Access to external finance for smallholder forest and farm producers is limited, hindering their effective action on climate, nature, livelihoods and food security. However, forest and farm producer organisations (FFPOs) can mobilise internally-generated finance.  This briefing maps three stages and 11 steps that FFPOs use to establish savings groups and larger...

In March 2023, Cyclone Freddy swept across Malawi, devastating a country already struggling with hunger and poverty. But a year on, hope for a brighter future is returning to its farms.   On this episode, you'll hear directly from the rural Malawians who are building back stronger with IFAD's support. Our...

In Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) we find ourselves in a paradox. On the one hand, the region boasts 40% of the worlds biodiversity, half of the worlds tropical forests, the largest reserve of freshwater, 12% of the worlds mangroves and six of the most megadiverse countries. On the...

The Russian Federation is the largest country in the world occupying one-third of Eurasia and it has enormous water resources. Fish from inland waters has always been a central part of the Russian diet and a major contributor to national food security. Inland fisheries are highly diversified and provide employment...

In 1992 the United Nations committed to promoting a gender perspective in all environmental and development programs and to establishing mechanisms for assessing the impact of environmental policies on women. However, 30 years later most countries acknowledge that they have not integrated that perspective into policy assessments. This paper provides...

The scope and complexity of international forest-related governance have expanded tremendously over the last decades. As many as 41 ‘institutional elements’ were counted by scholars (from UNFF to UNFCCC to SDGs). The questions of how these governance arrangements ‘perform’, for what purpose and for whom are widely contested between scholars...

Over 80 per cent of our planet's biodiversity is found on the territories of Indigenous Peoples, who have been farming for generations while caring for forests, deserts, grasslands and oceans. By growing food sustainably, they are leading the way on transforming food systems. On this episode, Indigenous leaders from Nepal, Mexico...

Alternative farming systems have developed since the beginning of industrial agriculture. Organic, biodynamic, conservation farming, agroecology and permaculture, all share a grounding in ecological concepts and a belief that farmers should work with nature rather than damage it. As ecology-based agricultures rely greatly on soil organisms to perform the functions...

In 1984, the UN/FAO was holding the World Conference on Fisheries Management and Development (WFC) in Rome. Government representatives and international agencies were attending. But fishers were not invited, their representatives neither. This here is a personal account of the collective efforts that went into holding in Rome—parallel to WFC—the first...

Ce carnet relate la démarche suivie par le Gret pour faciliter l’émergence d’une gouvernance partagée du service d’eau potable dans la région de Saint-Louis, au Sénégal, dans le contexte d’une réforme nationale de délégation de service public. Dans la continuité d’un accompagnement de plus de quinze ans, l’adoption d’une approche par...

A transformation of food systems is urgently needed, possible, and offers enormous economic benefits Our food systems — the way we produce, market, and consume food — are part of the political, social, economic, ecological, and cultural fabric of our communities. They have achieved something of a miracle, keeping pace with...

This brochure contains the challenges and recommendations from the eight countrie’s case studies on ‘Social Development and Sustainable Fisheries’ conducted by ICSF in Antigua and Barbuda, Costa Rica, Ghana, The Philippines, Bangladesh, Brazil, Thailand and India (Kerala/Tamil Nadu and West Bengal). The ICSF’s studies uses the parameters of social development, within...

Les agriculteurs confrontés à l’étalement urbain sont diversement en phase avec les demandes des citadins en services et produits alimentaires locaux. Notre étude de la plaine Ouest de Montpellier, en France, ville côtière méditerranéenne particulièrement attractive, révèle le maintien d’une base agricole viticole coexistant avec de nouvelles formes d’agriculture. Des...

As the initial funder of the Forest and Landscape Restoration Mechanism (FLRM), the Korea Forest Service has consistently supported the implementation of forest and landscape restoration (FLR) activities in Lebanon since 2014 and has agreed to extend its financial support to 2025.The FLRM projects in Lebanon mainly aim to step...

The International Collective in Support of Fishworkers (ICSF) has just published the latest issue of SAMUDRA Report, its triannual journal on fisheries, communities and livelehoods. The current edition, SAMUDRA Report No. 91, dated June 2024, is a Special Issue that runs into 110 pages and features a diverse range of...

The agricultural and rural development policy seeks to facilitate the transition towards environmentally sustainable and climate-neutral agricultural practices, with a focus on human capital, knowledge, and innovation. Gender equality can play a significant role in promoting environmentally sustainable practices in the agricultural sector, particularly through the adoption and implementation of...

Our food systems are broken. The good news is that we know what to do about it, and we have for a long time. The Limits of Growth, published in 1972 by the Club of Rome, described the Green Revolution as a technological solution to the world’s food problems, overlooking its...

Podcast:Is it possible to decarbonize agriculture and make the food system more resilient to climate change? Today, I’m speaking with agricultural policy expert Peter Lehner about his climate neutral agriculture ideas and the science, law and policy needed to achieve these ambitious goals. Lehner is an environmental lawyer at Earthjustice...

Yemaya No. 69, dated June 2024, features articles from Barbados, India, Spain, a regional study focusing on Kenya, Sri Lanka and Cambodia  and Women in Fisheries Action plans from ICSF’s IYAFA workshops  from Asia, Africa, Europe and  Latin America and the Caribbean Islands. A series of regional workshops were held through...

Soils are critical for agriculture and natural ecosystems and need protection, and adherence to nature's principles. The objective of this work is to understand how nature manages resources and describe management of the 'living soil’ and its soil productivity and use nature's laws as guidelines for the management. These guidelines provide the...