SciDev.Net

Research into deforestation can help inform policies to reduce carbon emissions from forests.

Tackling forest degradation is an essential element for any global climate deal hoping to reduce forest emissions.

Agriculture, forestry and other land uses in Africa can help mitigate climate change while providing co-benefits.

Including agriculture in international climate negotiations can help meet mitigation and adaptation goals while also reducing poverty.

An innovation systems approach to agricultural research can be better for sustainable development than a linear pipeline approach.

Involving local communities in biodiversity protection from the outset can boost both conservation and empowerment of local people.

Growing biofuels requires careful consideration, particularly with regards to food security and livelihoods.

A four-step plan to help governments integrate adaptation to climate change into development planning and policy.

Advice for policymakers in southern Africa on how to improve pesticide use and reduce the risks they pose to human health and the environment.

An analysis of integrating disaster management in developing countries in the context of increased disaster risk from climate change.

What are the main issues that African nations face in forthcoming negotiations on biotechnology and biosafety?

Growing dryland populations are depleting their natural resources, while increasingly-settled agriculture ignores the traditional knowledge needed to tackle future uncertainties, says David Thomas.

Valuing the benefits ecosystems give us is a vital step in ensuring their sustainable use and conservation. Anantha Duraiappah shows how environmental economics offers the best way yet to tackle the job.

Ten years since the UNCCD came into force, the problems remain. Despite some successes, varying definitions and restricted finance limit the convention's effectiveness, as Lindsay Stringer explains.

Biodiversity in the world's drylands is fragile, easily disrupted and under threat. John Lemons sets out guidelines for tailoring policies to best protect these uniquely adapted species.

With water scarcity already affecting over a billion people, dryland populations should combine traditional and modern knowledge to manage water access sustainably, says Theib Oweis.

An overview of the various ways in which techniques that do not involve genetic modification can helping plant breeders to develop and propagate new crop varieties.

The allergy issue has raised many concerns about GM food, which have important implications. This policy brief by Clare Mills attempts to put concerns into perspective.

Two international instruments have recently changed the playing field regarding the international regulation of genetically engineered organisms. What are they, how do they work and how effective can they be?

How much real scope do developing countries have in the way they trade or use genetically modified foods or crops?