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Water, Land And Ecosystems
Water, Land and Ecosystems is one of several new research programmes approved by the CGIAR during 2011 after an extensive period of consultation that began in 2009. This research programme will draw on the resources of 14 CGIAR and numerous external partners to provide a more integrated approach to research into managing natural resources. The aim of the research programme is to increase agricultural productivity while protecting the environment, so food security is ensured for most of humanity and that poverty becomes history. The five main strands to the programme are: River basins; Irrigation systems; Information systems; Resource reuse and recovery; and Rainfed agriculture systems. A report released by UNEP and the International Water Management Institute (IWMI – which comes under the CGIAR umbrella and will be a major contributor to the new research programme), exemplifies the concept of conducting agriculture within healthy ecosystems. Current farming methods have resul ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Consultative Group On International Agricultural Research
CGIAR (formerly the Consultative Group for International Agricultural Research) is a global partnership that unites international organizations engaged in research about food security. CGIAR research aims to reduce rural poverty, increase food security, improve human health and nutrition, and sustainable management of natural resources. CGIAR research is carried out at 15 centers that collaborate with partners from national and regional research institutes, civil society organizations, academia, development organizations, and the private sector. These research centers are around the globe, with most in the Global South and Vavilov Centers of agricultural crop genetic diversity. CGIAR has an annual research portfolio of just over US$900 million with more than 9,000 staff working in 89 countries. Funding is provided by national governments, multilateral funding and development agencies and leading private foundations. Representatives of CGIAR Funders and developing countries me ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Food Security
Food security is the state of having reliable access to a sufficient quantity of affordable, healthy Human food, food. The availability of food for people of any class, gender, ethnicity, or religion is another element of food protection. Similarly, household food security is considered to exist when all the members of a family have consistent access to enough food for an active, healthy life. Food-secure individuals do not live in hunger or fear of starvation. Food security includes resilience to future disruptions of food supply. Such a disruption could occur due to various risk factors such as droughts and floods, shipping disruptions, fuel shortages, economic instability, and wars. Food insecurity is the opposite of food security: a state where there is only limited or uncertain availability of suitable food. The concept of food security has evolved over time. The four pillars of food security include availability, access, utilization, and stability. In addition, there are tw ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Poverty
Poverty is a state or condition in which an individual lacks the financial resources and essentials for a basic standard of living. Poverty can have diverse Biophysical environment, environmental, legal, social, economic, and political causes and effects. When evaluating poverty in statistics or economics there are two main measures: ''absolute poverty'' which compares income against the amount needed to meet basic needs, basic personal needs, such as food, clothing, and Shelter (building), shelter; secondly, ''relative poverty'' measures when a person cannot meet a minimum level of living standards, compared to others in the same time and place. The definition of ''relative poverty'' varies from one country to another, or from one society to another. Statistically, , most of the world's population live in poverty: in Purchasing Power Parity, PPP dollars, 85% of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
River Basins
A drainage basin is an area of land in which all flowing surface water converges to a single point, such as a river mouth, or flows into another body of water, such as a lake or ocean. A basin is separated from adjacent basins by a perimeter, the drainage divide, made up of a succession of elevated features, such as ridges and hills. A basin may consist of smaller basins that merge at river confluences, forming a hierarchical pattern. Other terms for a drainage basin are catchment area, catchment basin, drainage area, river basin, water basin, and impluvium. In North America, they are commonly called a watershed, though in other English-speaking places, " watershed" is used only in its original sense, that of the drainage divide line. A drainage basin's boundaries are determined by watershed delineation, a common task in environmental engineering and science. In a closed drainage basin, or endorheic basin, rather than flowing to the ocean, water converges toward the interior ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Rainfed Agriculture
Rainfed agriculture is a type of farming that relies on rainfall for water. It provides much of the food consumed by poor communities in developing countries. E.g., rainfed agriculture accounts for more than 95% of farmed land in sub-Saharan Africa, 90% in Latin America, 75% in the Near East and North Africa, 65% in East Asia, and 60% in South Asia. There is a strong correlation between poverty, hunger and water scarcity in part because of the dependencies on rainfed agriculture in developing economies. Moreover, because of increased weather variability, climate change is expected to make rain-fed farmers more vulnerable to climate change. Rainfed agriculture is distinguished in most of the literature from irrigated agriculture, which applies water from other sources, such as freshwater from streams, rivers and lakes or groundwater. As farmers become more aware of and develop better water resource management strategies, most agriculture exists on a spectrum between rainfed an ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
UNEP
The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) is responsible for coordinating responses to environmental issues within the United Nations system. It was established by Maurice Strong, its first director, after the Declaration of the United Nations Conference on the Human Environment, United Nations Conference on the Human Environment in Stockholm in June 1972. Its mandate is to provide leadership, deliver science and develop solutions on a wide range of issues, including climate change, the management of marine and terrestrial ecosystems, and green economic development. The organization also develops international environmental agreements; publishes and promotes environmental science and helps national governments achieve environmental targets. As a member of the United Nations Development Group, UNEP aims to help the world meet the 17 Sustainable Development Goals. UNEP hosts the secretariats of several multilateral environmental agreements and research bodies, including Conven ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
International Water Management Institute
The International Water Management Institute (IWMI) is a non-profit international water management research organisation under the One CGIAR with its headquarters in Colombo, Sri Lanka, and offices across Africa and Asia. One CGIAR is a reformulation of CGIAR happened in the last few years. Research at the Institute focuses on improving how water resources, water and land resources are managed, with the aim of underpinning food security and reducing poverty while safeguarding the environment. Its research focuses on: Water resources, water availability and access, including climate change adaptation, adaptation to climate change; how water is used and how it can be used more productively; water quality and its relationship to public health, health and the Natural environment, environment; and how societies govern their water resources. In 2012, IWMI was awarded the prestigious Stockholm Water Prize Laureate by Stockholm International Water Institute for its pioneering research, whi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Agriculture
Agriculture encompasses crop and livestock production, aquaculture, and forestry for food and non-food products. Agriculture was a key factor in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created food surpluses that enabled people to live in the cities. While humans started gathering grains at least 105,000 years ago, nascent farmers only began planting them around 11,500 years ago. Sheep, goats, pigs, and cattle were domesticated around 10,000 years ago. Plants were independently cultivated in at least 11 regions of the world. In the 20th century, industrial agriculture based on large-scale monocultures came to dominate agricultural output. , small farms produce about one-third of the world's food, but large farms are prevalent. The largest 1% of farms in the world are greater than and operate more than 70% of the world's farmland. Nearly 40% of agricultural land is found on farms larger than . However, five of every six farm ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ecosystems
An ecosystem (or ecological system) is a system formed by Organism, organisms in interaction with their Biophysical environment, environment. The Biotic material, biotic and abiotic components are linked together through nutrient cycles and energy flows. Ecosystems are controlled by external and internal Environmental factor, factors. External factors—including climate—control the ecosystem's structure, but are not influenced by it. By contrast, internal factors control and are controlled by ecosystem processes; these include decomposition, the types of species present, root competition, shading, disturbance, and succession. While external factors generally determine which Resource (biology), resource inputs an ecosystem has, their availability within the ecosystem is controlled by internal factors. Ecosystems are wikt:dynamic, dynamic, subject to periodic disturbances and always in the process of recovering from past disturbances. The tendency of an ecosystem to remain clo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Soil Fertility
Soil fertility refers to the ability of soil to sustain agricultural plant growth, i.e. to provide plant habitat and result in sustained and consistent yields of high quality.Bodenfruchtbarkeit Retrieved on 2015-11-09. It also refers to the soil's ability to supply plant/crop nutrients in the right quantities and qualities over a sustained period of time. A fertile soil has the following properties: * The ability to supply essential plant nutrients and water in adequate amounts and proportions for plant growth and reproduction; and * The absence of toxic substances which may inhibit plant growth e. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
IWMI
The International Water Management Institute (IWMI) is a non-profit international water management research organisation under the One CGIAR with its headquarters in Colombo, Sri Lanka, and offices across Africa and Asia. One CGIAR is a reformulation of CGIAR happened in the last few years. Research at the Institute focuses on improving how water resources, water and land resources are managed, with the aim of underpinning food security and reducing poverty while safeguarding the environment. Its research focuses on: Water resources, water availability and access, including climate change adaptation, adaptation to climate change; how water is used and how it can be used more productively; water quality and its relationship to public health, health and the Natural environment, environment; and how societies govern their water resources. In 2012, IWMI was awarded the prestigious Stockholm Water Prize Laureate by Stockholm International Water Institute for its pioneering research, whi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
