The Philippines has made significant strides in reducing poverty, but the persistent threat of natural disasters, compounded by the country's vulnerability and exposure, continues to jeopardize these gains. Many households in disaster-prone areas hover precariously close to the poverty line, and the devastating impact of disasters on their assets, income,...

From the fertile fields of Cambodia to the dense rainforests of Indonesia and Lao PDR, Southeast Asia's agricultural lands and forest resources are of social and ecological significance to the region. Home to over 300 million rural inhabitants, as many as 140 million people rely on forests for their livelihoods, nutrition,...

For the last 25 years, SSP has nurtured cadres of grassroots women leaders called Sakhis, who have won numerous honours and accolades for their own transformation, and for various sustainable solutions and projects they have initiated. Many of these Sakhis are feted as decision makers in their own communities, and...

Sundargarh (Odisha), Latehar (Jharkhand): Deep inside the lush sal forest in Odisha’s Sundargarh, Albisia Lakda, an Adivasi farmer living in Subdega block had divided the rice crop on her two-acre plot of farmland in two sections. With the monsoon fluctuating widely last year, parts of Odisha experienced long dry spells and crop failures. Now,...

Tribal farmers in the Himalayas are vulnerable to climatic changes, as their rain-fed cultivation systems, practiced on steep, sloping terrain, are susceptible to changes in rainfall while at the same time being the primary means of livelihood. Soil and water conservation practices (SWCP) can improve the resilience of these cultivation...

In the Churia region of Nepal, a watershed area with severe land degradation exacerbated by the effects of climate change, Gita Adikhari and her fellow community members are learning more effective and environmentally friendly agricultural techniques through an FAO Farmer Field School, financed by the Green Climate Fund

This first video of the series, "Women’s Organizations – Cultivating Collaboration”, witness the transformative impact of women-led initiatives on local communities in India which are of great importance when promoting agroecological practices. Through farming projects, cooperatives, and agroecological training programs, women are fostering resilience and solidarity, strengthening the fabric of...

Despite a plethora of emerging alternatives under the broad rubric of agroecology, sustainable transitions in Indian agriculture are caught between institutional inertia and lock-ins of its vast agricultural establishment on the one hand and a pro-active state promoting a natural farming. This push for Zero-Budget Natural Farming (ZBNF), while welcome...

This first video of the series, "Women’s Organizations – Cultivating Collaboration”, witness the transformative impact of women-led initiatives on local communities in India which are of great importance when promoting agroecological practices. Through farming projects, cooperatives, and agroecological training programs, women are fostering resilience and solidarity, strengthening the fabric of...

Extreme heat is a deadly natural hazard that disproportionately affects women in South Asia, who are at greater risk for heat-related illnesses and mortality due to physiological differences, limited access to resources, and societal roles as caregivers. This vulnerability extends to maternal and neonatal health, as extreme heat is linked...

The consumption of unhealthy and environmentally unsustainable diets is a major societal challenge because of its impacts on human health and the environment. The adoption of micronutrient-rich diets with relatively low pressure on natural resources is an important development target at the intersection between sustainability and public health goals. Pulses are known for being...

Many policy makers and academics striving for more gender equality consider joint property rights as preferable over sole rights, since the latter often discriminate against women. Several governments in low-, middle- and high-income countries have therefore imposed joint rights through modifications of statutory law or mandatory joint property registration. We...

Food environments are a critical place within the food system to implement interventions aimed at enabling sustainable diets. In this perspective article, we argue for the need for food environment research to more comprehensively examine the different types of food environments that people access within their communities to ensure that...

This study explores the complex dynamics of Fiji’s sugarcane industry, shedding light on the challenges it faces and the implications for agricultural system resilience and sustainability. The primary aim of the study was to investigate the relationship between climatic and non-climatic stressors and farmers’ decisions to abandon sugarcane farming. A...

Key messages • Potato zero-tillage and rice straw mulching (PZTM) was introduced in the fallow season as a strategy for climate adaptation in Khulna where potato is a new crop to grow.• 56% (239 HHs) of the intervention households adopted PZTM in the following cropping season without any subsidies or...

Rice field ecosystems make up the majority of the agricultural land in the Lower Mekong region (Ingalls et al. 2018). In Cambodia, WorldFish research found that one hectare of a rice field ecosystem can provide enough wild fish and other aquatic animals to feed 2.6 people for a year (Freed...

Women’s empowerment has been associated with improved nutritional outcomes in various settings. However, the gains from empowerment do not necessarily accrue to different members of the same household in the same manner. Furthermore, the relationship between empowerment and nutrition itself is likely to be shaped by the overall level of...

The island of New Guinea is one of the world’s highest diversity areas in terms of its 13,600 vascular plant species. It is also one of the least botanically explored parts of the world, so documentation of the flora is very important. The documentation of palms is as important as...

This Country Gender Assessment of the Agriculture and Rural Sectors (CGA-ARS) in Pakistan identifies several gaps, challenges, priorities, and opportunities related to gender equality and rural women’s empowerment. It offers an evidence-informed analysis of rural women’s experiences, challenges and opportunities in the context of sociocultural norms and gendered power dynamics...

Coffee is one of the most important smallholder cash crops in Papua New Guinea. It accounted for $156 million of export earnings, 13% of agricultural export revenues, and 1.4% of total export revenues in PNG in 2021. According to the PNG Rural Household Survey 2023, approximately 55% of sampled households in the...