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African farmers face new threats as invasive pests proliferate on a warming planet
Climate change is encouraging the proliferation of new crop insect pests that pose a serious food and financial threat to African farmers. From tree-drilling beetles to leaf-munching worms and fruit-puncturing flies, invasive pests are destroying food and inflicting financial ruin on farmers in Africa. Mango farmers in Southern Africa have…
Agroecology in Africa: Silver bullet or pathway to poverty?
A model of agroecology that limits farming inputs in Africa to solely indigenous materials is meeting resistance from farmers and others who worry it will most likely force even more people on the continent into poverty and hunger. “The agroecology promoters will use terms like indigenous foods, indigenous crops, indigenous…
Saving Africa’s agroecological food baskets from the agroecology movement
As agroecology activism increases within the global food system, many African communities involved in agriculture and food production, as well as consumers, are getting confused. This confusion stems from antagonism between the continent’s need for a green revolution — defined as access to improved seeds and modern pest management technologies, including…
Health and forests suffer as East Africa continues to rely on biomass fuels
Fears are growing over the fate of East Africa’s air quality and forests as the region’s population rapidly expands and continues to rely heavily on the use of biomass fuels like charcoal. “The grim picture is that high levels of poverty will continue to push more people in the region…
Despite scientific consensus on safety, consumers remain confused about GM foods
Despite nearly three decades in the marketplace and near-universal scientific consensus on their safety, a new international survey finds that majorities of people in most countries remain confused about genetically modified (GM) foods, perhaps due to years of demonization by anti-science activists. However, the Pew Research Center survey also…
Agroecology must be based in reality, not romanticism, panelists agree
Agroecology has a role to play in transforming agriculture — so long as the movement doesn’t trump the science or farmers’ needs. That was the consensus of the three panelists who joined the “Agroecology: What is it, anyway?” webinar hosted on Alliance for Science Live. Agroecology is both a…
Oxfam: The world’s poor suffer disproportionately from carbon emissions generated by the rich
The world’s poor and marginalized people are suffering the most from climate change impacts, though they contribute the least to the carbon emissions that are driving global warming, according to new research by Oxfam. The 3.1 billion people who comprise 50 percent of the world’s poorest population generate just 7…
Alliance for Science expands mission with $10 million reinvestment
The Cornell Alliance for Science is expanding its mission of science communication and advocacy and broadening its commitment to diversity and inclusion thanks to $10 million in new funding from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. The grant will support the Cornell University-based global communications initiative, which was founded in…
As pandemic profits increase, so does hunger
Big food and agriculture companies that are making vast profits in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic are being urged to invest some of that windfall in the world’s hungriest people and smallholder farmers. The call comes as an Oxfam International report, “The Hunger Virus: How COVID-19 is fueling…