The development of knowledge based bio-economies is increasingly seen as a pathway towards a sustainable economic growth based on renewable resources, moving away from the fossil fuel economy and responding to pressing local and global challenges, including climate change.
The world is becoming a more urbanized place, currently about 50% of the worlds´ population lives in cities and the proportion is expected to increase to almost 70% in 2050. The increase is likely to be particularly prominent in Africa and Asia, where urban population is expected to double between 2000 and 2030.
There is a growing need for a deepened knowledge among different stakeholders in Sweden and globally about the need for a transition of the agriculture sector to an approach based on biodiversity and ecosystem services (as for example biological control, water regulation, nutrient circulation processes) and on local knowledge, creativity and initiative combined with cross-learning over networks
The food security discourse has weak focus on the agro-pastoral systems typical for sub-Saharan drylands. These regions have 40% planetary land cover and host 1/3 of its population - often among the poorest. Much of these lands are degraded for food security and livelihood potentials. Trees are important structural components in these systems and related to attempts of restoration.
A growing population as well as the growing role of biofuels has set the trend for increased demand on agricultural production systems. Meeting future food and energy demand on limited land area requires intensification in production and, hence, increased investment in the agricultural sector.
In February 2014 experts from SLU Global held the first in the series of workshops supported by SIANI and organized around the theme ‘Sustainable Agricultural Production and Food Security'.
Rodents can not only make people jump in fright, but can also pose serious problems to food security. Although only 20 out 1700 rodent species are qualified as pests, each year they cause harvest losses of approximately 17%, enough to feed more than 25 million Indonesians for a year.
It’s not enough to sing their praises: let’s work on legal rights, market access, community-based support, and more equitable households say Melinda Fones Sundell and Marion Davis.
Over 60 people connected to food security, agriculture and sustainable development gathered in Stockholm on the 21st of January for SIANI Annual Meeting. The event marked the beginning of the next phase in the network development and was organized to gather opinion of the public on the future of the SIANI development.