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Dung Busters – Nepal. How many benefits can a biogas stove provide? In Nepal, as well as reducing pressure on forestry resources, these stoves are changing lives in many ways – improving sanitation and health, giving people time to pursue other activities, and improving crop yields. The domestic sector accounts for 95 per cent of Nepal’s total energy use, mostly for cooking and heating. This demand is met through the combustion of firewood (75 per cent) and agricultural residues and dung (20 per cent). This high demand for firewood has depleted forestry reserves, resulting in problems such as soil degradation, erosion, landslides and flooding. Despite moves to promote community forestry management, the heavy dependence on fuelwood and increasing population growth continues to put pressure on local forests. Watch it here...

 

Listen to the World Bank’s On The Move Podcast - Climate Change at Bali. This podcast outlines the World Bank’s stance on Climate Change issues, such as mitigation for developing countries and carbon trading, at the Bali conference. Listen to it here.

 

Visit Malawi without leaving your desk. This short video demonstrates the use of GoogleEarth to visualize geospatial data regarding the Miombo Woodlands in Malawi. Watch here…

Latest News

Feeding Africa: Key is better farms, not food aid  - To break out of endless cycles of drought, poverty and hunger, experts say, Africa desperately needs to modernize its age-old farming techniques. But the vast sums in foreign aid to Africa go toward feeding the hungry and very little is left for improving farming so that Africans will cease to depend on handouts. It isn't impossible. A decade ago, a "green revolution" helped millions of farmers in Asia and Latin America emerge from poverty with basic innovations such as fertilizer, improved irrigation and hybrid seeds. But Africa's farms, which employ more than half the labor force, remain one-fourth as productive as their counterparts around the world. Ethiopia drew international attention in 1984 when a famine compounded by communist policies killed 1 million people. It is now gripped by drought that has left 4.6 million people in need of emergency food shipments. Yet it's not that Ethiopia is incapable of growing food, as this experimental farm 100 miles southwest of Addis Ababa demonstrates. It just needs the right tools. The farm, part of a government-run research center, beats the drought with smart irrigation systems, higher-yielding seeds, and fertilizer and pesticides correctly applied. The United States, Ethiopia's largest donor, this year gave it more than $570 million, but just over 1 percent of that money is going toward developing agriculture. "We've under-invested, and everybody appreciates this now," said Glenn Anders, who heads the American aid program in Ethiopia. "Particularly in Africa, for the last few decades, maybe more." The continent's other needs often offer a quicker fix for donors, he said. "You give a kid an immunization and that kid's better. Agriculture's much more indirect than that and also requires a lot more time. It's not a quick fix at all." (Reuters)

 

The Forgotten World Water Crisis - The recent World Food Summit, held in Rome by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), provided a forum for active debate about the role of high oil prices, biofuels, changing consumption patterns and erratic weather in driving up the prices of basic foods. But oddly, participants paid less attention to the alarming decline in the availability of water over the last few decades.

 

They did acknowledge the importance of breeding higher yielding crop varieties that require less water but did not address the critical question of where the extra water for more productive and efficient food, fiber and energy crops will come from. (CGIAR) Read more…

 

Global Forest Plan Could Boost Fight Against Poverty and Climate Change - Hundreds of experts call for new kind of forest partnership. An emerging initiative could pave the way for fundamental change in the way forests are managed, boosting efforts to fight both poverty and climate change, says research published today by the International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED). (OneWorld UK) Read more…

 

The Other Food Crisis - Conservationists have long argued that the hunting of terrestrial wildlife for food – including mammals, birds, reptiles, and amphibians – poses a threat to the survival of many tropical forest species and ecosystems. A new study suggests we should be equally concerned that the so-called “bushmeat crisis” is also a food security crisis for many forest-dependent people. “Conservation and Use of Wildlife-Based Resources:  The Bushmeat Crisis”, a technical paper published by the Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity and CIFOR, summarizes the state of knowledge on this controversial topic. Read more...

 

9-11 August, 2008 International Society for Ecological Economics Biennial Conference, in Nairobi, Kenya

The conference will highlight the vision, methods and policy adjustments needed for ecological economics principles to be applied to the design and management of environmentally and socially sustainable development processes. For more information, click here

 

25-28 August, 2008 Adaptation of Forests and Forest Management to Changing Climate, in Umea, Sweden.

Adaptation of Forests and Forest Management to Changing Climate with Emphasis on Forest Health: A Review of Science, Policies, and Practices is convened by IUFRO-FAO-SLU. The conference will include a Special Session on “Tropical Forest Management and Climate Change Adaptation” with papers on the biophysical/silvicultural, social, institutional, and economic aspects of tropical forest management (natural and planted stands) in the context of global climate change. More details are found at the Conference webpage: www.forestadaptation2008.net.

3-5 September, 2008 Africa Carbon Forum in Dakar Senegal.

At COP13 in Bali, the UNFCCC Secretariat announced its intent to convene the 1st Africa Carbon Forum. The Africa Carbon Forum is a platform that will strengthen links between Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) project developers and the region’s investment community, provide opportunities for DNA representatives to exchange views and share their experiences relating to the CDM, while facilitating knowledge sharing and transactions between project sponsors and global carbon offset credit buyers. For more information, click here.

6-7 October, 2008 Conference: Working Forests in the Tropics at the University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida

The purpose of the Working Forests in the Tropics Conference (WFT) is to provide an interdisciplinary and interactive forum for sharing and synthesis of information about tropical forest conservation and management. For more information, click here.

 

18-25 October, 2009 World Forestry Congress, in Buenos Aires, Argentina

“Forests in development - a vital balance” is the theme of this XIIIth World Forestry Congress and it will be tackled from the social, ecological and economic perspectives. For more information, click here.

NRM community notes are submitted by NRM practioners across the world. Submit your recent publications, upcoming events, and insights from field activities to frame@dai.com.