029/2009GL041303.

Photo Credit: flickr/SOS Sahel UK

Reduced water supply from the Colorado River

The combined effects of warming temperatures on snowmelt, evaporation, and precipitation will likely have profound influences on river flows, which are critical for human consumption and irrigation of farmland. Researchers estimated the impacts that climate-change induced reductions in runoff from the Colorado River will have for humans’ future use of the river’s water. Their study predicts a 10-30% reduction in Colorado River run-off by 2050 because of anthropogenic climate change. This will result in significant and regular failure to meet scheduled water deliveries in the American Southwest.

Source(s): Barnett, Tim and David W. Pierce. (2009). Sustainable water deliveries from the Colorado River in a changing climate. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 106 (18): 7334-38.

Photo Credit: flickr/victorfe places

Hotter growing seasons and widespread crop loss

Researchers have assessed the impacts of increasing temperature on global food supply and found that in the tropics and sub-tropics, it is highly likely (greater than 90% probability) that the average growing season temperature during the last decades of the 21st century will exceed the most extreme temperatures experienced during the 20th century. In temperate regions, temperature extremes like those experienced during the 2003 heat wave in Europe will become the norm. Higher temperature alone will have significant negative effects on crop yields, even without the predicted impacts of associated drought.

Source(s): Battisti, D.; and R. Naylor. (2009). Historical warnings of future food insecurity with unprecedented seasonal heat. Science. 323:240-244.

Photo Credit: flickr/CIMMYT

More destructive hurricanes

Projecting hurricane activity over the rest of the 21st century, researchers found that the frequency of intense hurricanes (category 4 or 5) is likely to increase significantly. Their model projects an increase in the number of intense storms by 80% by the end of the 21st century. They attribute this change to warmer sea surface temperatures. While the overall frequency of hurricanes is likely to decrease, the model suggests that there is a pronounced increase in the frequency of powerful storms after 2070.

Source(s): Bender, MA, Knutson, TR, Tuleya, RE, Sirutis, JJ, Vecchi, GA, Garner, ST, and IM Held. (2010). Modeled impact of anthropogenic warming on the frequency of intense Atlantic hurricanes. Science. 327: 454.

Photo Credit: flickr/NOAA Photo Library

Widespread loss of lizard species around the world

While many reports about climate change focus on projected future impacts, one study set out to assess the impacts of warming temperatures that have already affected populations of lizards around the globe. Analyzing studies of 30 species of Mexican lizards from 1975-2009, they find that 12% of local populations of lizards have gone extinct. Based on the Mexican observations, they estimate that globally, 4% of lizard populations have become extinct since 1975 as a result of climate change. On the basis of the observed trends, the authors find that by 2080, 20% of global lizard species will be extinct.

Source(s): Sinervo, B, Mendez-de-la-Cruz, F, Miles, DB, et al. (2010). Erosion of lizard diversity by climate change and altered thermal niches. Science. 328: 894-899.

Photo Credit: flickr/NOAA Photo Library

Extreme temperature highs in the United States

Researchers project that over the next three decades extreme warm temperatures will increase significantly in the United States. Even when global average temperatures do not rise more than 2°C, one study predicts that by 2030-2039, 38 days of the year will be in the top 5% of current temperature extremes, and that there may be at least seven record setting temperature days per year. Extremes in temperatures can have significant impacts on human health and lives, and reductions in soil moisture and precipitation will have implications for the viability of crops and ecosystems.

Source(s): Diffenbaugh, NS and M Ashfaq. (2010). Intensification of hot extremes in the United States. Geophysical Research Letters. Vol. 37: L15701.

Photo Credit: flickr/yeppiyeebo

Cold winter extremes in Europe and other northern regions

Winter sea ice in the Barents and Kara Seas, portions of the Arctic Ocean north of Russia, has been greatly decreasing due to warming temperatures. This reduction in sea ice cover causes the lower troposphere, (the portion of the atmosphere close to the earth surface) to warm slightly because of the heat trapping ability of the open ocean. On study suggests that this warmer air may create a pressure and temperature gradient that sucks heat out of Europe, resulting in an anomalous continental cooling of -1.5°C (averaged across the continent) in the winter.

Source(s): Petoukhov, V and VA Semenov. (2010). A link between reduced Barents-Kara sea ice and cold winter extremes over northern continents. Journal of Geophysical Research. VOL. 115 doi:10.1029/2009JD013568.

Photo Credit: flickr/neiljs

Major increases in human migration

Changes in land-use patterns and agricultural policies in Mexico and other Central American countries have already been leading to large numbers of migrants into the United States. Climate change is likely to augment this trend as it impacts crop yields in some of the hardest hit and poorest areas of southern Mexico. One study predicts an average of an additional 20,000-100,000 “climate-immigrants” per year over the next decades (assuming a linear rate of increase - Ed, 12/9/11).

Source(s): Feng, S, Krueger, AB, and M Oppenheimer. (2010). Linkages among climate change, crop yields, and Mexico-US cross-border migration. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Photo Credit: flickr/Ben Amstutz

Reduction and loss of major Asian sources of drinking water

One of the greatest concerns about the pace and magnitude of human-induced climate change impacts is the water security of the over one billion people in Asia, mostly in India and China, who live in river basins that are fed by Himalayan glaciers and snow. The flows from these water resources are essential to agricultural production and maintaining drinking water supplies. As temperature rises, there are concerns about the long-term stability of these flows. Research has determined that the Indus and the Brahmaputra are most susceptible to climate-induced changes in snow-melt water flow.

Source(s): Immerzeel, WW, van Beek, LPH, and MFP Bierkens. (2010). Climate change will affect the Asian water towers. Science. 328: 1382-1385.

Photo Credit: flickr/reurinkjan

Short-term loss of cloud cover

The sensitivity of the Earth’s climate system to changes in cloud coverage is one of the key uncertainties of the impacts of a changing climate. With a warmer climate, will there be more clouds that reflect more sunlight and thus induce a negative feedback, cooling the earth’s surface, or will there be fewer clouds, and thus a warmer world as more solar radiation hits the earth’s surface? A recent study analyzes data from 2000-2010. Over this time frame, it finds that there appears to be a positive feedback, meaning that warming-induced decreases in cloud coverage has led to more incoming solar radiation, which in turn increases warming.

Source(s): Dessler, AE. (2010). A determination of the cloud feedback from climate variations over the past decade. Science. 330: 1523-1527.

Photo Credit: flickr/Kevin Dooley

Threat of near extinction for Emperor penguin population

Using climate models and observations of Emperor penguin populations over forty three years, researchers found that populations are projected to decline, with the probability of ‘quasi extinction’ (greater than 95% decline) by 2100 at 36%. The impact of early sea ice break up on breeding could have direct effects on penguins’ population growth. Reduced sea ice will likely have indirect impacts on the food web by reducing krill, the primary food source for the fish that penguins eat.

Source(s): Jenouvrier, S.; Caswell, H.; Barbaud, C.; Holland, M.; Stroeve, J.; and H. Weimerskirch. (2009). Demographic models and IPCC climate projections predict the decline of an emperor penguin population. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 106 (6): 1844-47.

Photo Credit: flickr/Martha de Jong-Lantink

Faster glacial melting due to black carbon

Black carbon, or soot produced from biomass and fossil fuel burning, can alter surface reflectivity, making surfaces darker and warmer, much like a dark shirt on a summer day. Researchers have found that levels of black carbon on Tibetan glaciers are high enough to decrease their surface reflectivity by 10 to 100%. Tibetan glaciers represent the largest stores of freshwater on the planet outside of the polar ice caps. As these glaciers melt rapidly and meltwater seasonality is altered, heavier spring floods and longer dry periods are anticipated throughout East and South Asia.

Source(s): Xu, B.; Cao, J.; Hansen, J.; Yao, T.; Joswia, D.; Wang, N.; Wu, G.; Wang, M.; Zhao, H.; Yang, W.; Liu, X.; and J. He. (2009). Black soot and the survival of Tibetan glaciers. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 106 (52): 22114-18.

Photo Credit: NASA

Additional sea level rise in the northeast U.S.

There is a difference in the elevation of the sea level near the U.S. coast, with sea levels lower near the coast than further off shore. This “slope” of sea level is a result of a system of robust ocean currents. According to one study, ice melt and precipitation in the Arctic, combined with increased temperatures, are predicted to slow down these currents and eliminate the difference in sea level height. This will increase coastal sea levels an estimated 0.2-0.3m for Boston, New York and Washington, DC by the end of the century in addition to sea level rise from other causes.

Source(s): Yin, J.; Schlesinger, M.E.; and R.J. Stouffer. (2009). Model projections of rapid sea-level rise on the northeast coast of the United States. Nature Geoscience. Doi: 10.1038/NGEO46.

Photo Credit: flickr/InAweofGod’sCreation

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Restoring Forests: An Opportunity for Africa

Nigel Sizer — Thu, 26 May 2011 14:27:21 -0400

New research shows that Africa offers some of the greatest opportunities globally for restoring forests.

This post originally appeared on Mongabay.

Tropical forest news last week was dominated by Indonesia and Brazil. Forest clearing has surged over the past year in parts of the Amazon, the Brazilian Government reported. Meanwhile, Indonesia’s President signed a moratorium on cutting some intact forest areas, as part of a landmark billion-dollar deal with international donors. But new research shows that Africa offers some of the greatest opportunities globally for restoring forests.

Investors are gathering this week in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi, to learn more. The meeting, hosted by the World Agroforestry Center, together with the World Bank’s Program on Forests and others, aims to help mobilize private investment in trees and landscape restoration in Africa.

With about half of the world’s original forest cover lost or degraded, interest is growing in planting trees to absorb carbon and to help communities better prepare for climate change. Restoring forests has many potential benefits. In the tropics, farming that includes more trees can be more productive and resilient to changes in weather patterns. Trees are also the primary source of fuel for most of the world’s poor. Growing trees to produce charcoal and sell wood for fuel helps to pay the bills for millions of Africa’s farmers. Growing trees also absorb carbon dioxide and so contribute to global efforts to combat climate change.

A new analysis, carried out by the World Resources Institute (WRI) and South Dakota State University, in partnership with the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) and the Global Partnership on Forest Landscape Restoration, found that about 450 million hectares of degraded land in Africa offer opportunities for forest restoration. This is an area the size of the entire European Union. Opportunities for Forest and Landscape Restoration in Africa

Restoration comes in various forms. Sparsely populated areas that are not intensively used may be suitable for wide-scale restoration. Here restoration may entail quite low investment, involving control of fire and grazing so that trees can naturally regenerate. Areas where land is more intensively used can be restored to tree cover in a patchwork pattern, known as “mosaic restoration”. Even intensively farmed and developed areas can benefit greatly from “protective restoration”, including the planting of trees to prevent erosion on steep slopes, along rivers and streams, to serve as windbreaks, and to provide shade along tracks and roads.

Recent experience from West Africa sees farmers putting the theory into practice. Niger, just a generation ago, was in the throes of mass famine, spreading deserts and entrenched poverty. Just 20 years later, over five million hectares of Niger has been restored to productive farmed woodland as the value of trees to enhance farm yield and provide income from fuel wood has caught on. Over 200 million new trees were planted, protected and managed as a result, and there is no sign of this movement stopping.

Others are being inspired to follow. Rwanda has committed to a nationwide effort to restore forests as a means to improve livelihoods, enhance food security, and safeguard water supplies and biodiversity. This dramatic move, supported by the United Nations Forum on Forests, and gaining donor interest, seems likely to be the first of several such efforts across Africa.

Leadership by national governments may be the key for catalyzing action and investment. In Rwanda, visionary efforts by the country’s leadership are leading to a pioneering process of policy reform to encourage tree planting. Niger’s greening partly followed a revision of the law to crucially give farmers ownership of the trees growing on their land. Prior to this, all trees had belonged to the state. As democratic currents gained force in the country it was possible to shift control to farmers and thereby give them an incentive to manage the resource as their own.

Despite these positive steps, many challenges remain. As resources become scarcer, economies grow and demand expands for timber, palm oil, soya beans, and other commodities, remaining intact forests will come under increasing pressure. Efforts to combat deforestation in Brazil and Indonesia will continue to grab the headlines and need long-term support. But it may be the emergence of a steady and sustained effort to help trees grow in places where they used to that gains greater traction and makes more progress toward meeting human needs. The policymakers and investors gathering in Nairobi this week may well be onto something big.

Opportunities for Forest and Landscape Restoration in Africa

Maggie Barron — Tue, 24 May 2011 15:06:50 -0400

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Global Map of Forest Restoration Opportunities
Read more about forest restoration in Africa

Findings

Nearly 450 million hectares of degraded forest landscapes — an area the size of the European Union — offer opportunities for restoration in Africa, more than in any other continent.
Over 400 million hectares offer opportunities for mosaic restoration. These lands could support either closed forest or open woodlands and have a mosaic of land uses, including agriculture and human settlements.
Approximately 50 million hectares offer opportunities for wide-scale restoration: on these lands, population pressure is lower and the climate supports closed forests.
Additional areas offer opportunities for protective restoration, e.g. to protect water supplies by incorporating trees into rural landscapes dominated by intensive crop production. Trees within agricultural lands, also called “evergreen agriculture” can enhance soil fertility and moisture content, boosting the production of food.

Restoration of Forests and Landscapes

Forest landscape restoration is an approach that is complementing and enriching more narrowly defined approaches to afforestation, reforestation, and ecological restoration that have been tried in the past. Central to this approach is the need to improve both human livelihoods and ecological integrity. Forest landscape restoration has the following characteristics:

A focus on restoring or enhancing the functionality of a landscape (that is, its supply of ecosystem services) – not on maximizing new forest cover;
Restoration applied to whole landscapes – not to individual sites. This allows trade-offs to be made;
Local stakeholder consent and participation in decision making and implementation;
Use of a range of restoration options that include active promotion of spontaneous (“natural”) re-growth of trees (e.g., by reducing pressure from grazing and fire), as well as planting, avoiding conversion of natural forests and other important ecosystems into plantations;
Land-use complexity and dynamics are accommodated by adaptive management. Provision is made for monitoring and learning.

A restored landscape can be configured to accommodate a suite of land uses including, for example, protected reserves, ecological corridors, regenerating forests, well-managed plantations, agroforestry systems (or other agricultural systems that make use of onfarm trees) and plantings along waterways.

Restored lands support livelihoods and biodiversity, supply clean water, reduce erosion, provide biomass fuel and produce forest products. Trees in agricultural landscapes can enhance soil fertility, conserve soil moisture, and boost food production.

Forests and trees can also mitigate climate change by sequestering carbon; on a large scale, restoration could reduce the concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. Restoration can help people weather the impacts of climate change, helping us to adapt to global warming by ensuring water supplies or reducing the impacts of catastrophic storms. The “plus” in the REDD-plus mechanism provides an incentive for restoration activities and could allow many countries that have already lost significant forest areas to participate.

Mapping Restoration Opportunities

We first mapped where forest and woodlands could grow according to climatic conditions, i.e. their potential extent absent human influence. Dry areas such as the Sahel were not included in the extent of this study, although trees play an important role there. Second, we mapped the current extent of forests and woodlands. Forest maps were derived from global 250m resolution satellite imagery.

Third, restoration opportunities were identified by comparing potential and current forest extent in light of information about current land use. Intact forest landscapes and managed natural forests and woodlands were considered to have no need for restoration. Lands with a low likelihood of offering restoration opportunities were identified by mapping human pressure as a combination of population density and land use.

Deforested and degraded forest lands were divided into three categories, resulting in a map of restoration opportunity areas (with resolution of 1km x 1km):

Wide-scale restoration — Population density of less than 10 persons per square kilometer and potential to support closed forest.
Mosaic restoration — Moderate human pressure (between 10 and 100 persons per square kilometer)
Protective restoration — Intensive human pressure (density over 100 persons per square kilometer), croplands, and urban areas.

The Global Partnership on Forest Landscape Restoration is a worldwide network that unites influential governments, major UN and non-governmental organizations, companies and individuals with a common cause. We believe that ideas transform landscapes. The partnership provides the information and tools to strengthen restoration efforts around the world and builds support for forest landscape restoration with decision-makers and opinion-formers, both at local and international levels.

Other Featured WRI Maps

This map is part of a continuing project to produce maps that shed light on significant environmental issues throughout the world.

Global Well-Being: Rooted in the World's Forests

Jonathan Lash — Tue, 26 Apr 2011 13:25:40 -0400

This piece originally appeared in the Washington Post Environmental Leadership supplement on April 20, 2011, and is reposted with permission.

This year, 2011, has been declared the International Year of Forests, and while a few bright spots exist, forests today face a host of challenges. Mounting pressures from agricultural expansion, rapid economic development, and growing demand for products are leading to deforestation and degradation of forests at alarming rates. The expanding global population— expected to reach 9 billion people by mid-century—is increasing demand for food, encroaching on forests and the value they hold.

Globally an estimated 1.5 billion hectares have already been lost to deforestation. Countries like Brazil and Indonesia face critical situations as millions of acres of rainforest are felled or burned each year to make room for cattle ranches, soybean and oil palm plantations, and the production of pulp and paper. Closer to home, the United States Forest Service predicts that more than 30 million acres of forests in the southern U.S. could be lost to suburban sprawl in the coming generation.

Forests, which cover one-third of the world’s land, are a precious natural resource. They offer food, shelter and income for around a billion of the world’s poorest people. More than half of land-based animal and plant species live in forests. And trees absorb vast quantities of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and protect vital freshwater sources.

The challenges are clear, but solutions have been harder to find. Certainly there is no single magic bullet, but evidence is growing from remote corners of the world— Colombia, Brazil, Niger, Nepal, Indonesia, and beyond— that offer reasons for hope and hold the promise for further success.

In Niger, West Africa, tree cover has increased dramatically across a vast swath of the southern landscape. This turnaround came after political leaders and forestry officials began to recognize the property rights of local farmers to manage trees on their land. Now, forests are being restored, erosion is being reduced, water tables are rising, soil is becoming more fertile, and crop yields are increasing.

In Latin America, some governments, including those in Colombia and Brazil, have been handing back vast forest reserves to the descendants of their original owners, including indigenous Amerindians and other local communities. Evidence is emerging that forest cover is preserved when coupled with ancestral land rights.

After decades of deforestation, Nepal has also begun to reverse course, especially in areas where local “community forests” have been established. Community forests account for approximately 20 percent of forested land in Nepal, where decision- making is accomplished locally by empowered villagers and supported by the national government. Over 12,000 Community Forest User Groups have engaged local communities in the business of protecting, rejuvenating and managing forested landscapes to produce fodder, wood and other products to use and sell.

Increased rights and recognition of land tenure can be a win-win, benefitting both people and forests.

Local control and decisionmaking is the common thread connecting these stories. Nearly a decade ago, the authors Andy White and Alejandra Martin proposed that the recognition of indigenous rights and community ownership offer “an historic opportunity for countries to dramatically improve the livelihoods of millions of forest inhabitants.” While there is still a long way to go to fulfill this vision, growing evidence suggests that increased rights and recognition of land tenure can indeed be a win-win, benefitting both people and the forests on which they depend.

Creative thinking around governance is also playing a hand in one of the best and most innovative opportunities to restore forests. In West Kalimantan, Indonesia, the World Resources Institute is working with local partners to encourage the restoration and reuse of degraded lands, including for palm oil production. By some estimates, more than half of oil palm expansion in Indonesia since 1990 occurred at the expense of forests. This project, which has growing support from the Indonesian government, would help divert some planned oil palm plantations away from natural rainforests and toward degraded lands instead.

Recent analysis by WRI and its partners shows that about three billion acres worldwide—an area larger than Brazil—of previously forested land ~~have become deforested or degraded over the last decade~~ provide opportunities for restoration. While some of these areas could be restored as healthy forests, other areas could be converted to food production. This, in turn, can bring a multitude of benefits, such as creating jobs, easing pressure to clear more forests, reducing carbon emissions, and protecting biodiversity.

While none of the actions alone is enough, together they offer strategies that would help restore and protect forests for future generations. Governments, international development agencies, and nongovernmental organizations—together with local communities—must now build on these approaches and expand the number of success stories in the years to come.

Agricultural Land Grabs Threaten Local Property Rights and Sustainable Development

Mercedes Stickler — Mon, 18 Apr 2011 15:09:27 -0400

With large-scale agricultural investments on the rise, the rights of local people must be protected.

Large-scale land acquisitions for agricultural use by both local and foreign commercial entities – often dubbed “land grabs” - are on the rise worldwide. Often touted as a form of economic development, these investments could have profound negative effects on the environment and rural livelihoods if transactions go through without the meaningful participation of affected peoples and due consideration for the many benefits they derive from nature.

Land provides the very platform on which sustainable lives and livelihoods are built. As a result, the land on which people build their homes and organize their communities is directly linked to their quality of life. Seventy-five percent of the world’s poor live in rural areas, and a majority of rural livelihoods depend primarily on natural resources to provide food, fresh water, and a healthy environment, among other benefits. Reliable access to land and the ability to make decisions about land use is therefore critical to rural economies.

The Importance of Recognizing Local Land Rights

In many developing countries, however, local peoples’ rights to land are not recognized or enforced by governments. Often times, governments make decisions about how land and natural resources will be used without consulting the people who depend on those resources for their livelihoods. People who rely on customary or traditional rights are particularly vulnerable to losing their land because there is little or no official documentation of their rights to protect them from their land being taken by someone else. This is a serious problem in Africa, where formal tenure covers only some 2 – 10% of all land.

The Risks and Opportunities of Large-Scale Agriculture Investments

Rising global demand for food and biofuel crops has driven a recent wave of large-scale agricultural investments in the Global South. Following the food price spike in 2007-08, media reports suggest that up to 56 million hectares of land were targeted for agriculture and forestry investments in less than one year, compared with an annual average cropland expansion of 1.9 million ha between 1990 and 2007.

Case studies have found that land transfers of hundreds and even thousands of hectares have been made without due consideration of existing rights or potential impacts on ecosystem services and the livelihoods they support. As a result, these investments may undermine sustainable development in countries already struggling to escape poverty.

In Ethiopia, for example, official government data in five of its nine regions indicate that a total area of at least 1.2 million ha – roughly 8.6% of the country’s cultivated area – were transferred to domestic and foreign commercial entities between 2005 and 2010. Although production data are scarce, media reports indicate that land acquired by Saudi Arabian companies in Ethiopia will be used to produce vegetables, flowers, and rice for export to nations in the Middle East. Meanwhile, Ethiopia is due to receive food aid for 5.7 million people in 2011 from the United Nations World Food Programme.

The size of individual deals can be staggering – in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), a Chinese company has reportedly acquired rights from the central government to some 3 million ha of forest land across three provinces where indigenous people and other communities still rely on forests for their livelihood and culture. This transaction represents roughly two-thirds of the entire area in DRC that is potentially suitable for growing oil palm but not yet cultivated.

The scale of these transactions alone makes it even more imperative that the customary rights of local people be recognized and the impacts on existing land uses, especially forests, be considered. Large-scale land acquisitions that ignore customary rights not only risk undermining local livelihoods; illegitimate deals can slow investment implementation, damage company reputation, and even undermine regional stability – as demonstrated by the role that a high profile 1.3 million ha deal in Madagascar played in that country’s 2009 coup.

Governments often justify these transfers by citing their potential contribution to economic growth – however, any gains in national accounts (which to date appear few) risk being greatly outweighed by negative impacts on local livelihoods. Increased investment in agriculture can be used to promote sustainable development through the introduction of new technology and improved management of natural resources using an integrated planning approach. To achieve broad-based economic growth and increased standards of living, however, major agricultural investments must respect customary and traditional rights and mitigate or compensate negative impacts on the ecosystem services that support local livelihoods.

As food production will likely need to double in the next forty years to feed an additional two billion people by 2050, demand for agricultural land is likely to remain high. There is therefore an urgent need for governments, civil society, and the private sector to work together to improve the governance of agricultural investments in ways that are environmentally sustainable and accountable to local people.

WRI at the World Bank Land Conference

WRI is excited to be participating in this year’s Annual World Bank Conference on Land and Poverty, April 18-20, 2011, in Washington, DC. Below are several events that feature WRI staff and research:

April 19th 4:00-6:00 PM (panel): Monitoring Land Acquisitions from Different Angles: Is There Scope for Collaboration? - Manish Bapna, WRI Executive Vice President and Managing Director, will chair a panel addressing monitoring land acquisitions with regard to IFC performance standards, lessons learned on participatory monitoring of large land deals, and civil society responses to large-scale land acquisitions.
April 20, 8:00-9:30 AM (panel): Land Tenure in the Context of REDD+ and Climate Change - Fred Stolle, WRI Senior Associate, will present on “Shifting cropland expansion to degraded areas: Experience from Indonesia’s POTICO project.” This panel will also address country-level perspectives on making REDD operational, tenure issues at REDD project sites, and the large-scale acquisition of forest rights.
April 18-20th (exhibit): Focus on Africa: An Interactive Educational Tool on Land Tenure and Property Rights. The Focus on Africa website, a joint initiative of WRI and Landesa, with support by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, aims to inform policymakers and development practitioners on critical land tenure issues. The tool provides land tenure experiences and lessons from six sub-Saharan African countries – Ghana, Kenya, Mali, Mozambique, Tanzania and Uganda. Please visit the site - http://www.wri.org/property-rights-africa/.

For more information about WRI’s participation, please contact Emily Norford at enorford@wri.org or +1 (202) 729-7754.