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Diversification of production to strengthen resilience is a key tenet of climate-smart agriculture (CSA), which can help to address the complex vulnerabilities of agriculture-dependent rural communities. In this study, we investigated the relationship between the promotion of different CSA practices across four climate-smart villages (CSVs) in Myanmar. To determine the impact of the CSA practices on livelihoods and health, survey data were collected from agricultural households (n = 527) over three years. Within the time period studied, the results indicate that some the CSA practices and technologies adopted were significantly associated with changes in household dietary diversity scores (HDDS), but, in the short-term, these were not associated with improvements in the households’ food insecurity scores (HFIAS). Based on the survey responses, we examined how pathways of CSA practice adoption tailored to different contexts of Myanmar’s four agroecologies could contribute to the observed changes, including possible resulting trade-offs. We highlight that understanding the impacts of CSA adoption on household food security in CSVs will require longer-term monitoring, as most CSA options are medium- to long-cycle interventions. Our further analysis of knowledge, attitudes and practices (KAPs) amongst the households indicated a poor understanding of the household knowledge, attitudes and practices in relation to nutrition, food choices, food preparation, sanitation and hygiene. Our KAP findings indicate that current nutrition education interventions in the Myanmar CSVs are inadequate and will need further improvement for health and nutrition outcomes from the portfolio of CSA interventions.

West and East Africa experience high vari- ability of rainfall that is expected to increase with climate change. This results in fluctuations in water availability for food production and other socioeconomic activities. Water harvesting and storage can mitigate the adverse effects of rainfall variability. But past studies have shown that when investments in water storage are not guided by environ- mental health considerations, the increased availability of open water surface may increase the transmission of water- related diseases. This is demonstrated for schistosomiasis associated with small reservoirs in Burkina Faso, and for malaria in Ethiopia around large dams, small dams, and water harvesting ponds. The concern is that the rush to develop water harvesting and storage for climate change adaptation may increase the risk for already vulnerable people, in some cases more than canceling out the benefits of greater water availability. Taking health issues into account in a participatory approach to planning, design, and management of rainwater harvesting and water storage, as well as considering the full range of water storage options would enable better opportunities for enhancing resilience against climate change in vulnerable populations in sub-Saharan Africa.

Tropical reforestation (TR) has been highlighted as an important intervention for climate change mitigation because of its carbon storage potential. TR can also play other frequently overlooked, but significant, roles in helping society and ecosystems adapt to climate variability and change. For example, reforestation can ameliorate climate‐associated impacts of altered hydrological cycles in watersheds, protect coastal areas from increased storms, and provide habitat to reduce the probability of species' extinctions under a changing climate. Consequently, reforestation should be managed with both adaptation and mitigation objectives in mind, so as to maximize synergies among these diverse roles, and to avoid trade‐offs in which the achievement of one goal is detrimental to another. Management of increased forest cover must also incorporate measures for reducing the direct and indirect impacts of changing climate on reforestation itself. Here we advocate a focus on “climate‐smart reforestation,” defined as reforesting for climate change mitigation and adaptation, while ensuring that the direct and indirect impacts of climate change on reforestation are anticipated and minimized.

Assurer des systèmes alimentaires résilients et des régimes alimentaires sains et durables pour tous nécessite une utilisation beaucoup plus élevée de l'eau. Cependant, les ressources en eau sont limitées, géographiquement dispersées, volatiles en raison du changement climatique et nécessaires à d'autres fonctions vitales, y compris les écosystèmes et les services qu'elles fournissent. Une bonne gouvernance pour des ressources en eau résilientes est un précurseur nécessaire pour décider des solutions, trouver des financements et fournir des infrastructures. Six attributs qui, ensemble, fournissent une base pour une bonne gouvernance afin de réduire les risques futurs liés à l'eau pour les systèmes alimentaires sont proposés. Ces attributs s'harmonisent dans leur double objectif d'intégrer l'apprentissage adaptatif et les nouvelles connaissances, et d'adopter les types de systèmes de gouvernance requis pour les systèmes alimentaires résilients à l'eau. Les attributs sont également fondés sur la nécessité de mieux reconnaître le rôle que jouent les écosystèmes naturels et sains dans les systèmes alimentaires. Les attributs sont énumérés ci-dessous et sont fondés sur des preuves scientifiques et la diversité de l'expérience collective et de l'expertise des parties prenantes travaillant à travers l'interface science-politique : adopter une pensée systémique interconnectée qui englobe la complexité de la façon dont nous produisons, distribuons et ajoutons de la valeur à la nourriture, y compris l'exploitation de l'expérience et de l'expertise des parties prenantes ; adopter une gouvernance inclusive à plusieurs niveaux et soutenir la participation inclusive ; permettre l'innovation continue, les nouvelles connaissances et l'apprentissage, et la diffusion de l'information ; intégrer la diversité et la redondance pour la résilience aux chocs ; assurer la préparation du système aux chocs ; et planifier à long terme. Cela nécessitera que les systèmes alimentaires et d'approvisionnement en eau travaillent ensemble de manière proactive pour créer un espace socialement et environnementalement juste qui tienne compte des besoins en eau et en nourriture des personnes, des écosystèmes qui sous-tendent nos systèmes alimentaires et des préoccupations plus larges en matière d'énergie et d'équité. Garantizar sistemas alimentarios resilientes y dietas saludables sostenibles para todos requiere un uso mucho mayor del agua, sin embargo, los recursos hídricos son finitos, geográficamente dispersos, volátiles bajo el cambio climático y necesarios para otras funciones vitales, incluidos los ecosistemas y los servicios que proporcionan. La buena gobernanza de los recursos hídricos resilientes es un precursor necesario para decidir sobre soluciones, obtener financiación y ofrecer infraestructura. Se proponen seis atributos que en conjunto proporcionan una base para la buena gobernanza a fin de reducir los riesgos futuros del agua para los sistemas alimentarios. Estos atributos encajan en su doble enfoque en la incorporación del aprendizaje adaptativo y los nuevos conocimientos, y la adopción de los tipos de sistemas de gobernanza necesarios para los sistemas alimentarios resilientes al agua. Los atributos también se basan en la necesidad de reconocer mejor el papel que desempeñan los ecosistemas naturales y saludables en los sistemas alimentarios. Los atributos se enumeran a continuación y se basan en la evidencia científica y la diversa experiencia colectiva y los conocimientos de las partes interesadas que trabajan a través de la interfaz ciencia-política: Adoptar un pensamiento de sistemas interconectados que abarque la complejidad de cómo producimos, distribuimos y agregamos valor a los alimentos, incluido el aprovechamiento de la experiencia y los conocimientos de las partes interesadas; adoptar una gobernanza inclusiva multinivel y apoyar la participación inclusiva; permitir la innovación continua, los nuevos conocimientos y el aprendizaje, y la difusión de información; incorporar diversidad y redundancia para la resiliencia a las crisis; garantizar la preparación del sistema para las crisis; y planificar a largo plazo. Esto requerirá que los sistemas de alimentos y agua trabajen juntos de manera proactiva hacia un espacio social y ambientalmente justo que considere las necesidades de agua y alimentos de las personas, los ecosistemas que sustentan nuestros sistemas alimentarios y las preocupaciones más amplias de energía y equidad. Ensuring resilient food systems and sustainable healthy diets for all requires much higher water use, however, water resources are finite, geographically dispersed, volatile under climate change, and required for other vital functions including ecosystems and the services they provide. Good governance for resilient water resources is a necessary precursor to deciding on solutions, sourcing finance, and delivering infrastructure. Six attributes that together provide a foundation for good governance to reduce future water risks to food systems are proposed. These attributes dovetail in their dual focus on incorporating adaptive learning and new knowledge, and adopting the types of governance systems required for water resilient food systems. The attributes are also founded in the need to greater recognise the role natural, healthy ecosystems play in food systems. The attributes are listed below and are grounded in scientific evidence and the diverse collective experience and expertise of stakeholders working across the science-policy interface: Adopting interconnected systems thinking that embraces the complexity of how we produce, distribute, and add value to food including harnessing the experience and expertise of stakeholders s; adopting multi-level inclusive governance and supporting inclusive participation; enabling continual innovation, new knowledge and learning, and information dissemination; incorporating diversity and redundancy for resilience to shocks; ensuring system preparedness to shocks; and planning for the long term. This will require food and water systems to pro-actively work together toward a socially and environmentally just space that considers the water and food needs of people, the ecosystems that underpin our food systems, and broader energy and equity concerns. يتطلب ضمان أنظمة غذائية مرنة وأنظمة غذائية صحية مستدامة للجميع استخدامًا للمياه أعلى بكثير، ومع ذلك، فإن موارد المياه محدودة ومتناثرة جغرافيًا ومتقلبة في ظل تغير المناخ، ومطلوبة للوظائف الحيوية الأخرى بما في ذلك النظم الإيكولوجية والخدمات التي تقدمها. تعد الحوكمة الرشيدة لموارد المياه المرنة مقدمة ضرورية لاتخاذ قرار بشأن الحلول، وتوفير التمويل، وتوفير البنية التحتية. تم اقتراح ست سمات توفر معًا أساسًا للحوكمة الرشيدة للحد من مخاطر المياه المستقبلية على النظم الغذائية. تتوافق هذه السمات في تركيزها المزدوج على دمج التعلم التكيفي والمعرفة الجديدة، واعتماد أنواع أنظمة الحوكمة المطلوبة للنظم الغذائية المرنة للمياه. وتستند السمات أيضًا إلى الحاجة إلى زيادة الاعتراف بالدور الذي تلعبه النظم الإيكولوجية الطبيعية والصحية في النظم الغذائية. السمات مدرجة أدناه وترتكز على الأدلة العلمية والخبرة والتجربة الجماعية المتنوعة لأصحاب المصلحة العاملين عبر واجهة العلوم والسياسات: اعتماد تفكير النظم المترابطة التي تتبنى تعقيد كيفية إنتاج وتوزيع وإضافة قيمة إلى الغذاء بما في ذلك تسخير تجربة وخبرات أصحاب المصلحة ؛ اعتماد حوكمة شاملة متعددة المستويات ودعم المشاركة الشاملة ؛ تمكين الابتكار المستمر والمعرفة الجديدة والتعلم ونشر المعلومات ؛ دمج التنوع والتكرار من أجل المرونة في مواجهة الصدمات ؛ ضمان استعداد النظام للصدمات ؛ والتخطيط على المدى الطويل. سيتطلب ذلك أن تعمل أنظمة الغذاء والمياه معًا بشكل استباقي نحو مساحة عادلة اجتماعيًا وبيئيًا تأخذ في الاعتبار الاحتياجات المائية والغذائية للناس، والنظم الإيكولوجية التي تدعم أنظمتنا الغذائية، ومخاوف أوسع بشأن الطاقة والإنصاف.

Societal Impact StatementFood and agricultural plants are integral to human well‐being. Due to their universal importance, such plants would appear to represent an ideal entryway by which to address plant blindness. However, with limited opportunities for direct contact with agriculture, many people cannot appreciate the flora that feed us every day. We provide examples of informal education initiatives aimed at increasing public awareness and appreciation of food and agricultural plants, made possible through collaborations between botanic gardens, academic institutions, nonprofits, and agricultural research organizations. We hope these examples encourage and inspire organizations to further utilize food and agricultural plants to tackle plant blindness.SummaryOf the myriad gifts plants provide to humanity, food is among the most visible, as everyone needs to eat, every single day. Due to their universal importance, food and agricultural plants would appear to represent ideal entryways to address plant blindness. Yet increasing urbanization worldwide and decreasing proportions of the global workforce in agriculture are limiting opportunities for people to have direct, hands‐on experiences with food and agricultural plants outside of retail purchasing, meal preparation, and food consumption. This disconnect is troubling, especially as the challenges to the sustainability of our future food supply necessitate that society, and certainly elected decision‐makers, have the capacity to understand the potential benefits, risks, and tradeoffs inherent to agriculture and its advancing technologies. We outline opportunities to address agricultural plant blindness with emphasis on current complex issues within the food and agriculture sector. We provide examples of fruitful collaborations between botanic gardens, academic institutions, nonprofits, and agricultural research organizations that engage people around these issues.

AbstractSustainable Development Goal 2 aims to end hunger, achieve food and nutrition security and promote sustainable agriculture by 2030. This requires that small-scale producers be included in, and benefit from, the rapid growth and transformation under way in food systems. Small-scale producers interact with various actors when they link with markets, including product traders, logistics firms, processors and retailers. The literature has explored primarily how large firms interact with farmers through formal contracts and resource provision arrangements. Although important, contracts constitute a very small share of smallholder market interactions. There has been little exploration of whether non-contract interactions between small farmers and both small- and large-scale value chain actors have affected small farmers’ livelihoods. This scoping review covers 202 studies on that topic. We find that non-contract interactions, de facto mostly with small and medium enterprises, benefit small-scale producers via similar mechanisms that the literature has previously credited to large firms. Small and medium enterprises, not just large enterprises, address idiosyncratic market failures and asset shortfalls of small-scale producers by providing them, through informal arrangements, with complementary services such as input provision, credit, information and logistics. Providing these services directly supports Sustainable Development Goal 2 by improving farmer welfare through technology adoption and greater productivity.

AbstractIn sub‐Saharan Africa (SSA), few studies have quantified greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions following application of soil amendments, for development of accurate national GHG inventories. Therefore, this study quantified soil GHG emissions using static chambers for two maize cropping seasons (one full year) of four different soil amendments in the central highlands of Kenya. The four treatments were (i) animal manure, (ii) inorganic fertilizer, (iii) combined animal manure and inorganic fertilizer, and (iv) a no‐N control (no amendment) laid out in a randomized complete block design. Cumulative annual soil fluxes (February 2017 to February 2018) ranged from −1.03 ± 0.19 kg CH4‐C ha−1 yr−1 from the manure inorganic fertilizer treatment to −0.09 ± 0.03 kg CH4‐C ha−1 yr−1 from the manure treatment, 1,391 ± 74 kg CO2‐C ha−1 yr−1 from the control treatment to 3,574 ± 113 kg CO2‐C ha−1 yr−1 from the manure treatment, and 0.13 ± 0.08 to 1.22 ± 0.12 kg N2O‐N ha−1 yr−1 in the control and manure treatments, respectively. Animal manure amendment produced the highest cumulative CO2 emissions (P < 0.001), N2O emissions (P < 0.001), and maize yields (P = 0.002) but the lowest N2O yield‐scaled emission (YSE) (0.5 g N2O–N kg−1 grain yield). Manure combined with inorganic fertilizer had the highest cumulative CH4 uptake (P < 0.001) and N2O YSE (2.2 g N2O–N kg−1 grain yield). Our results indicate that while the use of animal manure may increase total GHG emissions, the concurrent increase in maize yields results in reduced yield‐scaled GHG emissions.

AbstractSustainable forest management (SFM) is many things to many people – yet a common thread is the production of forest goods and services for the present and future generations. The promise of sustainability is rooted in the two premises; first that ecosystems have the potential to renew themselves and second that economic activities and social perceptions or values that define human interaction with the environment are choices that can be modified to ensure the long term productivity and health of the ecosystem. SFM addresses a great challenge in matching the increasing demands of a growing human population while maintaining ecological functions of healthy forest ecosystems. This paper does not seek to define SFM, but rather provides analyses of key indicators for the national-scale enabling environment to gain a global insight into progress in implementing enabling and implementing SFM at the national and operational levels. Analyses of the Global Forest Resources Assessment 2015 (FRA) country report data are used to provide insights into the current state of progress in implementing the enabling conditions for SFM. Over 2.17 billion ha of the world’s forest area are predicted by governments to remain in permanent forest land use, of which some 1.1 billion ha are covered by all of the SFM tools investigated in FRA 2015. At the global scale, SFM-related policies and regulations are reported to be in place on 97% of global forest area. While the number of countries with national forest inventories has increased over that past ten years from 48 to 112, only 37% of forests in low income countries are covered by forest inventories. Forest management planning and monitoring of plans has increased substantially as has forest management certification, which exceeded a total of over 430 million ha in 2014. However, 90% of internationally verified certification is in the boreal and temperate climatic domains – only 6% of permanent forests in the tropical domain have been certified as of 2014. Results show that more work is needed to expand the extent and depth of work on establishing the enabling conditions that support SFM over the long term and suggests where those needs are greatest.