This year, Earth Overshoot Day falls on July 29, the earliest date yet, which tells us that we have prematurely exhausted Earth's resources beyond what can be regenerated. To move back the date, we are working with farmers to test new practices to halt environmental degradation and make food production more sustainable.
This month marks World Environment Day and the Stockholm EAT Food Forum, as we search for solutions on how to better manage our food systems and natural resources. Some of the best solutions will involve science, government, and business working together through cutting edge business models.
The lowlands of Afar, Ethiopia are characterized by alternating floods and droughts, making agricultural production difficult and putting local communities at risk. A deceptively simple solution is turning arid plains into green croplands.
Our Earth is in crisis. It is now imperative that we find ways to live within our planetary boundaries. These five examples show how agriculture can help, not harm, our planet.
How can decision analysis help save biodiversity hot spots while improving the livelihoods of people in East Africa? Thrive talks to two researchers from ICRAF to find out.
Green manure cover crops have many benefits - they keep the soil moist, fix nitrogen, and provide important nutrients when composted back into the soil, just to name a few. So why aren't they more widely used?
As young people leave rural farming communities in Africa and land degradation takes its toll, agricultural practices must be adjusted. Conservation agriculture offers a possible solution.
For International Day of Rural Women, Thrive contemplates how women farmers are coping with today’s agricultural challenges. Researchers are finding that the right interventions can benefit not only struggling farmers but also women specifically as well.
Using water productively for agriculture is key, especially in the arid parts of our world. A new study shows that combining water and land interventions is the best way forward.
Soil is a vital part of the natural environment. It supports the growth of plants, is a habitat for many different organisms and is at the heart of nearly all agricultural production. It also plays an integral role in countless other ecosystem services like water and climate regulation.
Land use planning is seen in many circles as a technical and neutral approach to dividing up land. The reality is quite different, with a great deal of competition and politics coming into play.
The Niger River Basin in arid West and Central Africa, home to more than 130 million people across nine countries, is in a buzz of development activity.