Methods for Measuring Greenhouse Gas Balances and Evaluating Mitigation Options in Smallholder Agriculture

Methods for Measuring Greenhouse Gas Balances and Evaluating Mitigation Options in Smallholder Agriculture
Author: Todd S. Rosenstock
Publisher: Springer
Total Pages: 217
Release: 2016-08-23
Genre: Technology & Engineering
ISBN: 3319297945

​​This book provides standards and guidelines for quantifying greenhouse gas emissions and removals in smallholder agricultural systems and comparing options for climate change mitigation based on emission reductions and livelihood trade-offs. Globally, agriculture is directly responsible for about 11% of annual greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and induces an additional 17% through land use change, mostly in developing countries. Farms in the developing countries of sub-Saharan Africa and Asia are predominately managed by smallholders, with 80% of land holdings smaller than ten hectares. However, little to no information exists on greenhouse gas emissions and mitigation potentials in smallholder agriculture. Greenhouse gas measurements in agriculture are expensive, time consuming, and error prone, challenges only exacerbated by the heterogeneity of smallholder systems and landscapes. Concerns over methodological rigor, measurement costs, and the diversity of approaches, coupled with the demand for robust information suggest it is germane for the scientific community to establish standards of measurements for quantifying GHG emissions from smallholder agriculture. Standard guidelines for use by scientists, development organizations will help generate reliable data on emissions baselines and allow rigorous comparisons of mitigation options. The guidelines described in this book, developed by the CGIAR Research Program on Climate Change, Agriculture, and Food Security (CCAFS) and partners, are intended to inform anyone conducting field measurements of agricultural greenhouse gas sources and sinks, especially to develop IPCC Tier 2 emission factors or to compare mitigation options in smallholder systems.

Tropentag 2023 International Research on Food Security, Natural Resource Management and Rural Development

Tropentag 2023 International Research on Food Security, Natural Resource Management and Rural Development
Author: Eric Tielkes
Publisher: Cuvillier Verlag
Total Pages: 843
Release: 2023-09-15
Genre:
ISBN: 3736968809

Tropentag is the largest interdisciplinary conference in Europe focusing on development- oriented research in the fields of tropical and subtropical agriculture, food security, natural resource management and rural development. It is clear that a just and sustainable transformation of our food systems is urgently needed: climate change, conflicts, rising food and fuel prices, and growing social and income inequalities are exacerbating the vulnerabilities of our food systems. The theme invites diverse contributions that explore different pathways for transforming food systems and the trade-offs and synergies involved, ranging from more technical solutions, such as climate-smart agriculture and biofortified crops, to more systematic solutions for changing the underlying relationships of our food systems, such as agroecology and alternative food networks.

State of Food and Agriculture

State of Food and Agriculture
Author: Food and Agriculture Organization
Publisher: Food & Agriculture Organization
Total Pages: 196
Release: 2017-01-12
Genre:
ISBN: 9789251093740

Unless action is taken now to make agriculture more sustainable, productive and resilient, climate change impacts will seriously compromise food production in countries and regions that are already highly food-insecure. The Paris Agreement, adopted in December 2015, represents a new beginning in the global effort to stabilize the climate before it is too late. It recognizes the importance of food security in the international response to climate change, as reflected by many countries prominent focus on the agriculture sector in their planned contributions to adaptation and mitigation. To help put those plans into action, this report identifies strategies, financing opportunities, and data and information needs. It also describes transformative policies and institutions that can overcome barriers to implementation. The State of Food and Agriculture is produced annually. Each edition contains an overview of the current global agricultural situation, as well as more in-depth coverage of a topical theme."

Sustainable Agriculture Reviews

Sustainable Agriculture Reviews
Author: Eric Lichtfouse
Publisher: Springer
Total Pages: 401
Release: 2016-02-19
Genre: Technology & Engineering
ISBN: 3319267779

This book features articles that analyze current agricultural issues and knowledge. It also proposes novel, environmentally friendly solutions that are based on integrated information from such fields as agronomy, soil science, molecular biology, chemistry, toxicology, ecology, economics and the social sciences.Coverage examines ways to produce food and energy in a sustainable way for humans and their children. Inside, readers will find articles that explore climate change, increasing food and fuel prices, poor-nation starvation, rich-nation obesity, water pollution, soil erosion, fertility loss, pest control and biodiversity depletion. Instead of solving problems using the classical painkiller approach, which seeks to limit negative impacts, sustainable agriculture treats challenges at their source. Because most societal issues are in fact intertwined, global, and fast-developing, sustainable agriculture will bring solutions that have the potential to build a more peaceful world. This book will help scientists, decision-makers, professors, farmers and politicians build safer agriculture, energy and food systems for future generations.

Sustainable Intensification in Smallholder Agriculture

Sustainable Intensification in Smallholder Agriculture
Author: Ingrid Oborn
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
Total Pages: 418
Release: 2017-02-17
Genre: Technology & Engineering
ISBN: 1317212010

Sustainable intensification has recently been developed and adopted as a key concept and driver for research and policy in sustainable agriculture. It includes ecological, economic and social dimensions, where food and nutrition security, gender and equity are crucial components. This book describes different aspects of systems research in agriculture in its broadest sense, where the focus is moved from farming systems to livelihoods systems and institutional innovation. Much of the work represents outputs of the three CGIAR Research Programs on Integrated Systems for the Humid Tropics, Aquatic Agricultural Systems and Dryland Systems. The chapters are based around four themes: the conceptual underpinnings of systems research; sustainable intensification in practice; integrating nutrition, gender and equity in research for improved livelihoods; and systems and institutional innovation. While most of the case studies are from countries and agro-ecological zones in Africa, there are also some from Latin America, Southeast Asia and the Pacific.

Sustainable Development Goals

Sustainable Development Goals
Author: Pia Katila
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages: 653
Release: 2019-12-12
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 1108486991

A global assessment of potential and anticipated impacts of efforts to achieve the SDGs on forests and related socio-economic systems. This title is available as Open Access via Cambridge Core.

Tropical dry forests

Tropical dry forests
Author: Reuben Blackie
Publisher: CIFOR
Total Pages: 38
Release: 2014-08-01
Genre:
ISBN:

This discussion paper assesses the state of knowledge on tropical dry forests as it relates to CIFOR’s strategy and identifies research opportunities that align with CIFOR’s strategic goals. Over the past two decades, CIFOR has accumulated a substantial body of work on dry forests, with a particular focus on African dry forests. This paper is intended to build on that work, by gathering wider research from around the world, as CIFOR seeks to widen the geographic scope of its research on dry forests. The present assessment explores five themes: climate change mitigation and adaptation; food security and livelihoods; demand for energy; sustainable management of dry forests; and policies and institutional support for sustainable management. These themes emerged as priority areas during discussions on dry forest research priorities held at CIFOR’s Dry Forests Symposium in South Africa in 2011. Research on these themes should be considered a priority, given the importance of dry forests to people and ecosystems around the world and the threats posed to them.

Sustainable Agricultural Development

Sustainable Agricultural Development
Author: John M. Antle
Publisher: Springer Nature
Total Pages: 229
Release: 2020-02-24
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 3030345998

This book provides a non-technical, accessible primer on sustainable agricultural development and its relationship to sustainable development based on three analytical pillars. The first is to understand agriculture as complex physical-biological-human systems. Second is the economic perspective of understanding tradeoffs and synergies among the economic, environmental and social dimensions of these systems at farm, regional and global scales. Third is the understanding of these agricultural systems as the supply side of one sector of a growing economy, interacting through markets and policies with other sectors at local, national and global scales. The first part of the book introduces the concept of sustainability and develops an analytical framework based on tradeoffs quantified using impact indicators in the economic, environmental and social domains, linking this framework to the role of agriculture in economic growth and development. Next the authors introduce the reader to the sustainability challenges of major agroecosystems in the developing and industrialized worlds. The concluding chapter discusses the design and implementation of sustainable development pathways, through the expression of consumers’ desire for sustainably produced foods on the demand side of the food system, and through policies on the supply side such as new more sustainable technologies, environmental regulation and payments for ecosystem services.