food security

Lesotho atlas of sustainable development
In compiling the Lesotho Atlas of Sustainable Development, D.M. Bohra “attempt[ed] to map the state of sustainable human development” in Lesotho. To this end, “a range of indicators have been cartographically portrayed across districts, geographical zones, rural and urban areas and across gender base,” resulting in a “profile of salient features of sustainable...
MDG activism and campesino detachment: Can they walk at the same pace? Field observations in the uplands of Jocotán, Guatemala
Since its founding, the United Nations has included among its goals poverty eradication, food security, “health for all,” universal literacy and education, protection of the environment, and the end of social discrimination. Special international mobilisations for one particular goal (or a particular set of goals) have taken place several times during the past 50 years. The UN...
Will international pursuit of the Millennium Development Goals alleviate poverty in mountains?

Since September 2000, when world leaders agreed on time-bound, measurable goals to reduce extreme poverty, hunger, illiteracy, and disease while fostering gender equality and ensuring environmental sustainability, the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) have increasingly come to dominate the policy objectives of many states and development agencies. The concern has been raised that the...

Using traditional swidden agriculture to enhance rural livelihoods in Vietnam's uplands
Research in Vietnam's uplands shows that poverty alleviation and environmental protection can be most readily achieved by communities building, protecting, and using their own assets more effectively. This approach starts by looking at what poor people already have, not what they lack. By contrast, government development policies often seek to modernise the rural sector through the...
Micronutrients in south and south east Asia
This publication is a result of an international workshop held in September 2004 in Kathmandu.  The book consists of papers, largely from south Asia, addressing a wide range of micronutirent constraints related to sustainable crop production as well as means and methods to alleviate these problems.
Montane paddy rice: Development and effects on food security and livelihood activities of highland Lao farmers
Rice, the staple crop in northern Laos, has traditionally been grown in shifting cultivation systems (upland rice). Government policies and increasing population pressure have resulted in declining productivity of this system. Farmers need alternative and sustainable rice production systems to meet their rice needs. One alternative is the production of rice in flooded, terraced fields (...
Working with communities and building local institutions for sustainable land management in the Ethiopian Highlands

Land management is a multi-dimensional and multi-institutional engagement that demands collective analysis, design, and implementation of innovations. Its importance for Ethiopia cannot be overemphasised, as land degradation threatens food security and environmental sustainability. Building on a specific case study of a project in Southern Ethiopia, the present article...

SDC supports rural development to address climate change and food security
The Swiss Agency for Development and Coorperation (SDC) recently decided that the Joint Concept on Rural Development (JDCRD) elaborated by the members of the Global Donor Platform for Rural Development (GDPRD) should be used as the guiding strategic document for SDC investments in this area. This is important for SDC's activities, since much of SDC's rural development work...
"Humla Development Initiatives" for better livelihoods in the face of isolation and conflict

Humla, situated in the north-western corner of Nepal on the border with China, is one of the poorest and least developed districts of Nepal. Constraints are imposed by low agricultural productivity in mountainous terrain under harsh climatic conditions. Food subsidies and other forms of external support have created a state of dependency, stifling local initiative and reducing reliance on...

Let it reign: The new water paridigm for global food security

A report commissioned by the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida) as input into the Commission on Sustainable Development (CSD) and its 2004–2005 focus on water and related issues.

Water in the soil is the key to an agricultural revolution, the imperative for ending undernutrition and achieving global food security for our children. The new water paradigm...

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