Sustainable development of pastoral and agro-pastoral systems, dominated by collective and/or tribal ownership of rangelands, is a key issue for the West Asia and North Africa region. These two systems are located in arid and semi-arid areas and are increasingly threatened by desertification process. The policy responses to tackle this complexity have been a sectorial and fragmented, “top-down” approach, putting forward technical solutions and neglecting the social context.

The yield gap has arisen again as a focus for agricultural research to ensure food security and economic growth for farmers around the world. To examine this renewed interest, we carried out a review of key literature in the field of yield gap analysis to identify important gaps in research and analysis. In so doing, both the complexities in yield gap studies emerged along with some significant omissions. Much of the literature and research on the yield gap has been framed by larger concerns and initiatives to raise agricultural productivity.

This sourcebook, and accompanying poster learning series, is aimed at policy makers, planners in government, local research administrators, civil society partners and researchers in Southeast Asia. Compiled and repackaged by Dr. Julian Gonsalves and a resource team, the Climate-Smart Agriculture (CSA) source book draws from a rich pool of literature from over 700 sources. The compilation provides succinct, relevant and timely information about climate challenges, and potential solutions from previously published work in a simplified or a shortened form from around the world.

Much of the effort to include communities in conservation of large

landscapes has been driven by interests outside the savannas, either by national

governments, NGOs, or foreign conservationists (Neumann 2002,

Brockington et al. 2008). Once included in conservation planning only as

an afterthought, local communities are now major stakeholders. However,

initiatives driven, led, and managed by local leaders, communities, and institutions

to meet the needs of both wildlife and people remain rare. The

Background: ‘Climate-smart agriculture’ (CSA)—agriculture and food systems that

sustainably increase food production, improve resilience (or adaptive capacity) of farming

systems, and mitigate climate change when possible—has quickly been integrated into the

global development agenda. However, the empirical evidence base for CSA has not been

assembled, complicating the transition from CSA concept to concrete actions, and

contributing to ideological disagreement among development practitioners. Thus, there is an

A number of studies have suggested that addressing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from agricultural

production, or ‘supply-side emissions’, will be insufficient to reduce agri-food sector GHG emissions to limit

the increase of global temperatures to well below 2o

C. Recent studies have also suggested that ‘demandside

measures’ related to food consumption, food value chains, and food loss and waste, will be necessary

to reduce emissions and may have a larger technical mitigation potential than supply-side measures.

This report is aimed at readers who seek to build economic evidence in support of the inclusion of actions on agriculture in climate change plans and programmes, particularly at the national level under the umbrella of nationally determined contributions (NDCs) to the December 2015 Paris Agreement, which aims to restrict a rise in global temperatures and manage risks.

This working paper examines the development of regional socioeconomic scenarios for West Africa’s development, agriculture, food security and climate impacts. We present four globally consistent regional scenarios framed and outlined by regional experts who crafted narratives and determined key drivers of change. Stakeholders identified the type of actors driving change and the timeline of strategic planning as the most uncertain and most relevant factors of change affecting food security, livelihoods and environments in the region.

This report reflects upon the consolidated findings from the baseline and scoping studies conducted under the auspices of Global Framework for Climate Services (GFCS) Adaptation Programme in Africa. It identifies gaps in climate information access and use at the local level, type of climate services farmers and pastoralists need in Tanzania, relevant channels to reach farmers with requested services, lead-time and gender specific requirements.