WRI responds to a critique of its working paper, Avoiding Bioenergy Competition for Food Crops and Land. The paper articulates reasons the world should avoid dedicating land to bioenergy production if it is to sustainably feed the global population in 2050.
Some farmers are combating climate change, boosting food security and improving their livelihoods by protecting and managing on-farm trees. A new report details how to spread this practice throughout the African drylands.
It would take a Mexico-sized area of farm land to grow the amount of food people waste every year.
The Bonn Challenge, a global movement aimed at starting to restore 150 million hectares by 2020, is on track to meet or exceed this ambitious goal. International partners meet in Bonn this week to discuss progress already made and a vision for what should happen after 2020.
In much of Africa, rural farmers and communities are losing their land to government, investors and others. It's creating profound impacts on local livelihoods and the environment.
The USDA's new Regional Conservation Partnerships Program aims to improve water quality by reducing agricultural runoff in targeted watersheds. The challenge is, how do we help make sure this new approach is successful?
Biofuels and bioenergy take up finite land resources at the cost of food production and carbon storage and doesn’t guarantee carbon emissions cuts.
Creating a Sustainable Food Future, Installment Nine
Installment 9 of Creating a Sustainable Food Future shows that any dedicated use of land for growing bioenergy inherently comes at the cost of not using that land for growing food or animal feed, or for storing carbon.
It recommends several...
A new WRI paper finds bioenergy can play a modest role using wastes and other niche fuelstocks, but recommends against dedicating land to produce bioenergy.
The lesson: do not grow food or grass crops for ethanol or diesel or cut down trees for electricity.
Last month, 40 nations agreed to restore 5 million hectares (12.4 million acres) of degraded lands and areas of low-quality bamboo production into productive, healthy bamboo forests at the International Network for Bamboo and Rattan’s (INBAR) Ninth Council Session in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
This pledge will help answer the Bonn Challenge—an effort to pledge to have 150 million hectares (370 million acres) of degraded and deforested lands in restoration programs by 2020—and could create significant environmental and climate benefits, if bamboo can overcome its image problem.