Although the need for adaptation to climate variability and change is increasingly recognized, identifying and implementing adaptation options on the ground still presents a challenge. Especially for Africa, which is regarded as being particularly vulnerable to the impacts of climate variability...

Palm oil production is currently the focus of contentious debate. On the one hand, it yields positive socio-economic impacts and can be a powerful engine for rural development. On the other hand, it can generate severe negative impacts regarding ecological and social sustainability....

REDD is one of the latest additions to a series of incentive-based mechanisms for reducing carbon emissions. Many developing and emerging countries have started engaging in REDD. Peru, the country with the world’s fourth largest area of tropical forest, is no exception here – with an obvious...

The cotton sector in different countries of sub-Saharan Africa shows different organisational models, ranging from atomistic competition to monopolistic structures. Each model differs in its type of service provision and purchase agreements offered to smallholder farmers, who are the main...

Le coton est l’une des cultures de rente les plus importantes en Afrique subsaharienne où il est presque exclusivement cultivé par de petits exploitants agricoles. On y dénombre environ 1,7 million de cotonculteurs, qui plantent du coton en rotation avec des cultures vivrières. La plupart...

Palm oil production is currently the focus of much contentious debate. On the one hand, palm oil production has a substantial, positive (socio-) economic impact in countries which produce it, like Indonesia, and is a powerful engine of rural development. On the other hand, palm oil production...

The concept of sustainable development and the idea of an integrated approach that satisfies the complex linkages between water, energy and land should be part of a post-2015 development agenda. Water, energy and land are essential for many lifesupporting functions and key for satisfying basic...