The Kitarasa Banana is an important element of food culture at the foot of Mount Kilimanjaro. This banana variety is used to make flour for porridge, to produce a traditional local beer and as mixture with traditional dishes. Nevertheless, Kitarasa producers are decreasing, due to changes in culture, lifestyle, poor...

This video gives an insight into the SWM Programme work with ranchers and community scouts in the Habu Community Conservancy, which is located in the communal livestock grazing areas of western Ngamiland, Botswana. The video introduces Godlop, a community scout benefitting from the SWM Community Conservancy Project, which is supporting...

The Water, ice, society, and ecosystems in the Hindu Kush Himalaya (HI-WISE) report draws on recent scientific advances to map for the first time the links between the cryosphere, water, biodiversity, and society in the region, charting the impacts of rapid changes in glaciers and snow on people and nature.  Based on an...

This study, jointly developed by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), the Mountain Partnership Secretariat and the World Tourism Organization (UNWTO), addresses the need for relevant data and provides information to improve our understanding of mountain tourism. The study also identifies trends and provides a set...

The event takes place in Mukono Town on May 12 Unlocking community barriers for a profitable and open source agroforestry coffee value chain: this is the leading theme at the 4th Slow Food Uganda Coffee Festival. Slow Food Uganda believes that agroforestry in coffee production is the key to achieving sustainability...

In 1994, UPA began the adventure of publishing a Yearbook of Family Farming. The objective was simple, although ambitious: to collect in an annual work the main data, ideas and proposals of this production model, which in the Union of Small Farmers and Ranchers we have defended since our origin. Now,...

Mountains and islands make up 30 percent of the earth's surface area and are home to approximately 1.3 billion people. Mountain and island communities are among the worst hit by climate change, suffering from high rates of poverty and hunger and struggling to cope with natural disasters. The Mountain Partnership Secretariat...

Mountain soils represent a finite, virtually non-renewable resource that provides essential ecosystem services for life on Earth, not only in the mountains but also downstream (FAO and ITPS, 2015). Although the average soil formation rate is not easy to assess, due to the variability of the soil forming factors (Jenny,...

The gouverments in Sweden and Norway have nominated the "Summer farming at fäbod andseter – knowledge, traditions and practices related to grazing of outlying lands and artisan food production” to the UNESCO Representative list of the intangible cultural heritage of humanity There are now only 750 active summer- mountain frams in...

Phaseolus vulgaris L. is the major pulse cultivated and culturally inculcated in the food habits of the locals in the Himalayan mountainous region of Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK), Pakistan. The current study was designed to investigate the role of P. vulgaris cultivation in providing livelihood support and to evaluate...

Spring water plays a crucial role in sustaining life in the Himalayas. Yet these vital water sources are drying as a result of natural and anthropogenic factors. In July and August 2020, we conducted phone interviews with leaders from 300 local government units across Nepal to identify the status of...

Millets are one of the Future Smart Foods (FSFs), indigenous to Nepal. Millets are rich in micronutrients, more resilient to water and heat stresses and can be cultivated in marginal lands and at different altitudes ranging from plain terai to high hills. They can contribute to the overall sustainability of...

In this video, Käthi and Gerold Gwerder explain how they keep problem weeds under control on the "Wasserberg" alp without herbicides.

Saguna Vansavrdhan Technique (SVT) is a simple, low-cost and effective technique which reduces the risk of wildfires, by converting the flammable dry grass into organic manure, promoting natural production of earthworms and soil aggregation, completely stopping soil erosion, improving water infiltration, thus regenerating greenery and biodiversity on degraded lands. Benefits of...

Los premios de excelencia a la innovación de mujeres rurales han constituido una de las líneas de reconocimiento de la Administración General del Estado al trabajo, proyectos y trayectoria de las mujeres rurales.  Desde 2010, la convocatoria anual de los premios tiene como finalidad distinguir proyectos nuevos, excelentes, originales e innovadores...

Introduction:  This innovation is designed to provide farmers with access to irrigation through small water reservoirs on irrigated farmlands. In Kyrgyzstan, over 90 percent of agricultural production depends on irrigated lands, with District Water Resources Boards playing a central role in supplying water to farmers. However, climate change and global warming are...

Traditional mountain landscapes governed by Indigenous Peoples and local communities (IPLCs) conserve unique wildlife and agrobiodiversity, and strongly support climate change adaptation and mitigation by protecting ecosystem services, including grasslands that store almost 50% more carbon than forests. But mountain biodiversity and the Indigenous and traditional peoples that sustain it are...

Welcome to the latest edition of IIED’s forests newsletter.We are excited to announce the Forest and Farm Facility (FFF) International Conference, share a story from the FFF's work in Nepal and an Integrated Community Forest Management Monitoring and Evaluation Tool developed by IIED in partnership with the Rainforest Alliance.

Este cuaderno práctico, dirigido tanto a productores orgánicos/ecológicos (agricultores, procesadores) como aquellos que han entrado en transición orgánica/ecológica, vinculados acadenas devalor y que trabajan en agroecosistemas de montaña, tiene el objetivo de brindar una herramienta de apoyo para el registro de información importante para la verificación de la calidad orgánica...

The contribution of overgrazing to high-elevation rangeland degradation is a problem across the Himalayan region, and it leads to tensions among users. In the alpine areas of eastern Bhutan, 2 communities of settled and seminomadic herders have been engaged in enduring open conflict over access to a large natural pasture....