A Bangladeshi boy washes his hands using rain-water flooded near a dry field in Dhaka. REUTERS/Rafiqur Rahman
This Simple Indian Irrigation Tech Is Helping Farmers Hit Hardest by Climate Change and Drought
Across much of India, farmers are struggling to adapt as their crops fail season after season as a result of increasingly unpredictable weather, floods, and droughts. But, during these hard times, farmers have begun using a simple technology that ensures rainwater seeps into an underground well to supply abundant water in the dry months. The technique also helps standing crops during flash floods and reduces soil salinity.
Our Best Shot at Cooling the Planet Might Be Right under Our Feet
Soil is the second biggest reservoir of carbon on the planet, next to the oceans. As our soils degrade, they are losing their ability to hold carbon, releasing enormous plumes of CO2 into the atmosphere. However, scientists and farmers are pointing out that we can regenerate degraded soils by switching from intensive industrial farming to more ecological methods. As the soils recover, they not only regain their capacity to hold CO2—they begin to actively pull additional CO2 out of the atmosphere.
Land Reform for the Modern Era
Too often, the contemporary international development community, historians, and economists dismiss the lessons the economic miracles of post-WWII land reform provide. Farmers, and especially women, without secure land rights hedge their bets and don’t invest in their land, stunting their harvests and their futures. Many African countries recognize the importance of land reform and are taking initial steps toward addressing these problems.
Support for Urban Agriculture from the Ground Up: Canada's Parliament Gardens
According to the FAO, the benefits of urban agriculture range from increased availability of nutritionally dense foods to economic security for city dwellers. The Canadian government is taking advantage of this practice: in 2013, it converted the grounds of the Québec Parliament Building to a garden. Government officials partnered with Québec City’s Université Laval, a public university, and France, Québec, and Montreal’s Les Urbainculteurs, an organization working to empower Canadians of all ages to pursue organic, urban agricultural projects.